Minamishimabara, Nagasaki

Minamishimabara 南島原市
—  City  —
Location of Minamishimabara in Nagasaki
Minamishimabara
Coordinates: 32°40′N 130°18′E / 32.667°N 130.3°E / 32.667; 130.3Coordinates: 32°40′N 130°18′E / 32.667°N 130.3°E / 32.667; 130.3
Country	Japan
Region	Kyūshū
Prefecture	Nagasaki
Area
- Total	169.89 km2 (65.6 sq mi)
Population (January 1, 2009)
- Total	51,476
- Density	303/km2 (784.8/sq mi)
Time zone	Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
City symbols
- Tree	Ficus superba
- Flower	Sunflower
Phone number	050-3381-5000
Address	859-2211
Website	City of Minamishimabara

Minamishimabara (南島原市, Minamishimabara-shi^?) (English: South Shimabara City) is a city in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It occupies the southern tip of Shimabara Peninsula.

Minamishimabara city was founded on March 31, 2006 upon the merger of the towns of Arie, Fukae, Futsu, Kazusa, Kitaarima, Kuchinotsu, Minami-Arima and Nishi-Arie, all from Minamitakaki District, which was dissolved as a result.

History

The area now comprising Minamishimabara was under the control of the Arima clan, who ruled from Hinoe Castle in the Muromachi period. The area was the site of considerable foreign trade and Portuguese and Spanish missionary activity, and by the early Edo period, a large percentage of the population were Kirishitan. After the start of the national isolation policy, the Tokugawa Bakufu banned Christianity from 1614 and replaced Arima Naozumi with Matsukura Shigemasa, who relocated the capital of Shimabara Domain to Shimabara Castle is what is now Shimabara. Due to misgovernment, high taxes and persecution of Christianity, the population rose in the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637, with the peasants occupying the fortress of Hara Castle as their strongpoint. The rebellion was suppressed with extreme severity by the Tokugawa Bakufu, and the area of Minamishimabara was ruled by a branch of the Matsudaira clan from 1668-1774 and from 1774-1871.

External links

Media related to Minamishimabara, Nagasaki at Wikimedia Commons

• Minamishimabara official website (Japanese)