Year

1853

3 sourced events from this year.

Events

1853 Timeline

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1853

Politics Born On 19th Century Latin America & Caribbean

José Martí Born in Havana

José Julián Martí Pérez was born on January 28, 1853, in Havana, Cuba, then a Spanish colony. As a teenager he became involved in the movement for Cuban independence, was imprisoned by Spanish authorities, and was later sent into exile. Martí spent much of his adult life outside Cuba, living in Spain, Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela, and the United States while working as a journalist, poet, essayist, teacher, and political organizer. His writings addressed independence, colonialism, race, democracy, culture, and the relationship between Latin America and the United States. In New York, Martí helped organize the Cuban Revolutionary Party and worked to unite exile communities behind a renewed independence struggle. He returned to Cuba in 1895 after the uprising began and...

Event Detail Cuba Explained

1853

Exploration 19th Century East Asia

Commodore Perry Enters Tokyo Bay and Opens Japan

For more than two centuries Japan had enforced a strict policy of national seclusion known as sakoku, limiting foreign contact primarily to Dutch and Chinese traders at Nagasaki. Growing American commercial interests in the Pacific, combined with the need for coaling stations for steamships, prompted the U.S. government to dispatch a naval expedition. On July 8, 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Edo Bay (modern Tokyo Bay) with four warships, including two steam frigates. Japanese officials, confronted by the formidable “black ships,” reluctantly accepted letters from President Millard Fillmore demanding trade relations. Perry returned the following year to negotiate the Treaty of Kanagawa.

Event Detail

1853

Economics 19th Century North America

Gadsden Purchase Treaty Signed with Mexico

Following the Mexican-American War and the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, disputes persisted over the precise southern border of the New Mexico Territory and the best route for a proposed southern transcontinental railroad. U.S. Minister to Mexico James Gadsden negotiated with President Antonio López de Santa Anna amid Mexico's financial difficulties and internal instability. On December 30, 1853, the two sides signed the Gadsden Purchase treaty in Mexico City, transferring approximately 29,670 square miles of land in present-day southern Arizona and New Mexico to the United States for $10 million. The agreement also addressed private American claims and clarified border issues west of El Paso. Ratification by the U.S. Senate followed in 1854 after amendments reduced the payment and territory...

Event Detail America 250 Atlas