Arrival of Perry's Black Ships

In July 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry steamed into Edo Bay with four US warships and came ashore at Kurihama to deliver a letter demanding that Japan open to trade. He returned with a larger squadron, and in March 1854 the shogunate signed the Convention of Kanagawa at Yokohama. Unequal treaties with other powers followed, setting off the crisis that ended shogun rule.