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is located on Kyushu island, Japan. The capital is the city of Nagasaki.

History

Nagasaki Prefecture, an unification of former provinces of Hizen, Tsushima, and Iki, has had close ties with foreign civilization for centuries. Facing China and Korea, the region around Hirado was a traditional center for traders and pirates.

During the 16th century, Catholic missionaries and traders from Portugal arrived and became active in Hirado and Nagasaki, which became a major center for foreign traders. The Christian belief in equality between men, however, did not comply with the political structure of Japan, and after being given free reign in Oda Nobunaga's period, the missionaries were forced out little by little, until finally, in the Tokugawa era, Christianity was banned under the Sakoku policy. After the prohibition of Christianity in the Edo period, foreign trade was restricted to Chinese and Dutch traders in Nagasaki, Dejima, but Kirishitan (Japanese Christian) worship continued underground. These Kakure Kirishitan (hidden Christians) were tried at every step, forced to step on fumi-e ("trample pictures"--images of the Holy Mother Mary and saints) to prove that they were non-Christian. And with the banishment of all Catholic missionaries, traders from Catholic countries were also forced out of the country. Along with them, their children, half Japanese and half European, were also forced to leave the country. The majority was sent to Jagatara (Jakarta) and are still remembered by the locals as the people who wrote the poignant letters which were smuggled across the sea to their homeland. Today, Nagasaki has a prominent Chinatownand Catholic churches[http://www.tca-japan.com/.

During the Meiji Restoration, Nagasaki and Sasebo became major ports for foreign trade, and eventually major naval bases and shipbuilding centers up to World War II. On August 9, 1945, a United States bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, which was reconstructed after the war.

Geography

Nagasaki borders Saga Prefecture on the east, and is otherwise surrounded by water, including Ariake Bay, the Tsushima Straits, and the East China Sea. It also includes a large number of islands such as Tsushima and Iki. Most of the prefecture is near the coast and there are a number of ports such as Nagasaki and the United States naval base at Sasebo.

Subprefecture

Cities

13 cities are located on Nagasaki Prefecture.

Nagoya (not to be confused with Nagoya, Aichi) was located in the prefecture before.

Towns and villages

These are the towns and villages in each district.

Mergers

(as of March 31, 2006)

Economy

Culture

Religion

Nagasaki is the most christianized area in Japan. As of 2002, there are 68,617 Catholics in Nagasaki Prefecture, accounting for 4.52 percent of the total population of the prefecture.

Tourism

Prefectural symbols

External links

Nagasaki Prefecture | Kyushu region | Prefectures of Japan

Präfektur Nagasaki | Nagasaki prefektuur | Prefectura de Nagasaki | Nagasaki (prefektujo) | Préfecture de Nagasaki | 나가사키 현 | Nagasacium (praefectura) | 長崎県 | Nagasaki | Префектура Нагасаки | Nagasaki prefektur | 长崎县

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Nagasaki Prefecture".

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