Meiji Japan Western institutions industrialization

Japan transformed into an industrial world power

During the Meiji period, Japan changed from a feudal society ruled by shoguns into Asia's most developed state. It adopted Western systems of government, law, and the military and became an industrial world power.

Mounted couriers reached the Persian Empire’s farthest regions

15 days

The Achaemenid Persian Empire linked distant regions through a relay network of mounted couriers. They could reach its most distant areas in fifteen days. Routes included the 2,500-kilometre Royal Road between Susa and Sardis.

Freed Russian serfs often still rented land

The 1861 emancipation freed more than 23 million serfs, but many still needed land from their former masters. Their small communal plots could lack pasture, and serfs had to pay the government for land while landlords received compensation.

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Meiji Japan Western institutions industrialization

Japan transformed into an industrial world power

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