E. Napp Europeans were interested in Asia because its huge population offered a giant market for European manufactured goods.

E. Napp In the early 1800s, Great Britain and China went to war over the sale of opium.

E. Napp However, China lacked the military technology to defy the British. The British easily defeated China in the Opium War ( ).

E. Napp Of course, China was not the only Asian nation affected by European imperialism. Japan also encountered Western might in the late 19 th century.

E. Napp The shogun was the military leader of Japan. The Tokugawa shoguns had ruled Japan for nearly two hundred years. They isolated Japan and almost completely cut it off from trade with Western nations. Japanese were forbidden to travel to other countries and foreigners could not enter Japan.

E. Napp In 1853, the United States government sent Commodore Matthew Perry with a naval squadron to Japan to end Japan’s policy of isolation, to halt the mistreatment of shipwrecked American sailors, and to gain refueling stations.

E. Napp Yes, the United States wanted to establish ports where American ships could obtain supplies on route to China and of course, develop new Asian markets.

E. Napp Knowing what had happened to China, Japanese leaders opened their ports.

E. Napp Within a few years, the British, Russians, and Dutch negotiated similarly favorable trade treaties.

E. Napp Neither Emperors nor Shoguns could stop European imperialism in Asia.

E. Napp However, if the Japanese could not defeat the imperialists, they could emulate them.

E. Napp The Japanese began to modernize and westernize their nation.

E. Napp The Japanese ended feudalism and restored the emperor to power. The Meiji Restoration was a profound turning point in Japanese history.

E. Napp Japan would soon join the European nations as an imperialist power in its own right.