In just a few weeks since its debut, FX’s miniseries Shōgun has thrilled its audience and become the number one streamed show in America. Based on the novel by James Clavell, Shōgun tells the story of a power struggle for control of feudal Japan when Europeans make first contact with the island. The Portuguese and Dutch bring mystery, guns, Old World religious conflict, and most nefariously, colonial ambitions to the newly discovered nation, shaking an already unstable political structure.

While the show’s palace intrigue and warring factions are sure to scratch the itch of anyone missing Game of Thrones or Succession, the historical setting offers something unique: it provides an interesting window into the process of colonization, which is rarely shown on screen. While there’s no shortage of movies and television featuring the struggle underway between colonized and colonizers (Killers of the Flower Moon, The Expanse), seldom are audiences treated to a dramatization of imperialism’s inaugural moments. As Shōgun is set in the period of first contact between Europe and Japan, it shows the colonial process play out through the eyes of the indigenous population.

In the closing scene of the second episode, John Blackthorne, an Englishman who sailed for the Dutch, tells the Japanese Lord Toranaga that the Portuguese have laid claim over all of Japan. Speaking through a translator (who, to make matters more complicated, was converted to Catholicism by Portuguese friars), Blackthorne informs his Japanese audience about the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided the “New World” into pockets of Spanish and Portuguese hegemony. Scribbling a world map in the sand, Blackthorne explains to his Japanese audience that, in Portugal’s view, Japan belongs to them. The Japanese are rightfully aghast. “Did he really say belongs?” Lord Toranaga asks in disbelief. Blackthorne nods as dramatic music swells.