Iki Province
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Japan_prov_map_iki.PNG
Map of Japanese provinces with province highlighted
Iki (壱岐国;, Iki no-kuni) was a province of Japan which occupied the entire area of Iki Island.
History
After the Toi invasion, private trade started between Goryeo, Tsushima, Iki, and Kyushu, but were halted with the by the Mongol Invasions of Japan of 1274 and 1281. However, the Mongols were halted from further aggression against Japan. The Koryosa (a history of the Goryeo dynasty) mentions that in 1274, an army of Mongol troops, which included Korean soldiers who killed a great number of people on the island.
Iki became one of the major bases of Wokou (Japanese pirates, also called wako) along with Tsushima and Matsuura. Suffering from their invasions, Goryeo and its successor Joseon soothed them by giving them trade interests as well as negotiating with the Muromachi shogunate and its deputy on Kyushu.
The province ceased to exist upon the abolition of the han system in 1872 by the Meiji Emperor. The Iki province was subsequently merged with other former provinces to form the Nagasaki prefecture.