The Ainu People of Japan, who are they

Ryukyuans (now sometimes called Okinawans

Ryukyuan ethnic idenbreasty The culture of Ryukyuans, though closely related to Japanese culture, is nonetheless distinctive in that it historically received much more influence from China and has separate political and religious traditions. Despite the lack of consensus amongst the Ryukyuans, they are in fact conscious of their ethnic idenbreasty as Uchinanchu (people of Uchinau, the Ryukyu name for Okinawa), as opposed to Yamatunchus (mainland Japanese people).

History The Ryukyuan islands were unified by the Ryukyuan Kingdom in the 12th century. The islands paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and then the Qing Dynasty. In the early 17th century, however, the kingdom was conquered by Satsuma-han of Kyushu. Satsuma kept the kingdom nominally alive because of benefit from trade with China, although the Amami Archipelago came under the full control of Satsuma. During the Meiji period, the kingdom was formally abolished and Okinawa prefecture was established. After World War II, the Ryukyus were occupied by the U.S. In 1972, the Ryukyus were returned to Japan, but social and political conflict persist concerning the perceived ongoing discrimination by mainland Japanese people and conflict over U.S. military presence.

First Documentation and Origins of Ryukyuan People Chinese historical writings first mentioned the Ryukyus during the 6th-7th centuries (the Sui Dynasty). The Ryukyu Islands were inhabited early in historical times, perhaps by sea-faring Austronesian peoples whose horticulture and navigation technologies spread from what is now Southeastern coast of China to Taiwan, the Japanese islands, the Philippines, the Malayo-Indonesian islands, Polynesia, Melanesia and Madagascar.

The very kinship between the Ryukyuan languages and the Japanese language suggests their common origin in immigrants from eastern China in later times than the Austronesians, most likely the 4th century BC founders of the Yayoi rice-cultivating culture or the 4th century AD founders of Kofun era horse-riding conquerors of Japan from the Korean kingdom of Baekje, or Kudara.

Early history The original source of the modern-day Ryukyuan people is disputed. Evidence confirms that the islands were never part of formal Japanese territory until their annexation in 1872.

The earliest inhabitants were likely descended from crossovers via a prehistoric land bridge from modern-day China, with a later mixture of Malays, Micronesians, and Japanese. Others, however, basing their claims mostly on evidence from studies of physical anthropology, and more recently also genetics, take the view that the modern Ryukyuans are the most pure descendants of the prehistoric inhabitants of the Japanese islands (Japanese: J=C5=8Dmon-jin =E7=B8=84=E6=96=87=E4=BA=BA "Peo= ple of the J=C5=8Dmon Era"). Scientists of this persuasion explain that the Mainland Japanese are rather a complex mix of the prehistoric Japanese aborigines with immigrants who originated in the ancestral populations of various continental Asian peoples, especially those who came from what are now Korea, Siberia and China.

Early Chinese visitors noted the hospitality of the islanders, as well as the sharp economic divisions between the small upper clbutt and the impoverished mbuttes. After the European explorers of the 19th century, they entertained the Dutch, the Portuguese, the English, and others, who always noted the hospitality of the natives.

The dominant economy has historically been the farming of sugar cane (uuji), and later on, the sweet potato. Other farmed items include guava, banana, papaya, and tobacco.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Okinawans traded from Java to Japan, to China and Korea. This led to an increased level of prosperity for the kingdom.