saudi arabia iran
thailand and ethiopia were part of the
small list of nations
that managed to come out of the colonial
era having never fallen
under the authority of a foreign nation
as the americas
part of africa and parts of asia all had
another one of these foreign states who
managed to slip through the cracks
was japan the first thought that may
come to mind when asked why japan was
never colonized
may be the fact that they were actually
a colonial empire themselves at one time
and this would actually be a good point
after acquiring control
over the islands of nanpo ryukyu and
kuril
in the 1870s through 80s the japanese
empire began to shift its gaze
further abroad taiwan was the first of
these new territories to come under the
japanese crown
in this case due to a treaty that had
been signed at the end of the first
sino-japanese
war next japan joined the western
colonial powers in trying to expand
through east asia
which eventually led them to annexing
korea
and providing themselves to be a
colonizer not a colony
the japanese continued on this path
throughout the 20th century as well
seizing sakhalin some of germany's
colonial territories such as the
caroline islands
and manchuria the japanese colonial
empire
would eventually meet its end in 1945
following the wrap-up of world war ii
but during its existence
it had made the prospect of anyone
colonizing japan
itself utterly ridiculous this means
that for roughly five decades
the reason why japan wasn't colonized
was simply because
japan was a colonizer
while this explanation seems the most
obvious
and it's a sound argument it still
accounts for less than a full century
and the colonial era had started
hundreds of years
prior to japan even becoming a colonial
power itself
so what kept intruders at bay in the
meantime
well japan wasn't actually completely
free of european interference
the portuguese were the first europeans
to land in japan
when a group of portuguese traders
anchored their ship on the shores of
nipponese in 1543.
a new relationship between japan and
portugal suddenly began to grow
mostly centered on economics but
religion quickly became a talking point
as well
commerce was a huge factor in the
portuguese influence over japan
most of their trading goods were coming
from china which had long been off
limits to japan
after a ban of contact was put in place
by the chinese emperor
this meant that the portuguese had
something that the japanese really
wanted but would be unable to get on
their own
it was a perfect system and worked well
for a few decades
the japanese could purchase goods like
silk and porcelain from china
without having to go directly through
chinese merchants and the portuguese
were able to expand their influence into
asia even further
firearms were another popular purchase
of the japanese
especially during the sengoku period of
civil war
unfortunately not all of portugal's
endeavors in japan were beneficial to
the locals
shortly after arriving the portuguese
began to establish a successful slave
trade
in which they would buy japanese
citizens especially women
and sell them off to europeans abroad
this new business grew
rapidly but it quickly became a concern
of the contemporary portuguese monarch
king sebastian believed that the
developing market would stain portugal's
evangelical catholic reputation
particularly as they were trying to
bring christianity
into japan unwilling to risk any
complications it may cause
any longer sebastian ordered a ban on
the slave trade in 1571
although this didn't really do much at
all the trade continued and toyotomi
hideyoshi
known as the great unifier of japan was
becoming
increasingly angered by the entire
situation he was tired of seeing his own
men and women being sold off by the
hundreds
and decided to write a letter to the
portuguese jesuit vice provincial gasper
coelho
and informed him that his business must
end and that all
slaves should be returned free to japan
some historians view this rage to be a
bit hypocritical
given that hideyoshi was participating
in a mass slave trade himself
only of korean prisoners of war instead
of his own japanese people
nonetheless hirayoshi's anger continued
to grow
and he began to blame the portuguese
jesuits in particular
this of course was exactly what king
sebastian
had hoped to avoid but he had done too
little too late
at his wit's end hideyoshi outlawed
christian evangelization from japan
the slave trade wasn't officially banned
until 1595
and the relationship between japan and
portugal had been severely negatively
affected by the entire situation
the japanese now saw the portuguese and
particularly the jesuits as a major
threat to japan's sovereignty
by the 17th century all ties with the
potential colonial threat
were severed and the portuguese didn't
push the boundaries anymore
although japan did have some benefits to
offer the portuguese and other european
powers potentially
it wasn't enough to make fighting back
worth it
realistically forceful colonization of
japan would be near impossible
not only had the japanese purchased vast
numbers of firearms from the portuguese
but they'd also learned how to make
their own
and considering the demands brought
about by the civil war period
the japanese were ready and fully
capable for battle
additionally japan was a large country
with a large population
especially compared to portugal even for
some of the bigger european powers
it would have been more of a challenge
than it was worth especially because of
how far away japan was from europe
trying to ship large amounts of troops
even just enough to match the local
population
from anywhere in europe over to the
japanese archipelago
would not have been easy if even
possible and there wasn't enough
incentive
in terms of trade natural resources or
any other strong motivation
japan was simply lacking there was
nothing it had that the europeans
couldn't find
or weren't already able to get elsewhere
from their pre-existing colonies
and that in itself was another factor
portugal
spain and the other colonial powers were
all preoccupied with their
current colonies to pull attention and
possibly resources from those
any new territory would have had to been
very attractive
and more so than japan was lastly
things in europe were far from peaceful
in multiple
ways for one the array of colonial
monarchies throughout the continent
were not all necessarily allies
competition between them was not only
unsurprising
but common and european wars were by no
means
rare this would have kept portugal and
the others not only distracted
but also at a risk of conflict with
another rival european nation
if any of them had decided to make a
genuine effort
in the direction of colonizing japan
furthermore
all of the europeans still had to worry
about foreign threats
such as the ottoman empire and they were
actively trying to expand and
consolidate power
in ways that directly conflicted with
european colonialism
this kept portugal and their rivals very
significantly busy
away from japan and greatly raised the
bar for what japan needed to offer
in order to make colonizing it worth the
effort
so the reason why japan was never
colonized was actually a combination of
luck
and the strength of the japanese
themselves
luck of course can account for the
beneficial geographic position of the
archipelago
being a far way away from major colonial
powers
it can also be given as a reason for
japan's lack of resources that could
have potentially drawn in more
european conquerors moreover the
numerical and military strength of the
japanese
even centuries prior to becoming a
colonial power themselves
was enough to make the europeans be at
an undeniable disadvantage
in the case of an invasion and when
japan did turn itself into a colonial
empire
this was the final nail in the long
closed coffin of potential colonization
of japan
the tables had turned and the japanese
were now the ones in power
not those being overpowered the
portuguese may have had a risky
opportunity
to conquer japan when they first arrived
on the archipelago back in the 16th
century
but it still likely would have ended in
favor of the japanese
even if portugal had not blown up its
own chances
by establishing the slave trade or if
king sebastian had acted sooner in
banning the market
this still would have come nowhere near
guaranteeing a successful colonization
attempt
more likely than not if these
circumstances hadn't gone wrong
something else would have this means
that japan wasn't colonized because
more likely than not it couldn't have
been done without insane risk
and sacrifice from whichever colonial
power tried to get it done
and the japanese archipelago remained
untouched by colonialism
aside from the short stint of the
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portuguese
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