The notion of Europe ( Yôroppa) was established in Japan at the beginning of the 18th century thanks to a combination of Jesuit cartography and a meeting between a Confucian scholar and an Italian priest. It gained in significance at the start of the Meiji era, in the wake of Western aggression, in the writings of travelling intellectuals and encyclopaedists. In All the Countries of the World ( Sekai kunizukushi, 1869), Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901) described Europe as an area central to the march of civilisation, where study and knowledge had pride of place. Kume Kunitake (1839-1931), in his report on the journey undertaken by the Iwakura Mission (1871-1873) entitled A true account of the journey of observation through America and Europe (Beiô kairan jikki, 1878) further examines and reflects upon the roots of nationalism, the political foundations of civilisation and the role of international trade.