Steamships and Samurai: How The Perry Expedition Shattered Feudal Japan

And inadvertently created America’s biggest Pacific rival

(Public domain)

On July 8th, 1853, four American warships, commanded by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, steamed into Edo Bay, Japan. He had been given a mandate to end the Japanese policy of isolation and open up the country to American trade. Perry wasted no time and…