Okinawa, the largest island in the Ryukyu chain, is an exciting land, with vivid reminders of a proud, thousand-year-old history tightly woven in the modern-day existence it displays today.
A combination of oriental and occidental customs and cultures, the first written records of Okinawa's ancient ancestry have been traced to about 603 A.D. At this time, the Chinese were sending missions to Okinawa to demand tribute and submission. The proud Okinawan people refused the demands, however, and seven years later the Chinese returned with greater forces to invade and rule the island for about 500 years.
The island's first kingdom was established by Shunten, the lord of Urasoe in the 12th century. This monarchy system lasted until the 14th century when Okinawa split into three different kingdoms: Hokuzan, Nanzan and Chuzan. For the next 200 years Okinawa enjoyed a flourishing trade with China, Japan, Korea and the East Indies.
In 1609, however, this golden era came to an abrupt halt when Samurai warriors from Satsuma, an area in southern Japan, invaded Okinawa. For the next 270 years, the Satsuma would demand taxes from Okinawans and manipulate their trading market as payment for protecting their island.
In 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry visited the Royal palace at Shuri. About this same time, a number of Western nations, including the United States, Great Britain, France and Russia were attempting to open treaty relations with Okinawa. In 1868, during the Meiji Restoration, Japan tightened its grip on Okinawa by sending a military detachment there.
In 1879, weary of Okinawan objections to its military forces, the Japanese government dissolved the royal government and formally annexed the island kingdom. Okinawa was organized as the 47th district of Japan, supervised by a governor, very similar to an American state.
Although America was acquainted with Okinawa in the early 1800s, for most Americans the small island nation went completely unobserved until the abrupt advent of World War II.
Situated on the southern approaches to Japan, the Ryukyu Island chain was geographically situated as to be virtually unavoidable in any American offensive strategy against mainland Japan. The inevitable soon became history when Okinawa became the arena for one of the most ferocious battles of the war. By June, 1944, the Japanese army arrived in force. Casualties mounted quickly as U.S. forces saturated military targets with bombs four months later.
In March, 1945, the first American troops landed on the Kerama Islands as the springboard for America's island leapfrogging strategy. Okinawa was next in line and, on April 1, 1945, the invasion began. After 11 weeks of fierce fighting, the battle of Okinawa was over June 20, 1945. Two months later Japan surrendered. Okinawa was one of the longest and hardest fought campaigns in the history of World War II. Total American battle casualties were estimated at 49,151, including 12,500 killed or missing. Japanese soldiers killed were about 60,000 while one-third of the Okinawan population, about 150,000 died in the "Typhoon of steel."
Because it was considered the key to the invasion of Japan, and because it is also considered a key geographical factor to the defense of the free world in the Pacific area, Okinawa now owns the nickname, "Keystone of the Pacific."
As relief funds, appropriated by the U.S. Congress, began to get pumped into Okinawa in 1946, the island began traveling the steady path to economic recovery. That same year, Okinawa set up its first general hospital, civilian newspaper, bank and courts. By 1950, the country had resumed its foreign trade lines and established a civil government system throughout the Ryukyu islands.
In 1951, a U.S.-Japanese peace treaty gave Americans complete administrative control of the Ryukyu for an indefinite period. By referring to the island as a "residual sovereignty," however, the United States still suggested recognition of Japan's basic ownership of the islands. In addition, the United States promised that, when international circumstances warranted, it would return administrative control of the chain to Japan.
Administrative authority of the Ryukyu Islands was transferred back to Japan May 15, 1972, and Okinawa became a prefectural district of Japan once again.
The island has been a favorite training area for the Marine Corps since post-war units were based here more than 40 years ago. Today, the Corps has eight different facilities on Okinawa to call home: Camps Gonsalves, Schwab, Hansen, Courtney, Lester, Foster, Kinser, and Marine Corps Air Station, Futenma. Beside a significant Marine Corps presence here, Okinawa is also home to a number of major Navy, Army and Air Force units and facilities.