| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 170,000 | |
| Languages | |
| Brazilian Portuguese, Ryukyuan languages | |
| Religion | |
| Catholicism, Ryukyuan religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Ryukyuan people |
The Ryukyuans in Brazil are Brazilian nationals of Ryukyuan descent.
Many people were struggling economically in the Ryukyu Islands during the late 1800s and early 1900s. As a result, many Ryukyuans emigrated elsewhere to places such as Brazil, Peru, Hawaii and mainland Japan.[1]
On June 18, 1908, the first migrants from Japan arrived at the port of Santos in São Paulo. Half of these migrants were Okinawans.[2] Immigration from the Ryukyu Islands to Brazil would continue in the following years.
Ryukyuans in Brazil make up 9.4% (170,000) of the entire Brazilian Nikkei community (1,600,000), despite Ryukyuans making up only 1% of Japan's total population.[2] The Nikkei communities in neighboring Peru and Argentina are majority Ryukyuan-descended.[2]
The majority of Ryukyuans in South America specifically belong to the Okinawan subgroup.