'' original print The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the
Jōmon period (around 400 BCE). About 3,000 years ago,
Mount Hakone produced a volcanic explosion which resulted in
Lake Ashi on the western area of the prefecture. It is believed that the
imperial dynasty ruled this area from the 5th century onwards. In the
ancient era, its plains were sparsely inhabited. In medieval Japan, Kanagawa was part of the provinces of
Sagami and
Musashi.
Kamakura in central Sagami was the capital of Japan during the
Kamakura period (1185–1333). During the
Edo period, the western part of Sagami Province was governed by the
daimyō of
Odawara Castle, while the eastern part was directly governed by the
Tokugawa shogunate in
Edo (modern-day Tokyo).
Commodore Matthew Perry landed in Kanagawa in 1853 and 1854 and signed the
Convention of Kanagawa to force open Japanese ports to the United States.
Yokohama, the largest deep-water port in
Tokyo Bay, was opened to foreign traders in 1859 after several more years of foreign pressure, and eventually developed into the largest trading port in Japan. Nearby
Yokosuka, closer to the mouth of Tokyo Bay, developed as a naval port and now serves as headquarters for the
U.S. 7th Fleet and the fleet operations of the
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. After the
Meiji period, a number of foreigners lived in Yokohama City, and visited
Hakone. The
Meiji government developed the first railways in Japan, from
Shinbashi (in Tokyo) to Yokohama in 1872. The epicenter of the
1923 Great Kantō earthquake was deep beneath
Izu Ōshima (island) in Sagami Bay. It devastated Tokyo, the port city of
Yokohama, surrounding prefectures of
Chiba,
Kanagawa, and
Shizuoka, and caused widespread damage throughout the
Kantō region. The sea receded as much as 400 metres from the shore at
Manazuru Point, and then rushed back towards the shore in a great wall of water which swamped Mitsuishi-shima. At
Kamakura, the total death toll from earthquake, tsunami, and fire exceeded 2,000 victims. At
Odawara, ninety percent of the buildings collapsed immediately, and subsequent fires burned the rubble along with anything left standing. Yokohama, Kawasaki, and other major cities were heavily damaged by the U.S. bombing in 1945. Total casualties amounted to more than several thousand. After the war, General
Douglas MacArthur, the
Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers for the
Occupation of Japan, landed in Kanagawa, before moving to other areas. U.S. military bases still remain in Kanagawa, including
Camp Zama (
Army),
Yokosuka Naval Base,
Naval Air Facility Atsugi (
Navy). ==Geography==