Portuguese Ship Drifts to Japan: Europe Meets the Shogunate
A Portuguese vessel drifts ashore in the Japanese province of Higo, initiating some of the earliest direct European contact with Japan. Within decades, Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries would reshape Japanese commerce, religion, and military technology by introducing firearms.
August 18, 1541
485 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on August 18
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