The Bonin Islanders, also known as the Ogasawara Islanders or in Japanese, are a
Euronesian ethnic group native to the
Bonin Islands
The Bonin Islands, also known as the , is a list of islands of Japan, Japanese archipelago of over 30 subtropical and Island#Tropical islands, tropical islands located around SSE of Tokyo and northwest of Guam. The group as a whole has a total ...
(or Ogasawara Islands). They are culturally and genetically distinct from other Japanese ethnic groups such as the
Yamato,
Ainu, and
Ryukyuans
The are a Japonic-speaking East Asian ethnic group indigenous to the Ryukyu Islands, which stretch from the island of Kyushu to the island of Taiwan. With Japan, most Ryukyuans live in the Okinawa Prefecture or Kagoshima Prefecture. They sp ...
as they are the modern-day descendants of a multitude of racial and ethnic groups including the
Europeans,
White Americans
White Americans (sometimes also called Caucasian Americans) are Americans who identify as white people. In a more official sense, the United States Census Bureau, which collects demographic data on Americans, defines "white" as " person hav ...
, and
Polynesians who settled
Hahajima and
Chichijima
is the largest and most populous islands of Japan, island in the Japanese archipelago of Bonin Islands, Bonin or Ogasawara Islands. Chichijima is about north of Iwo Jima. in size, the island is home to about 2,120 people (2021). Connected to ...
in the 19th century.
History
The first documented instance of human occupation of the Bonin Islands took place in 1830, when Matteo Mazzaro, a British citizen from Ragusa, Austria-Hungary (now
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...
, Croatia), who would serve as governor, settled the island of
Chichijima
is the largest and most populous islands of Japan, island in the Japanese archipelago of Bonin Islands, Bonin or Ogasawara Islands. Chichijima is about north of Iwo Jima. in size, the island is home to about 2,120 people (2021). Connected to ...
. He was accompanied by
Nathaniel Savory, a
White American from
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, John Millencamp, an American, Henry Webb and Charles Robinson, both
Englishmen, Joaquim Gonsales, a
Portuguese man, and approximately twenty
Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaiʻi was settled at least 800 years ago by Polynesian ...
, whose personal names were not recorded. Though Savory was American, his expedition had been commissioned by British forces, making it a British settlement.
Surnames
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See also
*
Americans in Japan
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Indigenous peoples of Asia
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Japanese Americans
are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian Americans, Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 United States census, 2000 census, they have declined in ...
References
{{Ethnic groups in Japan, state=expanded
Ethnic groups in Japan
Bonin Islands
Indigenous peoples of East Asia