18 septembre 2013
d'Hulst Yasuko, « 19th-century French naval, missionary and diplomatic archival sources on Ryūkyū », HAL-SHS : histoire, ID : 10670/1.c8fg2n
The bulk of Ryukyu-related archival sources located in France covers the period from the early 1840's to the beginning of the Meiji era, that is, from the time when France, in search of a foothold for its expansion in the Far East, began operations in Ryukyu to Japan’s opening, which eventually resulted in the extinction of its interest in these islands. For the most part this material consists of letters and reports from Navy officers and missionaries of the Paris Foreign Missions Society who visited or stayed in Ryukyu and of diplomatic dispatches concerned with the gradual annexation of the kingdom by Japan during the 1870s. This presentation will give an overview of these documents along with other archive material such as maps, manuscripts and printed books.