Editing Dejima (section)

==History==
In 1543, the history of direct contact between Japan and Europe began with the arrival of storm-blown [[Portugal|Portuguese]] merchants on [[Tanegashima]]. Six years later the Jesuit missionary [[Francis Xavier]] landed in [[Kagoshima]]. At first Portuguese traders were based in [[Hirado, Nagasaki|Hirado]], but they moved in search of a better port. In 1570 ''[[daimyō]]'' [[Ōmura Sumitada]] converted to Catholicism (choosing Bartolomeu as his Christian name) and made a deal with the Portuguese to develop Nagasaki; soon the port was open for trade.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} 

In 1580 Sumitada gave the jurisdiction of Nagasaki to the Jesuits, and the Portuguese obtained the ''[[de facto]]'' [[monopoly]] on the silk trade with China through [[Colonial Macau|Macau]]. The ''shōgun'' [[Tokugawa Iemitsu|Iemitsu]] ordered the construction of the artificial island in 1634, to accommodate the Portuguese traders living in Nagasaki and prevent the propagation of their religion. This was one of the many edicts put forth by Iemitsu between 1633 and 1639 moderating contact between Japan and other countries. However, in response to the [[Shimabara Rebellion|uprising]] of the predominantly Christian population in the [[Shimabara, Nagasaki|Shimabara]]-[[Amakusa Islands|Amakusa]] region, the [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa]] government decided to expel the Portuguese in 1639.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Laver |first=Michael S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A70rqmKB7ikC&dq=Tokugawa+expel+portuguese+1639&pg=PA133 |title=The Sakoku Edicts and the Politics of Tokugawa Hegemony |date=2011 |publisher=Cambria Press |isbn=978-1-60497-738-7 |language=en}}</ref>

Since 1609, the [[Dutch East India Company]] had run a trading post on the [[Hirado Island|island of Hirado]]. The departure of the Portuguese left the Dutch employees of the "[[Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie]]" ("VOC") as the sole Westerners with trade access to Japan. For 33 years they were allowed to trade relatively freely. At its maximum, the {{Nihongo|Hirado trading post|平戸オランダ商館|Hirado Oranda Shōkan}} covered a large area.<ref>Edo-Tokyo Museum exhibition catalog. (2000). "A Very Unique Collection of Historical Significance: The Kapitan (the Dutch Chief) Collection from the Edo Period – The Dutch Fascination with Japan", p. 206.</ref> In 1637 and 1639 stone warehouses were constructed within the ambit of this Hirado trading post. Christian-era year dates were used on the stonework of the new warehouses and these were used in 1640 as a pretext to demolish the buildings and relocate the trading post to Nagasaki.<ref>Dutch Trading Post Heritage Network, 2021.[https://www.dtphn.org/hirado Hirado].</ref>

With the expulsion of the last Portuguese in 1639, Dejima became a failed commercial post and without the annual trading with Portuguese ships from Macau, the economy of Nagasaki suffered greatly. The Dutch were forced by government officials to move from Hirado to Dejima in Nagasaki.<ref name="ETM207">Edo-Tokyo Museum exhibition catalog, p. 207.</ref> From 1641 on, only Chinese and Dutch ships were allowed to come to Japan, and Nagasaki harbor was the only one they were allowed to enter.