On 8 July 1853 four American warships, two of them steam-powered and painted black, under Commodore Matthew Perry anchored in Edo Bay near the capital with a letter from President Millard Fillmore demanding that Japan open its ports. Japan had barred nearly all foreign contact for more than two centuries. Perry returned in February 1854 with a larger fleet, and the shogunate signed the Treaty of Kanagawa in March, opening two ports. Unequal treaties with other powers followed, and the humiliation fed the movement that overthrew the shogunate in 1868.
Before and after
- 1853Gadsden Purchase
- 28 January 1853Birth of José Martí
- 30 March 1853Birth of Vincent van Gogh
- 5 July 1853Birth of Cecil John Rhodes
- 8 July 1853Commodore Perry's black ships arrive in Japan
- 18 July 1853Birth of Hendrik Lorentz
- 2 September 1853Birth of Wilhelm Ostwald
- 21 September 1853Birth of Heike Kamerlingh Onnes
- from October 1853 to February 1856Crimean War
More in Wars, politics & history
- 1790Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
- from 18 March 1839 to 29 August 1842First Opium War
- from 1 August 1894 to 17 April 1895First Sino-Japanese War
- from August 1899 to September 1901Boxer Rebellion
- from 8 October 1912 to 18 July 1913Balkan Wars
- from 8 October 1912 to 30 May 1913First Balkan War
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.