Nansei Islands

topographic map of the Nansei Islands. The Daitō Islands are east of the Okinawa Islands, the Senkaku Islands north of the Yaeyama Islands

With Nansei Islands ( Japanese 南西 諸島 , Nansei-shotō , literally: "Southwestern Islands") is a Japanese island region that is located southwest of Kyūshū and belongs to Japan . The Nansei Islands are to be equated with the Ryūkyū Islands . It is a politically determined name. Before 1970, all islands south of Kyushu were called Ryukyu Islands.

geography

The hydro- and Oceanographic Department of the Japan Coast Guard and the National Land Survey Office (engl. Geospatial Information Authority of Japan ) define the Nansei Islands as follows:

• Satsunan Islands ( Kagoshima Prefecture )
  • Ōsumi Islands
  • Tokara Islands
  • Amami Islands
• Ryūkyū Islands ( Okinawa Prefecture )
  • Okinawa Islands
    • Kerama Islands
  • Sakishima Islands
    • Miyako Islands
    • Yaeyama Islands
    • Senkaku Islands
• Daitō Islands (Okinawa Prefecture)

The division into Satsunan Islands and Ryūkyū Islands has historical origins, as the former belonged to Japan since the beginning of the 17th century and the latter formed the Kingdom of Ryūkyū , which is reflected today in the assignment to the prefectures of Kagoshima and Okinawa.

geology

With the exception of the Senkaku and Daitō Islands, the islands form the 1200 km long Ryūkyū Arch / Ryūkyū Island Arch ( 琉球 弧 , Ryūkyū-kō or 南西 諸島 弧 , Nansei-shotōkō ). This is divided into three groups, through the Tokara Strait ( ト カ ラ 海峡 , Tokara-kaikyō ) between the Tokara and Amami Islands and the Kerama Gap ( 慶 良 間 海 裂 , Kerama-kairetsu ) between the Kerama and the Miyako Islands are separate. Geomorphologically , the region is divided into the Ryūkyū Trench , the slope of the outer arch, the uplift area of the outer arch, the uplift area of ​​the inner arch and the Okinawa Trench . The outer arch is characterized by large islands that tower very high in the north - for example, the Miyanoura on Yakushima is the highest mountain in the greater Kyūshū region at 1935 m - while the islands of the inner arch are often volcanic.

The Senkaku Islands in turn belong to the continental shelf west of the Okinawa Trench, while the Daitō Islands are located east of the Ryūkyū Trench on the Philippine Plate .

See also

• List of islands in Okinawa Prefecture
• Nampō-shotō

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ajiro Tatsuhiko and Warita Ikuo, Waga kuni no kōiki na chimei oyobi sono han'i ni tsuite no chōsa kenkyū (The geographical names and those extents of the wide areas in Japan), Kaiyō Jōhōbu Gihō, Vol. 27, 2009.
2. ↑ Tatsuhiko Ajiro, Ikuo Warita: 我が国の広域な地名及びその範囲についての調査研究( Waga kuni no Koiki na chimei oyobi sono han'i ni tsuite no Chosa Kenkyu ) / The geographical names and Those extents of the wide areas in Japan . Vol. 27. Kaiyō Jōhōbu Gihō, 2009, p. 15 ( PDF ).
3. ↑ 琉球 弧 . In: デ ジ タ ル 大 辞 泉 at kotobank.jp. Shogakukan, accessed January 15, 2011 (Japanese). 
4. ↑ Nansei Islands. (No longer available online.) In: GLGArcs. Archived from the original on January 9, 2011 ; accessed on January 14, 2011 (English). 

Coordinates: 27 °  N , 128 °  E