Mapping the Forgotten Colony: The Ogasawara Islands and the Tokugawa Pivot to the Pacific

A groundbreaking study reveals that Japan's Tokugawa shogunate initiated its 'pelagic empire' expansion much earlier than previously thought, with the Ogasawara Islands serving as a pivotal colonial experiment. Through an analysis of four maps, researchers demonstrate that Japanese intellectuals were already contemplating settler colonialism in the Pacific nearly a century before the shogunate's maritime ventures. The study highlights a two-tiered strategy involving agricultural assimilation and legal subjugation, which facilitated offshore whaling and reshaped geographical perceptions to integrate the islands into Japan's realm. This challenges the notion that such expansionism began with the Meiji Reform, instead tracing its origins to the Tokugawa era.

Rüegg, J. (2017). Mapping the Forgotten Colony: The Ogasawara Islands and the Tokugawa Pivot to the Pacific. Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, 6(2), 440–490. https://doi.org/10.1353/ach.2017.0015