What would happen if the Ryukyu islands converted to islam or christianity, thanks to muslim or christian merchants? Would Japan still conquer it? Could a separated Ryukyu identity survive japanese assimilation policies?
It is near the OTL Muslim Bruneian expansion.It's difficult to see the Ryukyus adopting Islam - too far from existing Islamic states or spheres of influence. I suppose it could happen through the great Chinese influence in the islands - maybe all the trade with China is monopolised by Moslem Chinese merchants. More likely is conversion to Christianity through Portuguese/Dutch/Spanish influence. The Spanish and Portuguese were certainly likely to send out missionaries. But I wonder if this might actually lead to an earlier Japanese conquest? The shogunate sees a Christian Ryukyu kingdom as an advance guard for Portuguese or Spanish imperialism, and as likely to interfere with and stir up the local lords in Kyushu, so invades and conquers it to prevent this.
It's difficult to see the Ryukyus adopting Islam - too far from existing Islamic states or spheres of influence. I suppose it could happen through the great Chinese influence in the islands - maybe all the trade with China is monopolised by Moslem Chinese merchants. More likely is conversion to Christianity through Portuguese/Dutch/Spanish influence. The Spanish and Portuguese were certainly likely to send out missionaries. But I wonder if this might actually lead to an earlier Japanese conquest? The shogunate sees a Christian Ryukyu kingdom as an advance guard for Portuguese or Spanish imperialism, and as likely to interfere with and stir up the local lords in Kyushu, so invades and conquers it to prevent this.
They don't need to pass to Taiwan, Luzon was trading with Ryukyu IOTL, they can put in missionaries there turning the Ryukyus gradually muslim.As kasumingex has explained before, a way for the Ryukyus to adopt Islam would be the Spanish never conquering the Philippines, leading to the conversion of the Philippines to Islam and, then, to Muslim traders and missionaries travelling further north, first, to Taiwan and, then, to the Ryukyus.
it is possible.Late to this thread but I think a good POD for a Catholic Ryukyu Islands would be a successful Portuguese presence in Asia (this would require an earlier POD for this one) and that they intervene in the Satsuma Domain invasion of the islands in 1609 if it still happens, leading to the Satsuma being defeated and the Amami islands still part of the Ryukyu kingdom. From there the Portuguese would engage with the Ryukyu Kingdom and make it a protectorate after the Ming collapse and eventually, part of the Ultramar as the "Província Portuguesa de Ruchu"
By the way, if the Ryukyus become a Portuguese colony would the Ryukyuans (given that most of them became Catholic) would they become Lusitanized like the Goan Catholics? Like adopting Portuguese culture and surnames and blending it with the local culture? I think given the far lower population than Kyushu and if I recall correctly, little strict moral guidelines they have unlike the Japanese (loyalty to the emperor, Amaterasu and that kind of stuff), they could be assimilated like them.
@kasumigenx @Joao97 @Lusitania