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*''Japanese'': 琉球諸島 ''(Ryuukyuu shotou)'' or 琉球列島 ''(Ryuukyuu rettou)''<ref>''Ryûkyû shotô'' translates roughly as "various islands of Ryûkyû," while ''Ryûkyû rettô'' means "Ryûkyû archipelago" or "Ryûkyû chain of islands."</ref>
*''Japanese'': 琉球諸島 ''(Ryuukyuu shotou)'' or 琉球列島 ''(Ryuukyuu rettou)''<ref>''Ryûkyû shotô'' translates roughly as "various islands of Ryûkyû," while ''Ryûkyû rettô'' means "Ryûkyû archipelago" or "Ryûkyû chain of islands."</ref>
The Ryûkyû Islands are a chain of islands stretching from just south of [[Kyushu]] down to just before [[Taiwan]], just to the west of the [[Kuroshio current]] which brings warm water from the south up to the Ryukyus, Japan, and Korea.
The Ryûkyû Islands are a chain of islands stretching from just south of [[Kyushu]] down to just before [[Taiwan]], just to the east of the [[Kuroshio current]] which brings warm water from the south up to the Ryukyus, Japan, and Korea.
Historically independent, the islands were united under the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] in the 15th-16th centuries before the [[Satsuma han]] [[invasion of Ryukyu|invasion of Ryûkyû]] in [[1609]]. Those islands north of [[Okinawa Island]] were annexed by Satsuma at that time and remain part of [[Kagoshima prefecture]] today,<ref name=iojima>Iô Torishima, also known as Tokara Iôjima, though lying north of the Amami Islands, is today administered as part of Okinawa Prefecture's Kumejima City. (Pearson, 8.)</ref> while Okinawa and all those to the south remained under the control of the Ryûkyû Kingdom, and today comprise [[Okinawa prefecture]].
Historically independent, the islands were united under the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] in the 15th-16th centuries before the [[Satsuma han]] [[invasion of Ryukyu|invasion of Ryûkyû]] in [[1609]]. Those islands north of [[Okinawa Island]] were annexed by Satsuma at that time and remain part of [[Kagoshima prefecture]] today,<ref name=iojima>Iô Torishima, also known as Tokara Iôjima, though lying north of the Amami Islands, is today administered as part of Okinawa Prefecture's Kumejima City. (Pearson, 8.)</ref> while Okinawa and all those to the south remained under the control of the Ryûkyû Kingdom, and today comprise [[Okinawa prefecture]].