Commodore Perry forces the opening of Japan

Date

1853–1854 (Treaty of Kanagawa, 31 March 1854)

Category

Politics & governance

Region

Japan (Edo / Tokyo Bay)

Era

Modern

Significance

In July 1853 a United States naval squadron under Commodore Matthew C. Perry steamed into Edo (Tokyo) Bay, its 'black ships' a deliberate display of steam-powered force intended to end Japan's two centuries of self-imposed seclusion under the Tokugawa shogunate.

Perry delivered a letter from President Fillmore demanding the opening of ports, protection for shipwrecked sailors, and coaling stations for the growing American Pacific trade, then withdrew, promising to return for an answer. He came back in February 1854 with a larger fleet, and on 31 March 1854 Japanese officials signed the Convention (Treaty) of Kanagawa, Japan's first treaty with a Western power. It opened the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate, guaranteed aid to stranded sailors, and provided for an American consul. Followed in 1858 by broader commercial treaties granting extraterritoriality and fixed tariffs, the agreement ended Japanese isolation and exposed the shogunate's weakness. The resulting political crisis—anxiety over foreign domination and demands to 'revere the emperor and expel the barbarians'—helped undermine Tokugawa legitimacy and set Japan on the path toward the Meiji Restoration and rapid modernisation.

Empires active in 1853–1854 (Treaty of Kanagawa, 31 March 1854)

• Russian Empire
  1721 CE – 1917 CE
• French Colonial Empire (Second)
  1830 CE – 1962 CE
• British Empire
  1583 CE – 1997 CE
• Qing Dynasty
  1636 CE – 1912 CE
• Spanish Empire
  1492 CE – 1976 CE
• Portuguese Empire
  1415 CE – 1999 CE

Related politics & governance events

• Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the birth of the British Raj
  1857–1858 (rebellion); Government of India Act 2 August 1858
• The Revolutions of 1848 (the Springtime of Peoples)
  1848–1849
• Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand and the Kingdom of Italy
  May–September 1860; Kingdom of Italy proclaimed 17 March 1861
• The Meiji Restoration
  1868 (proclamation 3 January 1868)
• The Slavery Abolition Act ends slavery across the British Empire
  28 August 1833 (in force 1 August 1834)
• Berlin Conference and the partition of Africa
  15 November 1884 – 26 February 1885

Further reading

China's Last Empire: The Great Qing

The wider story

China's Last Empire: The Great Qing

William T. Rowe

Readable synthesis of the Qing (Harvard History of Imperial China).

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