Latitude: 27°52'37"N
Longitude: 128°13'26"E
A small volcanic island, 1 x 2.7km, 2.5 square km, 217 metres maximum elevation. Fumarolic sulfur was mined starting in the 14th century. Used by the kings of Okinawa (Ryukyu kingdom) to pay part of their tribute to the Chinese emperor (who needed sulphur to make gunpowder).
In 1372 the king of Ryukyu promised 1,000 "kin" of sulphur per year to the Emperor of China, and by 1377 the island had been settled (apparently by migrants from Tokunoshima (65 km east of Iwo-torishima) or Amami) and sulphur digging started. In 1609 the Ryukyu kingdom became ostensibly a vassal state of the Satsuma lord (Kagoshima), who sent forced laborers to Ioutori and gradually increased sulphur production to 20,000 "kin" per year by 1882, at which time the Ryukyu kingdom was annexed by modern Japan and trade with China was stopped. No sulphur at all was produced in 1883-1884.
The island is now uninhabited since a disastrous eruption in 1903 forced the removal of the entire population of 690 people to Kume island, 200 km to the south, where they rebuilt their community (right down to the original street layout) and still conserve their Amami language and culture largely intact, minus the sulphur mining of course. A few people went back to the island again, but the last stragglers were finally removed after another eruption in june 1956. The island is now 94% owned by the Kume town government.
Mineral List
2 entries listed. 2 valid minerals.
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