Matthew C. Perry
Matthew Perry commanded the American squadron that ended Japan's two centuries of seclusion. Born in Rhode Island in 1794 into a naval family — his elder brother Oliver Hazard Perry won the battle of Lake Erie — he entered the navy at fifteen and served in the War of 1812. He spent his career on modernisation, and is called the father of the steam navy: he pushed for steam warships against strong resistance, commanded the Fulton, established the first naval apprentice system and the first gunnery school, and worked on lighthouses and on the use of shell guns. He suppressed the slave trade off West Africa and commanded the naval side of the Mexican War, taking Veracruz and the Gulf ports. Japan had excluded foreigners under the sakoku policy since the 1630s, admitting only limited Dutch and Chinese trade at Nagasaki. The American interest was practical: coal for Pacific steamers, provisions for whalers, and the protection of shipwrecked sailors, who had been badly treated. He sailed into Edo Bay in July 1853 with four ships, two of them steam-powered black-hulled paddle frigates. He refused to deal with minor officials, refused to go to Nagasaki as instructed, conducted gunnery demonstrations, and delivered President Fillmore's letter, announcing he would return for an answer. He came back in February 1854 with nine ships, and the Convention of Kanagawa was signed in March, opening two ports, providing for shipwrecked sailors and permitting a consul. The shogunate's inability to resist contributed directly to its fall and to the Meiji Restoration fourteen years later. He died in 1858.
- Lived: 1794 CE – 1858 CE
- Nationality: American
- Roles: military_leader, diplomat
