Japan Before the Meiji Era

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 Tokugawa Rule: A Rigid Feudal Society

 

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 Imperializing China: A Warning to Japan

 

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Perry's Arrival: A Threat to Seclusion

 

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Japan: Chronology of Events 1853-1868

1853                Perry arrives in Japan

1854                Treaty of Kanagawa with the United States

                       -Secured coaling stations and protection of shipwrecked sailors for the U.S. / Tentative trading relations

1856                Arrival of U. S. Consul-General Townsend Harris 1857                   

                       Consul-General Harris presents credentials to Shogun 

1858                United States-Japan Commercial Treaty (Townsend Harris Treaty)

                       -Secured Trading rights with Japan, first of many unequal treaties for the country.

                       -Within months of its signing, Britain, Russia, France, and Holland secured almost identical trading treaties

1860                First Japanese Mission to the United States

1861                Anti-foreign assassinations

1863                Extremists demand the expulsion of foreigners

1867                The Shogun resigns

1868                Emperor Meiji announces restoration of power

                       Shogun surrenders in Edo (Tokyo)

 

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