Perry Expedition

The United States naval mission led by Commodore Matthew C. Perry that reached Japan in 1853 and 1854, pressuring the Tokugawa shogunate to open ports to American trade and diplomacy.

Black Ships: The steam-powered American vessels that arrived in Japan with Perry in 1853 and 1854. Their unfamiliar power made the expedition’s military pressure visible.
Matthew C. Perry: A United States Navy commodore who led the expedition to Japan in 1853 and 1854. He commanded the mission and directed its negotiations.
Sakoku: The Tokugawa-era system restricting foreign relations and overseas travel, while permitting limited trade and contact. Perry’s demands challenged the restrictions that had shaped Japan’s foreign relations.
Philipp Franz von Siebold: A German physician and scholar who lived in Japan and studied its language, society, and natural history in the early nineteenth century. His scholarly engagement contrasts with Perry’s state-backed naval pressure.
Convention of Kanagawa: The 1854 agreement between the United States and Japan that opened two ports to American ships. It was the expedition’s principal diplomatic outcome.
Millard Fillmore: The thirteenth president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853. His administration authorized Perry’s mission to seek relations with Japan.
Bakumatsu: The final years of the Tokugawa shogunate, from the arrival of Perry’s fleet in 1853 to the Meiji Restoration in 1868. The expedition helped begin the crisis that ended Tokugawa rule.
Russian-Japanese relations: The diplomatic and territorial relations between Russia and Japan, including their nineteenth-century negotiations over access and borders. Russian efforts to establish relations offer a parallel to American pressure on Japan.
Tokugawa shogunate: Japan’s military government, ruled by shoguns of the Tokugawa family from 1603 to 1868. Its leaders faced and negotiated Perry’s demands.
United States East India Squadron: A United States Navy fleet responsible for operations in East Asian waters during the nineteenth century. Perry’s expedition sailed as a mission of this regional naval force.

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