ON THIS DAY · 23 DECEMBER 1871

Iwakura Mission

23 Dec 1871 — Nearly fifty officials left Yokohama for a 21-month tour of the United States and Europe. They included half the government’s leadership. The mission failed to revise the treaties, and its members returned convinced that Japan had to build its strength before it could win equality.

Open this map in the interactive atlas →

WW2 is free in full, and chapter 1 of every atlas is free. A free account opens 3 more chapters a day. Starter, at $9 a month, opens all 21 with no daily limit — see the plans.

Free printable Meiji Japan and post-Soviet Russia study guide, sent by email ↓

Map: Iwakura Mission, 23 December 1871 — 23 DECEMBER 1871 · REMAKING THE STATE: MEIJI JAPAN 1600–1912 AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA 1964–2000

These maps are reconstructed from published sources · Yamaguchi Prefecture: Hagi main domain and four branch domains · Cliopatria v0.2.1 dated political boundaries · Edo Domains c.1862, v0.1 · Joint Japanese–Russian compendium of territorial treaties, 1855–1905 · Natural Earth v5.1.2 complete geographic reference · Natural Earth full administrative reference units · Natural Earth v5.1.2 disputed-area references · Natural Earth v5.1.2 Amur / Heilong Jiang river centreline

Source details

Yamaguchi Prefecture cultural heritage service. Historical factual evidence; no map or prose copied
Cliopatria contributors / Seshat Global History Databank. CC BY 4.0
iao (2025), using Rekihaku village-domain records and MAFF 2015 agricultural settlement geometry; upstream processing by yaoyue00085856. CC0 1.0 · Original EPSG:4326 village polygons dissolved per domain; source enclaves and holes retained. c.1862 is the closest dated reference for earlier chapters; village proxies are not cadastral surveys.
Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Russian Federation. Official historical treaty facts
Natural Earth contributors. Public domain
Natural Earth contributors. Public domain
Natural Earth contributors. Public domain
Natural Earth contributors. Public domain

Domains in earlier years use the published c.1862 village reconstruction, the nearest available source. Tenryo and rebellion overlays are explicitly regional locators and do not claim cadastral or uniform held territory.

proxy: 1855 treaty extent; Natural Earth 5.1.2 coastline · reconstruction: 1840 · reconstruction: 1858 Treaty of Aigun · reconstruction: 1860 Treaty of Peking · reconstruction: Pre1879 geographic reference · reconstruction: Source coastline reference · reconstruction: c.1862 · reconstruction: c.1862 reference · vector: 1640–1859 · vector: 1783–1852 · vector: 1822–1855 · vector: 1824–1845 · vector: 1824–1852 · vector: 1828–1841 · vector: 1828–1855 · vector: 1834–1841 · vector: 1834–1858 · vector: 1840–1841 · vector: 1840–1845

Layer records and reconstruction methods

The atlas that shows it

Remaking the State: Meiji Japan 1600–1912 and Post-Soviet Russia 1964–2000

12 CHAPTERS · AN INTERACTIVE SITUATION MAP

THE FREE PRINTABLE STUDY GUIDE

Get the printable study guide for Remaking the State free. I’ll send you a few short letters, then one when a new atlas opens. That’s all. — Paul

NO TRACKING · YOUR ADDRESS IS USED FOR THE DISPATCH AND NOTHING ELSE · UNSUBSCRIBE ANYTIME

← EVERYTHING ON DECEMBER 23 THE FULL CALENDAR →