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Iōtorishima, Kumejima, Shimajiri District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japani
Regional Level Types
IōtorishimaIsland
KumejimaTown
Shimajiri DistrictDistrict
Okinawa PrefecturePrefecture
JapanCountry

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PhotosMapsSearch
Type:
Mindat Locality ID:
64334
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:64334:9
GUID (UUID V4):
0
Other/historical names associated with this locality:
Torijima; Okinawa-Torishima; Kume-Torishima; Ioutorishima; You-Torishima
Other Languages:
German:
Iōtorishima, Kumejima, Shimajiri Bezirk, Präfektur Okinawa, Japan
Japanese:
硫黄鳥島, 久米島町, 島尻郡, 沖縄県, 日本
Simplified Chinese:
硫磺鳥島, 久米島町, 島尻郡, 沖繩縣, 日本
Cebuano:
Tori-shima, Kumejima Chō, Shimajiri-gun, Okinawa-ken, Hapon
Czech:
Iótorišima, Kumedžima, Okinawa, Japonsko
Dutch:
Iwotori island, Kumejima, Shimajiri District, Okinawa, Japan
Minnan / Hokkien-Taiwanese:
Iowutori Tó, Okinawa-koān, Ji̍t-pún
Slovak:
Iwo-Tori-šima, Okinawa, Japonsko
Traditional Chinese:
硫磺鳥島, 久米島町, 島尻郡, 沖繩縣, 日本


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" (600 Kg) 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" (12 tons) 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.

Select Mineral List Type

Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical Elements

Mineral List


2 valid minerals.

Gallery:

List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification

Group 1 - Elements
ⓘSulphur1.CC.05S8
Group 7 - Sulphates, Chromates, Molybdates and Tungstates
ⓘGypsum7.CD.40CaSO4 · 2H2O

List of minerals for each chemical element

HHydrogen
Hⓘ GypsumCaSO4 · 2H2O
OOxygen
Oⓘ GypsumCaSO4 · 2H2O
SSulfur
Sⓘ GypsumCaSO4 · 2H2O
Sⓘ SulphurS8
CaCalcium
Caⓘ GypsumCaSO4 · 2H2O

Fossils

This region is too big or complex to display the fossil list, try looking at smaller subregions.

Other Databases

Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%C5%8Dtorishima
Wikidata ID:Q250462
GeoNames ID:1849955


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