Nagasaki
In 1543, a Portuguese ship blown off course landed on Tanegashima, an island south of Kyushu. This event marked the beginning of direct contact between Japan and Europe. Two Portuguese traders named António Mota and Francisco Zeimoto were among the crew members who introduced firearms to the local lord. The local lord, Tanegashima Tokitaka, purchased two of these firearms and had local blacksmiths replicate them. Soon after, Portuguese ships started sailing to Japan as regular trade freighters. In 1569, the daimyō Omura Sumitada granted a permit for the establishment of a port in Nagasaki. The port was set up in 1571 under the supervision of the Jesuit missionary Gaspar Vilela. For a brief period after 1580, the city became a Jesuit colony under their administrative control. It served as a refuge for Christians escaping maltreatment in other regions of Japan. Toyotomi Hideyoshi arrived in Kyushu in 1587 and ordered the expulsion of all missionaries. He placed the city under his direct control. The expulsion order went largely unenforced, and most of Nagasaki's population remained openly practicing Catholic.
The Great Fire of Nagasaki destroyed much of the city in 1663, including the Mazu shrine at the Kofuku Temple. In 1720, the ban on Dutch books was lifted, causing hundreds of scholars to flood into Nagasaki to study European science and art. Consequently, Nagasaki became a major center of what was called rangaku or Dutch learning. During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate governed the city, appointing a Nagasaki bugyo as its chief administrator. The trading post consisted mainly of warehouses and dwelling houses located on an artificial island. The Royal Navy frigate HMS Phaeton entered Nagasaki Harbor in 1808 during the Napoleonic Wars. The local magistrate was unable to resist the crew's demand for food, fuel, and water, later committing seppuku as a result. Laws were passed in the wake of this incident strengthening coastal defenses. The Tōjinyashiki or Chinese Factory in Nagasaki served as an important conduit for Chinese goods and information. Some Chinese merchants combined the roles of merchant and artist such as Yi Hai in the 18th century. It is believed that as much as one-third of the population of Nagasaki at this time may have been Chinese.
Nagasaki became a treaty port in 1859 and modernization began in earnest in 1868. The city was officially proclaimed a city on the 1st of April 1889. With Christianity legalized and the Kakure Kirishitan coming out of hiding, Nagasaki regained its earlier role as a center for Roman Catholicism in Japan. During the Meiji period, Nagasaki became a center of heavy industry. Its main industry was ship-building with dockyards under control of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries becoming one of the prime contractors for the Imperial Japanese Navy. At the time of the nuclear attack, Nagasaki contained plants of the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works and the Akunoura Engine Works. The city also housed the Mitsubishi Arms Plant and Mitsubishi Electric Shipyards. These connections with the Japanese war effort made Nagasaki a major target for strategic bombing by the Allies during the war. About 90% of the city's labor force worked in these industrial facilities which accounted for 90% of the city's industry.
On the 9th of August 1945, the population in Nagasaki was estimated to be 263,000 people. That day, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bockscar departed from Tinian's North Field just before dawn carrying a plutonium bomb code named Fat Man. The primary target for the bomb was Kokura but the city was obscured by clouds and smoke. Unable to make a bombing attack on visual because of the clouds, the plane left the city at 10:30 a.m. for the secondary target. After 20 minutes, the plane arrived over Nagasaki at 10:50 a.m. but the city was also concealed by clouds. Desperately short of fuel and after making a couple of bombing runs without obtaining any visual target, the crew was forced to use radar to drop the bomb. At the last minute, the opening of the clouds allowed them to make visual contact with a racetrack in Nagasaki. They dropped the bomb on the city's Urakami Valley midway between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works in the south and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works in the north. The bomb exploded 47 seconds after its release at 11:02 a.m. at an approximate altitude of 1,800 feet. Less than a second after the detonation, the north of the city was destroyed and more than 10% of the city's population were killed.
The city was rebuilt after the war albeit dramatically changed. The pace of reconstruction was slow. The first simple emergency dwellings were not provided until 1946. The focus of redevelopment was the replacement of war industries with foreign trade, shipbuilding and fishing. This was formally declared when the Nagasaki International Culture City Reconstruction Law was passed in May 1949. New temples were built as well as new churches owing to an increase in the presence of Christianity. Some of the rubble was left as a memorial such as a one-legged torii at Sannō Shrine and an arch near ground zero. New structures were also raised as memorials such as the Atomic Bomb Museum. On the 4th of January 2005, the towns of Iōjima, Kōyagi, Nomozaki, Sanwa, Sotome and Takashima were officially merged into Nagasaki along with the town of Kinkai the following year. As of the 1st of March 2017, the city had a population of 505,723 and a population density of 1,000 people per km2.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When did Nagasaki become a treaty port and start modernization?
Nagasaki became a treaty port in 1859 and modernization began in earnest in 1868. The city was officially proclaimed a city on the 1st of April 1889.
What happened to Nagasaki on the 9th of August 1945 during World War II?
On the 9th of August 1945, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bockscar dropped the plutonium bomb code named Fat Man on the city's Urakami Valley. The bomb exploded at 11:02 a.m. killing more than 10% of the population which numbered 263,000 people that day.
Who granted permission for the establishment of the port in Nagasaki in 1569?
The daimyō Omura Sumitada granted a permit for the establishment of a port in Nagasaki in 1569. The port was set up in 1571 under the supervision of the Jesuit missionary Gaspar Vilela.
Why did Nagasaki become a major center of Dutch learning during the Edo period?
Nagasaki became a major center of rangaku or Dutch learning after the ban on Dutch books was lifted in 1720. This caused hundreds of scholars to flood into Nagasaki to study European science and art.
When were the towns merged into Nagasaki to expand its boundaries?
On the 4th of January 2005, the towns of Iōjima, Kōyagi, Nomozaki, Sanwa, Sotome and Takashima were officially merged into Nagasaki along with the town of Kinkai the following year.