History Timeline Of Okinawa
- 1372 The first Ming dynasty envoy visits okinawa, which had been divided into three kingdoms, during the Sanzan period. Formal tributary relations with the Chinese Empire begin.
- 1419 Chūzan, led by Shō Hashi, occupies Nakijin gusuku, capital of Hokuzan.
- 1429 Chūzan occupies Shimajiri Osato gusuku, capital of Nanzan, unifying okinawa Island. Shō Hashi establishes the Kingdom of Ryūkyū, ruling as king with his capital at Shuri (now part of modern-day Naha).
- 1470 Shō En (Kanemaru) establishes the Second Shō Dynasty.
- 1477 The third king, Shō Shin, ascends to the throne. Golden age of the kingdom.
- 1609 (April 5) daimyō (Lord) of Satsuma in southern Kyūshū conquers the kingdom. King of Ryūkyū becomes a Japanese vassal.
- 1624 Lord of Satsuma annexes the Amami Islands.
- 1846 Dr. Bernard Jean Bettleheim (d. 1870), a British Protestant missionary, arrives in Ryūkyū Kingdom. He establishes the first foreign hospital on the island at the Nami-no-ue Temple.
- 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry of the US Navy visits the kingdom. Bettleheim leaves with Perry.
- 1866 The last official mission from the Qing Empire visits the kingdom.
- 1874 The last tributary envoy to China is dispatched from Naha.
- 1879 Japan replaces the Ryūkyū han with okinawa Prefecture, formally annexing the islands. King Shō Tai (尚泰, Shō Tai) is given the title of marquis (藩王, Han’ō) and removed to Tokyo.