Ryukyu Islands

Gregory Smits is professor of history and Asian studies at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, Early Ryukyuan History: A New Model.

• Naming ConventionsIntroduction1    A Broad Overview of Ryukyuan History and HistoriographyPart One: Prestate Societies, 35,000 BP–14902    First Peoples: The Earliest Inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands3    Origins of Japonic Ryukyu: The Early Gusuku Era, circa 1050–12504    Expanding Trade and Warfare: The Later Gusuku Era5    The Early Theatrical Kingdom and the Three Principalities Era in Okinawa6    The First Shō Dynasty Era7    Classical Ryukyuan CulturePart Two: Development and Transformation of the Shuri Empire, 1490–16308    Shō Shin and the Shuri Empire9    The Sixteenth Century10  War with Satsuma and the Immediate Aftermath, 1570–1650Part Three: The Mature Theatrical Kingdom and Its Collapse, 1630–188011  The Era of Shō Shōken and Sai On12  Extracting Resources from the Northern and Southern Ryukyu Islands13  The Mature Kingdom14  The Ryūkyū shobun and the Creation of Okinawa Prefecture15  Literature, Drama, and Official Portrayals of Ryukyu16  The Tametomo LegendPart Four: The Modern Era, 1880–202417  The Early Decades of Okinawa Prefecture18  Midcentury Turbulence19  The Era of US Control, 1945–7220  From 1972 to the Twenty-First CenturyAcknowledgmentsNotesWorks CitedSelected Additional SourcesIndex

“The Ryukyu Islands is one of the most outstanding monographs on the history of Okinawa. Smits not only engages with, but also challenges squarely, the canonical texts and established understanding of Ryukyu and Okinawa. Relevant both academically and at the current historical and political juncture, Smits’s book will surely be celebrated as his magnum opus.”