The Amami Islands (奄美群島, Amami-guntō?) are a group of islands that is part of the Satsunan Islands, a group of islands in the Ryukyu Archipelago. They are part of Kagoshima Prefecture, in the Kyūshū region of Japan. They consist of:
- Amami Ōshima (奄美大島)
- Kikai-jima (喜界島)
- Kakeromajima (加計呂麻島)
- Yoroshima (与路島)
- Ukeshima (請島)
- Tokunoshima (徳之島)
- Okinoerabu-jima (沖永良島)
- Yoronjima (AKA Yorontō unofficially) (与論島)
The name of Amami is probably cognate with Amamikiyo (アマミキヨ?) or Amamiko (アマミコ?), a goddess often featured in Okinawan legends.
The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan and the Japan Coast Guard agreed on February 15, 2010, to use the name of Amami-guntō (奄美群島?) for the Amami Islands. Prior to that, Amami-shotō (奄美諸島?) was also used.
Famous quotes containing the word islands:
“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line—the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea. It was a phase of this problem that caused the Civil War.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)