Treaty ports
Treaty ports (Chinese: 商埠; Japanese: 条約港) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Qing dynasty of China (before the First Sino-Japanese War) and the Empire of Japan.[1][2]
This article is about the ports in East Asia. For the Anglo-Irish Treaty ports, see Treaty Ports (Ireland).Japanese treaty ports[edit]
Japan opened two ports to foreign trade, Shimoda and Hakodate, in 1854 (Convention of Kanagawa), to the United States.[20] In 1858, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce designated four more ports, Kanagawa, Hyogo, Nagasaki, and Niigata. The treaty with the United States was followed by similar ones with Britain, the Netherlands, Russia, and France. The ports permitted legal extraterritoriality for citizens of the treaty nations. The system of treaty ports ended in Japan in the year 1899 as a consequence of Japan's rapid transition to a modern nation. Japan had sought treaty revision earnestly, and in 1894, signed a new treaty with Britain which revised or abrogated the previous "unequal" treaty. Other countries signed similar treaties. The new treaties came into force in July 1899.[21]
Korean treaty ports[edit]
Following the Ganghwa Treaty of 1876, the Korean kingdom of Joseon agreed to the opening of three strategic ports and the extension of legal extraterritoriality to merchants from Meiji Japan. Chinese merchants also entered Korea in earnest after the Qing army was sent to suppress the Imo Incident in 1882.[22] The first port opened in this manner was Busan, while Incheon and Wonsan followed shortly thereafter. These cities became important centers of mercantile activity for traders from China and Japan until Korea's colonization by Japan in 1910.[23]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "China". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
