World History Dbq

Between the years of 1500 and 1750, the seclusion laws of Japan were a major turning point in terms of contact with other states in social and political ways. Although Japan remained in contact with the Dutch which was their only contact with Europe, nevertheless this became successful for them in terms of wanting to be a state that was independent of European culture. For example starting in the year 1635, as Japan grew increasingly xenophobic in order to end the spread of Christianity, they closed all ports and connections to Europe and the New World. This was with the exception of only one port open called Nagasaki in order to maintain trade with the Dutch. This way, they could still stay up-to-date with limited contact with the European technologies and knowledge through books. This was a social and political turning point because it limited Japan’s contact with European culture and
Both states believed that these religions were a threat to their government and way of life, which caused them both to take large measures in order to keep one primary and dominating religion. At this time, the national religion in Japan was Shintoism, and the Shogunate controlled all aspects of the religion, and because of this, they were more reluctant to convert to Christianity. Before the seclusion laws, Japan was split into several ununified regions led by Daimyos. In 1603, the Tokugawa Shogunate unified Japan into one state, and later enacted the Sakoku seclusion laws. These laws were a large turning point for the state, because that essentially meant that they would have very limited contact Europe and the New World. After limiting contact with other states, Japan had successfully become an independent state which affected how they changed politically and socially for several years