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Ōbeikei Islanders

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ōbeikei
Regions with significant populations
Ogasawara Islands, United States
Languages
Bonin English, Japanese, American English
Religion
Irreligious, Christianity, Buddhism, Shinto
Related ethnic groups
Austronesians, White Americans, Europeans, Native Hawaiians

The Ōbeikei Islanders (欧米系島民, Ōbeikeitōmin, lit.'European American Islanders or Westerner Islanders')[1] are a Euronesian ethnic group native to the Ogasawara Islands. They are culturally and genetically distinct from other Japanese ethnic groups such as the Yamato, Ainu, and Ryukyuans as they are the modern-day descendants of a multitude of racial and ethnic groups including the Japanese, Europeans, White Americans, Polynesians, and Micronesians who settled Hahajima and Chichijima in the 19th century.[2][3][4]

History

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Ogasawara Islander family in the early 20th century

The first documented instance of human occupation of the Ogasawara Islands took place in 1830, when Matteo Mazzaro, a British citizen from Ragusa, Austria-Hungary (now Dubrovnik, Croatia), who would serve as governor, settled the island of Chichijima. He was accompanied by Nathaniel Savory, a White American from Massachusetts, John Millencamp, an American, Henry Webb and Charles Robinson, both Englishmen, Joaquim Gonsales, a Portuguese man, and approximately twenty Native Hawaiians, whose personal names were not recorded. Though Savory was American, his expedition had been commissioned by British forces, making it a British settlement.[5]

Surnames

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  • Savory (rendered as Sebori in Japanese)[6]
  • Robinson
  • Washington
  • Gilley[7][8]
  • Gonzalez[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Reflections on Ogasawara: Remote Islands with American and Japanese Identities". nippon.com. 2018-06-25. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  2. ^ Hanae Kurihara Kramer (June 1, 2018). "Original Inhabitants but Not 'First Peoples': The Peculiar Case of the Bonin Islanders". The Asian-Pacific Journal. 16 (11).
  3. ^ "Not everyone is celebrating the Ogasawara Islands' anniversary". Japan Times. 24 June 2008.
  4. ^ David Chapman (June 15, 2009). "Inventing Subjects and Sovereignty: Early History of the First Settlers of the Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands". The Asian-Pacific Journal. 7 (24).
  5. ^ "Chichi Navy Brochure". members.tripod.com. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  6. ^ Corporation), NHK (Japan Broadcasting. "The Ogasawara Islands: A Multicultural Heritage | Japanology Plus - TV - NHK WORLD - English". /nhkworld/en/tv/japanologyplus/. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  7. ^ "Ogasawara islanders look back on years of war separation:The Asahi Shimbun". The Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  8. ^ Agency, VII Photo (2017-03-16). "Ogasawara, the Mother Islands: An Uncounted Story of the American-Japanese Community in the…". Medium. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  9. ^ Fackler, Martin (2012-06-09). "Fewer Westerners Remain on Remote Japanese Island". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-11.