![]() ![]() Aside from extremely limited commercial relations with the Dutch (who were only permitted on one small island) and the Chinese, trade had been closed for two centuries. T he Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a tycoon as "a very wealthy and powerful business person." Ask people to name who embodies the word "tycoon" today and they'd probably describe someone like Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffet or Microsoft's Bill Gates.īut how and where did the word originate? Few people know the word traces its origins to when United States naval officer Commodore Matthew Perry worked to open trade relations with Japan in the 1850s.īefore Perry, a distinguished naval officer, arrived in the Japanese port of Edo in July of 1853, Japan had been almost completely closed to outside trade for 200 years. Enter the phrase " Wall Street tycoon" into Google and you'll get over 3 million hits linking to news and articles chronicling financial business moguls. It's a word that's been used for over 150 years to denote extreme wealth, power and success. When the Canadian billionaire and businessman Paul Desmarais died last week at the age of 86, nearly every one of his obituaries described him as a "tycoon" when discussing his career. ![]() Perry had more firepower than all the coastal artillery defending Tokyo Bay. Perry's "black ships" in Tokyo Bay in 1853 helped persuade the Japanese to negotiate a treaty. ![]()
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