rdf-syntax-grammar
mods:
  schema location: http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
  title info:
    non sort: The
    title: Ryukyu Islands
    sub title: a new history from the Stone Age to the present
  name:
    name part: Smits, Gregory
    name part: 1960-
    role:
      role term: creator
    role:
      role term: author.
    role:
      role term: aut
    role:
      role term: http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut
  type of resource: text
  genre: bibliography
  origin info:
    place:
      place term: ilu
    date issued: 2025
    copyright date: 2025
    issuance: monographic
  language:
    language term: eng
  physical description:
    form: print
    extent: 478 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.
  abstract: "The first comprehensive history of the Ryukyu Islands region in English. The Ryukyu islands between Japan and Taiwan consist of around 160 islands and host over one and a half million inhabitants. Across the islands' history, sea-lanes and trade patterns have connected them to the East China Sea region, giving them a unique vantage point on the region's changes and making them a useful lens through which to view and understand those transformations. In this book, Gregory Smits marshals his expertise to canvass the environmental, political, and social history of this fascinating area, emphasizing the diversity of influences from China, Japan, and Korea that have shaped it. Smits begins by tracing the islands' early history from the time of the oldest extant human remains, through massive inflows of population from Japan, until the emergence of a centralized state in the sixteenth century. He then traces the development of the Ryukyu Kingdom from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, illustrating its defining cultural forms and the ways they were shaped by Chinese and Japanese influences. Finally, Smits ushers readers to the modern era, from the end of the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1879 through WWII, the era of American military control, and on to the present. He concludes with their present-day status as a tourist destination affected by ongoing geopolitical, economic, and environmental challenges. Synthesizing decades of research, this book is an indispensable, comprehensive guide to the islands' history for scholars and nonspecialists alike"-- Provided by publisher.
  table of contents: Introduction. A broad overview of Ryukyuan history and historiography -- Prestate societies, 35,000 BP-1490. First peoples: the earliest inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands ; Origins of Japonic Ryukyu: the early Gusuku era, circa 1050-1250 ; Expanding trade and warfare: the later Gusuku era ; The early theatrical kingdom and the three principalities era in Okinawa ; The first Shō dynasty era ; Classical Ryukyuan culture ; Development and transformation of the Shuri empire, 1490-1630. Shō Shin and the Shuri empire; The sixteenth century ; War with Satsuma and the immediate aftermath, 1570-1650 -- The mature theatrical kingdom and its collapse, 1630-1880. The era of Shō Shōken and Sai On ; Extracting resources from the northern and southern Ryukyu Islands ; The mature kingdom ; The Ryūkyū shobun and the creation of Okinawa prefecture ; Literature, drama, and official portrayals of Ryukyu ; The Tametomo legend -- The modern era, 1880-2024. The early decades of Okinawa prefecture ; Midcentury turbulence ; The era of US control, 1945-72 ; From 1972 to the twenty-first century.
  note: Gregory Smits.
  note: Includes bibliographical references and index.
  subject:
    geographic code: a-ja---
  subject:
    geographic: Ryukyu Islands
    topic: History
  subject:
    geographic: Ryukyu Islands
    topic: Civilization
    topic: Chinese influences
  subject:
    geographic: Ryukyu Islands
    topic: Civilization
    topic: Japanese influences
  subject:
    geographic: Ryukyu Islands
    topic: Civilization
    topic: Korean influences
  subject:
    geographic: Ryūkyū (Japon)
    topic: Histoire
  classification: DS895.R95 S646 2025
  classification: 952/.29
  related item:
    title info:
      title: Silk roads (Chicago, Ill.)
  identifier: 9780226843193
  identifier: 022684319X
  identifier: 9780226843216
  identifier: 0226843211
  identifier: 9780226843209
  identifier: 2025018547
  location:
    physical location: POD
  record info:
    record content source: ICU/DLC
    record creation date: 250419
    record change date: 20260221223141.3
    record identifier: in00005692221
    language of cataloging:
      language term: eng