Sakhalin Island - Holidays on Sakhalin. History of the Sakhalin region: brief chronology
About 63-40 thousand years ago, Sakhalin was connected to the mainland and the island of Hokkaido. Mammoths and other animals cross the land bridge to the Sakhalin-Hokkaido Peninsula. However, about 40 thousand years ago, land bridges ended up under water. Sakhalin during this period is an island, the outlines of which are close to modern
About 63-40 thousand. years ago
Sakhalin is connected to the mainland and the island of Hokkaido. Mammoths and other animals cross the land bridge to the Sakhalin-Hokkaido Peninsula. However, about 40 thousand years ago, land bridges ended up under water. Sakhalin during this period is an island, the outlines of which are close to modern ones.
About 25-24 thousand. years ago
Sakhalin is again connected by land bridges with the mainland and Hokkaido, the islands of Shumshu and Paramushir become part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Kunashir Island and the Lesser Kuril Ridge are connected to the Sakhalin-Hokkaido Peninsula. It is likely that the first people appeared on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands during this period.
About 10 thousand years ago
Land bridges formed during the last glaciation are being absorbed by the ocean. Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands are basically taking on their modern shape.
1st millennium BC
The Okhotsk culture spreads on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.
11th-1st centuries BC.
The ancient Chinese geographical treatise "Shan Hai Jing" ("Catalogue of Mountains and Seas") reports that to the northeast of China there is Xuanguo - "Kingdom of the Blackfoot", and to the north of it - Maominguo - "Kingdom of the Hairy" and Laoming - the people lao. According to many researchers, we are talking about the lands of the Gilyaks (Nivkhs) and Ainu.
New reports from Chinese chronicles about the peoples of Sakhalin (Gilyak-Nivkh and Kuyakhain). The appearance of information about the country of Lyuguy (most likely, we are talking about Sakhalin).
Beginning of Japanese penetration into Hokkaido.
Mongol troops reach the mouth of the Amur and subjugate the Gilemi (i.e. Gilyak or Nivkh) tribes of the Lower Amur and Northern Sakhalin.
The first expedition of the Mongols against the Sakhalin Kui (Ainu) tribes.
The journey of the Venetian Marco Polo through the countries of East and Central Asia. The appearance in Europe of the first information about the islands lying in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean.
The second expedition of the Mongols against the Kuys.
The third expedition of the Mongols against the Kuys.
Deployment of Mongolian garrisons on Sakhalin.
The last Kui leader submits to the Mongol Yuan dynasty and agrees to pay tribute to it
20s XIV century
The Mongols leave Sakhalin.
The Matsumaz clan, which played an important role in the development of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands by Japan, became the head of the Japanese settlers in Hokkaido.
The Chinese Emperor Chengzu decides to send a large expedition to the Lower Amur, led by the eunuch Ishiha.
A Chinese detachment of more than a thousand soldiers reaches the lower reaches of the Amur. In the area of Tyr, on a high cliff, the Chinese are building the Temple of Eternal Peace, a sculpture of Buddha and a monument with inscriptions in Chinese, Tibetan, Mongolian and Jurchen.
The Chinese Emperor Xuanzong again sent Ishiha to the Lower Amur.
Portuguese sailors reach the shores of Japan for the first time.
80s XVI century
The appearance of the legend of the gold and silver island in the North Pacific Ocean.
Oroks (ulta) migrate to Sakhalin from the Amur region.
The Matsumazha clan, supported by the central government, takes control of most of Hokkaido.
30s XVII century
A self-isolation regime is being introduced in Japan.
The head of the Matsumae clan, Kimihiro, sends the first Japanese expedition to Sakhalin. The clan's vassals only manage to reach Cape Notoro (Crillon).
The southern part of Sakhalin is explored by a vassal of the Matsumae clan, Komichi Sezazmen.
A detachment of Russian Cossacks led by I.Yu. Moskvitin goes to the Sea of Okhotsk.
I. Yu. Moskvitin receives the first information about the peoples of Sakhalin. 1643 - a Dutch expedition consisting of the ships "Castricum" and "Breskens" under the command of M. G. Friese explores the shores of the Lesser Kuril Ridge, Kunashir, Iturup, Urup and South Sakhalin.
The first map of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands was compiled in Japan.
Participants of the Amur campaign under the leadership of V.D. Poyarkov observed the northwestern coast of Sakhalin for the first time.
Manchu troops expel Russian Cossacks from the Lower Amur.
Many tribes of the Lower Amur begin to pay tribute to the Manchus.
An agreement was signed between Russia and the Manchus in Nerchinsk. Russia had to leave the Amur region for almost a century and a half. As a result, Sakhalin finds itself outside the sphere of Russian influence for a long time.
A detachment of Russian Cossacks under the command of V.V. Atlasov from the southwestern coast of Kamchatka sees the island of Alaid.
M. Nasedkin’s detachment reaches the southern tip of Kamchatka and sees the island of Shumshu.
The Manchu Emperor Kangxi sends an expedition to the Lower Amur. During the expedition, information was collected about a large island lying at the mouth of the Amur.
The Manchus send an expedition to Sakhalin. As a result of the expedition, the first Manchurian map of Sakhalin appears.
A detachment of Kamchatka Cossacks under the leadership of D. Ya. Antsiferov and I. P. Kozyrevsky lands on Shumshu, the northernmost island of the Great Kuril Ridge.
A detachment of Russian Cossacks and industrial people under the command of I.P. Kozyrevsky lands on Paramushir. Residents of Paramushir have to pay tribute and recognize Russian authority. Based on the information collected during the expedition, I. P. Kozyrevsky managed to compile his “Drawing of the Sea Islands,” which included a variety of information about most of the Kuril Islands, as well as about Hokkaido and Japan.
Peter I sent Russian surveyors I.B. Evreinov and F.F. Luzhin to explore the northern part of the Pacific Ocean.
I. B. Evreinov and F. F. Luzhin on the boat "Vostok" explore the northern part of the Great Kuril Ridge.
I. B. Evreinov is received by Peter I and gives him his map of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands.
The elders of the Ainu clans of Kunashir and Iturup bring tribute to the Matsumaz clan for the first time.
J. B. d'Anville publishes an atlas of a geographer and cartographer in Paris. In it, next to the image of Sakhalin, the French cartographer places the inscription: “The name that is usually given to this island is “Sagalien-Anga-Khata,” which means the island of the mouth of the Black (river) )".
A Russian expedition on three ships under the command of Captain M.P. Shpanberg made an attempt to reach from Kamchatka to the shores of Japan. During the voyage, the Kuril Islands are explored.
Four Russian ships under the command of Captain M.P. Shpanberg are sailing to the shores of Japan. On the way back, Russian sailors discover the islands of Shikotan and Iturup.
M.P. Shpanberg sends the double-boat "Nadezhda" under the command of D.E. Shelting to describe the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk from the Uda River to the mouth of the Amur. During the voyage, Nadezhda approaches the Sakhalin coast near Cape Terpeniya and explores the eastern coast of the island for two weeks.
Around 1750
Manchu troops land on Sakhalin. The island's population becomes dependent on Manchuria.
The headman of the islands Shumshu and Paramushir N. Storozhev, pursuing the fugitive Ainu, reaches the island of Simushir.
Japanese merchant Hidaya Kyubey establishes a trading post in the far south of Kunashir.
The Russian Cossack I. Cherny reached the island of Iturup and managed to persuade the Ainu who lived there to Russian citizenship.
Attacks of the Kuril Ainu on Russian industrialists
A Russian detachment under the command of I.M. Antipin establishes a winter quarters on the island of Urup.
A Russian expedition led by D. Ya. Shabalin brings the Ainu of Iturup and Kunashir into Russian citizenship.
Decree of Empress Catherine II banning the collection of yasak from the South Kuril Ainu.
A Japanese expedition led by Ooishi Ippei travels to South Sakhalin.
Japanese explorer M. Tokunai visits the islands of Kunashir and Iturup.
A French expedition under the command of J.-F. is conducting research off the coast of Sakhalin. La Perouse.
Anti-Japanese Ainu uprising on Kunashir Island.
90s XVIII century
Expeditions to Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands are undertaken by the Japanese explorer M. Tokunai.
90s XVIII century
The emergence of Japanese trading posts in Southern Sakhalin.
The Kuril Islands and Sakhalin are explored by an English expedition under the command of Captain W.R. Broughton.
A Japanese expedition led by Kondo Shigetoshi and M. Tokunai visits the island of Iturup and erects a pillar there with the inscription “Etorofu - the possession of Great Japan.”
Formation of the Russian-American Company. The privileges granted to the company from the highest level allow it to use “all industries and establishments” on the Kuril Islands.
The first Russian round-the-world expedition on the sloops "Nadezhda" and "Neva" under the leadership of I. F. Krusenstern.
Unsuccessful Russian embassy to Japan under the leadership of N.P. Rezanov.
The Russian sloop "Nadezhda", under the command of I.F. Krusenstern, is exploring the coast of Sakhalin.
The first Russian-Japanese armed conflict in South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.
October 1806
The Russian brig "Juno", under the command of N.A. Khvostov, destroys Japanese settlements in Southern Sakhalin.
N.A. Khvostov proclaims Sakhalin to be the possession of Russia.
The Russian ships "Juno" and "Avos", under the command of N.A. Khvostov and G.I. Davydov, destroy the Japanese garrison on the island of Iturup.
The management of the Russian-American company receives permission from the Russian government to establish its settlements on Sakhalin.
The Japanese are restoring destroyed settlements on Sakhalin and Iturup.
Japanese officials Matsuda Denjuro and Mamiya Rinzou travel along the eastern and western coasts of Sakhalin.
Mamiya Rindzo's second trip to Sakhalin and a trip to the Amur.
The Japanese garrison of Kunashir Island captures the Russian navigator V. M. Golovnin. V. M. Golovnin spends more than two years in Japanese captivity and receives freedom only after the Russian administration assures the Japanese that N. A. Khvostov’s raids on Sakhalin and Iturup were of an unauthorized nature.
Emperor Alexander I grants new privileges to the Russian-American Company. The southern cape of the island of Urup is called the extreme possession of the Russian Empire in the Kuril Islands.
The Russian brig "Konstantin" under the command of A. M. Gavrilov is conducting research in the Amur Estuary and off the coast of Sakhalin.
The Russian transport "Baikal", under the command of G.I. Nevelsky, is conducting research on the Amur Estuary. Russian sailors found the southern entrance to the Amur Estuary - the strait between Sakhalin and the mainland.
G.I. Nevelskoy raises the Russian flag on the Lower Amur and proclaims it and the island of Sakhalin to be the possession of Russia.
Sakhalin journey of Lieutenant N.K. Boshnyak. Discovery of coal deposits on Sakhalin.
G.I. Nevelskoy founded the Muravyovsky post (on the territory of modern Korsakov) and proclaimed Sakhalin the property of Russia.
The first Russian-Japanese treaty was signed in the city of Shimoda. The Treaty of Shimoda stipulates that the border between Russia and Japan will pass between the islands of Urup and Iturup. Sakhalin was left undivided.
Foundation of the military post of Douai.
Foundation of the Kusunaisky military post.
A Russian-Chinese agreement was signed in the city of Aigun. In accordance with the Aigun Treaty, the left bank of the Amur becomes the property of Russia.
The appearance of the first exiles on Sakhalin.
Founding of the military post of Manuz.
A Russian-Chinese treaty was signed in Beijing. In accordance with the Beijing Treaty, Russia receives Primorye.
Establishment of the Muravyovsky post in the area of Busse Island.
Russian geologist Innokenty Aleksandrovich Lopatin collects several collections of fragments of ceramics and stone tools in various parts of Sakhalin.
Sakhalin is officially declared a place of hard labor and exile.
Founding of the village of Malo-Alexandrovka - the first Russian village on Sakhalin.
On the site of the Muravyovsky post established in 1853, the Korsakovsky post was founded.
At the mouth of the Poronay River, the Tikhmenevsky post (modern Poronaysk) was founded.
Foundation of the Mauka post (modern Kholmsk).
A Russian-Japanese treaty was signed in St. Petersburg. In accordance with this treaty, Japan cedes all its rights to Sakhalin to Russia in exchange for the Russian-owned Kuril Islands (Urup and all the islands north to Shumshu Island inclusive).
Founding of the village of Rykovskoye (currently Kirovskoye).
Founding of the village of Derbinskoye (currently Tymovskoye).
Foundation of Aleksandrovsky's post.
The emergence of the villages of Solovyovka, Mitsulka, Nayoro, and Vladimirovka in Southern Sakhalin (in the territory of modern Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk).
By decision of the Japanese government, all Northern Kuril Ainu were resettled from their islands to the island of Shikotan, where a small village was built for them.
Japanese researcher Ryuzo Torii is conducting excavations on the islands of Shumshu and Paramushir.
Sakhalin journey of A.P. Chekhov.
The first edition of A.P. Chekhov's book "Sakhalin Island" is published.
The first museum on Sakhalin was founded in the Aleksandrovsky post.
The Russian cruiser Novik was attacked in Aniva Bay by the Japanese cruiser Tsushima. After the battle, Russian sailors sank the damaged Novik near the Korsakovsky post.
June-July 1905
Japanese troops occupy Sakhalin.
A peace treaty between Russia and Japan was signed in Portsmouth (USA). In accordance with the agreement, Russia cedes the southern part of Sakhalin to Japan.
The Russian government decides to abolish hard labor and exile on Sakhalin.
With the help of the railway battalion of the Japanese army, the first railway was built on Sakhalin, connecting Otomari (Korsakov) and the village of Vladimirovka (later the city of Toyohara, from 1946 - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk).
The decision of the Japanese government to form the governorate of Karafuto on the territory of South Sakhalin.
The city of Toyohara becomes the center of the Karafuto governorate.
The Russian government declares Sakhalin free for free settlement.
Sakhalin migrants are exempt from military service.
The first radio station in Northern Sakhalin starts operating in Aleksandrovsk.
March 1917
In Northern Sakhalin, the administration appointed by the tsarist government was removed from power. Power on the island passes to the Sakhalin Committee of Public Security, and then to the Commissioner of the Provisional Government.
April 1917
The Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies is created in Aleksandrovsk.
September-October 1917
In Northern Sakhalin, on the basis of universal and equal suffrage, elections were held for local government bodies: the Aleksandrovsk City Duma, the Mikhailovsky and Tymovsky Zemstvo Assemblies.
March 1918
Power in Northern Sakhalin passes to the O. Sakhalin Self-Government Collective, formed by the authorized representatives of the Aleksandrovsk City Duma, Mikhailovsky and Tymovsky Zemstvo Assemblies.
August 1918
The leaders of the self-governments of Northern Sakhalin declare non-recognition of Soviet power.
Autumn 1918
The power of the government of A.V. Kolchak extends to Northern Sakhalin.
Anti-Kolchak coup in Aleksandrovsk. Power in Northern Sakhalin passes into the hands of the Provisional Revolutionary Committee headed by A.T. Tsapko.
Proclamation of Soviet power in Northern Sakhalin.
Two thousand Japanese troops landed in Aleksandrovsk. Following the transfer of power in Northern Sakhalin into the hands of the Japanese military administration, arrests and murders of the most authoritative supporters of the Soviets followed.
The "Convention on the Basic Principles of Relations between the USSR and Japan" was signed in Beijing. The Beijing Convention returns Northern Sakhalin to the USSR.
The last Japanese detachment leaves Northern Sakhalin. The power of the Soviet administration extends to the northern part of the island.
Representatives of the USSR and Japan sign concession agreements in Moscow for the exploitation of the oil and coal fields of Northern Sakhalin for 45 years.
Construction of the Toyohara-Maoka railway is nearing completion.
To exploit the Soviet part of the oil fields of Northern Sakhalin, the USSR government creates the Sakhalinneft state trust.
The beginning of regular air service between Northern Sakhalin and the mainland (Khabarovsk - Okha, Khabarovsk - Aleksandrovsk).
The beginning of regular air service between Southern Sakhalin and Japan (Tokyo - Sendai - Aomori - Sapporo - Toyohara).
First flight on the route Moscow - Sakhalin.
The USSR government adopts a resolution “On the eviction of Koreans from the territory of the Far Eastern Territory.” During October, all Koreans without exception are evicted to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from Northern Sakhalin.
Signing of the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact.
A Japanese aircraft carrier force is heading from Hitokappu Bay near Iturup Island to the Hawaiian Islands. On December 7, planes launched from Japanese aircraft carriers destroy the main US naval forces in the Pacific in Pearl Harbor.
Liquidation of Japanese concessions in Northern Sakhalin.
J.V. Stalin, F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill sign an agreement in Yalta on the conditions for the USSR to enter the war with Japan. Among them is the return of South Sakhalin to the USSR and the transfer of the Kuril Islands.
The USSR declares war on Japan.
Fights for the liberation of South Sakhalin.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the land, subsoil, forests, waters of Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands are declared the property of the Soviet state. At the same time, the South Sakhalin Region was formed on the territory of the southern part of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The new region is included in the Khabarovsk Territory.
Repatriation of the Japanese population of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.
Liquidation of the Yuzhno-Sakhalin region and its inclusion in the Sakhalin region. Separation of the united region from the Khabarovsk Territory.
The beginning of construction by prisoners of an underground railway tunnel between Sakhalin and the mainland from Cape Pogibi to Cape Lazarev. Construction was interrupted after the death of I.V. Stalin.
A peace treaty with Japan was signed in San Francisco. The text of the San Francisco Peace Treaty stated that Japan renounced all rights, title and claims to the Kuril Islands and that part of Sakhalin Island and the adjacent islands over which Japan acquired sovereignty under the Treaty of Portsmouth. However, in whose favor Japan was giving up these territories, it was not said. The Soviet delegation did not sign the agreement.
A giant tsunami wave hit the northern Kuril Islands. The city of Severo-Kurilsk and the villages of Paramushir and Shumshu were almost completely destroyed. More than 2,300 people died.
The Soviet-Japanese declaration was signed in Moscow. It spoke about the end of the state of war between the USSR and Japan. Article 9 of the declaration provided for the continuation of negotiations on concluding a peace treaty between the USSR and Japan and included the consent of the USSR to transfer to Japan after the conclusion of this treaty the islands of Habomai and Shikotan.
The Soviet government refuses to fulfill the obligations assumed in Article 9 of the Moscow Declaration.
Beginning of regular television broadcasting.
In the skies over Sakhalin, a Soviet fighter shoots down a South Korean passenger plane. 269 people die.
A spontaneous rally of residents of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk demanding the resignation of the leadership of the Sakhalin Regional Committee of the CPSU.
Removal of the CPSU from power in the region.
Coexistence of the regional council and the head of administration appointed by the president.
Elimination of the Soviets.
As a result of a catastrophic earthquake, the urban settlement of Neftegorsk was completely destroyed. About 2,000 people died.
Russian Civilization
Sakhalin region in the XVII-XVIII centuries.
The ancient and medieval history of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands is full of secrets. The ethnicity of the population of the islands remains a mystery until the appearance of the first Europeans and Japanese here. And they appeared on the islands only in the 17th century and found the Ainu on the Kuril Islands and southern Sakhalin, and the Nivkhs on northern Sakhalin. Probably even then, the Ulta (Oroks) lived in the central and northern regions of Sakhalin.
The first European expedition to land on the Kuril and Sakhalin coasts was the expedition of the Dutch navigator M.G. Friese. Russian explorers also played a huge role in the study of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. First - in 1646 - the expedition of V.D. Poyarkov discovers the northwestern coast of Sakhalin, and in 1697 V.V. Atlasov learns about the existence of the Kuril Islands. Already in the 10s. XVIII century The process of studying and gradually annexing the Kuril Islands to the Russian state begins. Russia's successes in the development of the Kuril Islands became possible thanks to the enterprise, courage and patience of D.Ya.Antsiferov, I.P.Kozyrevsky, I.M.Evreinov, F.F.Luzhin, M.P.Shpanberg, V.Valton, D.Ya Shabalin, G.I. Shelikhov and many other Russian explorers. Simultaneously with the Russians, who were moving along the Kuril Islands from the north, the Japanese began to penetrate into the Southern Kuril Islands and the extreme south of Sakhalin. Already in the second half of the 18th century. Japanese trading posts and fishing grounds appeared here, and since the 80s. XVIII century - scientific expeditions begin to work. Mogami Tokunai and Mamiya Rinzou played a special role in Japanese research. At the end of the 18th century. Research off the coast of Sakhalin was carried out by a French expedition under the command of J.-F. La Perouse and an English expedition under the command of V.R. Broughton. Their work is associated with the emergence of a theory about the peninsular position of Sakhalin. The Russian navigator I.F. Kruzenshtern also made his contribution to this theory, who in the summer of 1805 unsuccessfully tried to pass between Sakhalin and the mainland.
Sakhalin region in the 19th century.
G.I. Nevelskoy put an end to the dispute, who in 1849 managed to find a navigable strait between the island and the mainland. Nevelskoy's discoveries were followed by the annexation of Sakhalin to Russia. Russian military posts and villages appear on the island one after another.
In 1869-1906. Sakhalin was the largest penal servitude in Russia. From the beginning of the 19th century. Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands are becoming the object of a Russian-Japanese territorial dispute. In 1806-1807 On Southern Sakhalin and Iturup, Russian sailors destroyed Japanese settlements. The response to this was the capture of the Russian navigator V.M. Golovnin by the Japanese in Kunashir. Over the past two centuries, the Russian-Japanese border has changed several times.
In 1855, in accordance with the Treaty of Shimoda, the border passed between the islands of Urup and Iturup, while Sakhalin was left undivided. In 1875, Russia transferred the Northern Kuril Islands, which belonged to it, to Japan, receiving in return all rights to Sakhalin.
In 1869-1906. Sakhalin was the largest penal servitude in Russia. Hard labor was used in coal mining and forest cutting. In order to quickly colonize the island, the accelerated formation of new settlements began, and female criminals began to be brought to the island.
During the entire existence of hard labor, more than 30 thousand people were sent to the island, including 54 participants in the revolutionary movement. Most of the political prisoners were highly educated people who, through their scientific and educational activities, made a significant contribution to the development of the cultural life of Sakhalin Island.
Sakhalin region in the 20th century.
In 1904, the Japanese captured Sakhalin. Having landed on the island, from where the Russian administration had already evacuated, the Japanese began to manage in their own way. They shot most of the convicts held in prisons and established new orders for the exiled settlers. They soon felt that life under the Japanese was even worse than hard labor and flocked en masse to the mainland. The number of Russians on the island decreased from 40 to 5-6 thousand.
In 1905, after defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, Russia retained only half of the island of Sakhalin - north of the 50th parallel. Under the Treaty of Portsmouth, the southern half of the island ceded to Japan. Along the border, across the island, a giant clearing was cut in the taiga and border posts were installed. With the capture of the southern half of Sakhalin, Japan closed the island ring with which it surrounded Russian possessions off the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
After the division of Sakhalin, the Japanese began to intensively populate the southern part of the island.
In 1909, the Sakhalin region with its center in Aleksandrovsk was allocated in the Primorsky General Government. The Russian government took measures to settle Northern Sakhalin. But these measures were as little successful as during the Sakhalin hard labor. Sakhalin has gained sad fame. Population growth on Sakhalin was extremely weak.
Work continued to study the island. New information has emerged about the natural resources of Sakhalin. Oil exploration began in a number of locations. In the Okha region, oil was discovered by the Russians back in the 80s of the 19th century. Representatives of the resettlement department studied the soil, climate and vegetation of the island, identifying areas suitable for settlement.
Russian merchants and industrialists showed great interest in developing the natural resources of Sakhalin. With assistance from the government, the economy of Northern Sakhalin could develop rapidly. But the tsarist administration not only did not provide this assistance, on the contrary, it created conditions under which all attempts by the population and entrepreneurs to advance the development of Sakhalin industry remained in vain.
In 1920-1925 Northern Sakhalin was under Japanese occupation.
Sakhalin region during the Great Patriotic War
On the evening of June 22, 1941, it became known on the island about the attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union and the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. And although Northern Sakhalin remained deep in the rear almost throughout the war, people here worked for victory. The exhibition presents a model of the Okha-Sofia-on-Amur oil pipeline, built in the cold winter of 1941-1942. It played an important role in providing fuel to the Far East and Eastern Siberia. Photographs and documents of the exhibition tell about the hard and persistent work of Sakhalin oil workers, miners, and fishermen. Among them are G.T.Podshivailov, N.T.Volkov, I.K.Krasyukov, F.I.Ilyin. One of the photographs shows a female crew at an oil field. Women replaced men in the workplace. In the display case there is a photograph and documents of one of them, Ksenia Semyonovna Borodina, who worked as a foreman of field workers at the Krasnaya Tym state farm and accompanied her five sons and husband to the front.
Next is an exhibition complex dedicated to the Sakhalin residents who fought on the fronts. It contains documents, personal belongings, letters from front-line soldiers, including N.D. Grishchenko, M.R. Khasanshin, S.E. Valenteev. Bravely fighting the enemy, the Sakhalin residents made their contribution to the cause of victory. The photograph that concludes this exhibition shows a rally in Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky in honor of the victory on May 9, 1945.
In August 1945, Sakhalin turned from deep behind into a battlefield when Soviet landing troops crossed the border and landed at southern ports. Photographs and documents at the beginning of the exhibition document the Tehran 1943 and Yalta 1945 conferences, where the USSR committed itself to going to war with Japan. Although the main events took place in Manchuria, the Yuzhno-Sakhalin and Kuril operations were also very important. The diagrams on display show the directions of the main attacks of the Soviet troops. Nearby are portraits of Heroes of the Soviet Union S.T. Yudin, G.G. Svetetsky, P.N. Sidorov, and L.V. Smirnykh and A.E. Buyukly received this title posthumously. Photographs and documents tell about the amphibious landings in the Japanese ports of Esutoro, Maoka, Otomari and the bloody battles associated with this. Next are the things and documents of participants in the battles of Lieutenant Colonel D.T. Serdyuk and M.G. Dodonov. On August 25, the fighting on Sakhalin ended, and the territory lost in 1905 was returned to Russia.
The exhibition continues with materials dedicated to the Kuril landing operation, which occupies a special place in the actions of Soviet troops in the Far East. Among the exhibits are operational diagrams, Soviet and captured weapons. Japan had numerous garrisons in the Kuril Islands. On August 18, Soviet troops landed on the fortress island of Shumshu. Superiority in forces was on the side of the enemy. In heavy battles that lasted five days, the soldiers showed massive heroism. The photographs depict sailors N.A. Vilkov and P.I. Ilyichev, the commander of the forward detachment, Major P.I. Shutov, foreman V.I. Sigov and many others. On August 23, Japanese resistance was broken. The garrisons of the remaining islands surrendered without a fight. By September 1, the entire territory of the future Sakhalin region was liberated. The exhibition concludes with a photograph depicting the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on board the American battleship Missouri on September 2, 1945. Thus ended the Second World War.
Sakhalin region in the post-war years
In 1945, when our country regained South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands as a result of victory in World War II, the Russian-Japanese border underwent changes for the last time. After 1945, the southern part of Sakhalin Island, together with the Kuril Islands, was returned to Russia by Japan, and for some time the Sakhalin and Yuzhno-Sakhalin regions existed separately.
On January 2, 1947, a unified Sakhalin region was formed as part of the RSFSR.
The 50s passed for the Sakhalin region, as well as throughout the country, under the sign of a great post-war rise in the labor and creative activity of the Soviet people.
In the post-war years, the development of the national economy of the Sakhalin region was directly dependent on the resettlement policy of the Soviet state. The first settlers arrived in June 1946. On the territory of the current district, collective farms “4th Five-Year Plan” were organized with a central estate in the village. Buyukly, “Dawn” (Berezino), “New Life” (Orlovo village). Muisky, Vladimirovsky, Pervomaisky timber industry enterprises operated.
In the post-war years, the oil industry of the Sakhalin region faced new challenges, and new prospects for further increasing oil and gas production opened up.
Much attention was paid to expanding prospecting and exploration work. If in 1945 13.5 thousand meters of exploration wells were drilled, then already in 1950 the volume of exploration drilling exceeded 53 thousand meters, in 1958 - 90 thousand meters and continued to grow steadily, which led to the discovery of a number of oil and gas fields. deposits: Paromai, Gilyako-Abunan, Eastern Ekhabi, Sabo, Mukhto, Tungor, Kolendo, Kydylanyi and others.
The ancient and medieval history of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands is full of secrets. So, today we do not know (and are unlikely to ever know) when the first people appeared on our islands. Archaeological discoveries of recent decades allow us to say only that this happened in the Paleolithic era. The ethnicity of the population of the islands remains a mystery until the arrival of the first Europeans and Japanese.
And they appeared on the islands only in the 17th century and found the Ainu on the Kuril Islands and southern Sakhalin, and the Nivkhs on northern Sakhalin. Probably even then, the Ulta (Oroks) lived in the central and northern regions of Sakhalin.
The first European expedition to land on the Kuril and Sakhalin coasts was the expedition of the Dutch navigator M.G. Friese. He not only explored and mapped the southeast of Sakhalin and the Southern Kuril Islands, but also proclaimed Urup the possession of Holland, which, however, remained without any consequences.
Russian explorers also played a huge role in the study of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. First - in 1646 - the expedition of V.D. Poyarkov discovers the northwestern coast of Sakhalin, and in 1697 V.V. Atlasov learns about the existence of the Kuril Islands. 
Already in the 10s. XVIII century The process of studying and gradually annexing the Kuril Islands to the Russian state begins. Russia's successes in the development of the Kuril Islands became possible thanks to the enterprise, courage and patience of D.Ya.Antsiferov, I.P.Kozyrevsky, I.M.Evreinov, F.F.Luzhin, M.P.Shpanberg, V.Valton, D.Ya Shabalin, G.I. Shelikhov and many other Russian explorers.
Simultaneously with the Russians, who were moving along the Kuril Islands from the north, the Japanese began to penetrate into the Southern Kuril Islands and the extreme south of Sakhalin. Already in the second half of the 18th century. Japanese trading posts and fishing grounds appeared here, and since the 80s. XVIII century - scientific expeditions begin to work. Mogami Tokunai and Mamiya Rinzou played a special role in Japanese research.
At the end of the 18th century. Research off the coast of Sakhalin was carried out by a French expedition under the command of J.-F. La Perouse and an English expedition under the command of V.R. Broughton. Their work is associated with the emergence of a theory about the peninsular position of Sakhalin. The Russian navigator I.F. Kruzenshtern also made his contribution to this theory, who in the summer of 1805 unsuccessfully tried to pass between Sakhalin and the mainland.
The dispute was put to an end by G.I. Nevelskoy, who in 1849 managed to find a navigable strait between the island and the mainland. Nevelskoy's discoveries were followed by the annexation of Sakhalin to Russia. Russian military posts and villages appear on the island one after another.
In 1869-1906. Sakhalin was the largest penal servitude in Russia.
From the beginning of the 19th century. Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands are becoming the object of a Russian-Japanese territorial dispute. In 1806-1807 On Southern Sakhalin and Iturup, Russian sailors destroyed Japanese settlements. The response to this was the capture of the Russian navigator V.M. Golovnin by the Japanese in Kunashir. Over the past two centuries, the Russian-Japanese border has changed several times.
In 1855, in accordance with the Treaty of Shimoda, the border passed between the islands of Urup and Iturup, while Sakhalin was left undivided. In 1875, Russia transferred the Northern Kuril Islands, which belonged to it, to Japan, receiving in return all rights to Sakhalin.
As a result of Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. Japan managed to seize South Sakhalin from it. In 1920-1925 Northern Sakhalin was under Japanese occupation. The last time the Russian-Japanese border underwent changes was in 1945, when our country, as a result of victory in World War II, regained South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.
The scandal surrounding the activities of the former governor of Sakhalin caused some, and, unfortunately, mostly unhealthy interest in the great island. But his story does not at all boil down to the fact that the mayor is flogged and the townsfolk are in awe. The history of outstanding navigators, brave explorers, valiant soldiers and sailors, wise diplomats, strong-willed administrators - all this is the history of Sakhalin. But hard labor, voluntarism, betrayal, corruption - and this is also the history of Sakhalin.
Meanwhile, this year falls on many anniversaries associated with Sakhalin. In 1805, it was explored by Kruzenshtern, in 1850 the Russian development of the island began, in 1875 it was declared in the undivided possession of the Russian Empire, but already in 1905, for exactly 40 years, the southern half of the island belonged to Japan. And finally, in 1945, all of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands became completely ours.
The Sakhalin region, which includes the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, is one of the most unique regions of historical Russia. The Sakhalin region is the only one in Russia entirely located on islands. But, of course, this is not the uniqueness of the ethnic history of the region. Actually, on the territory of the unified Sakhalin region, three subregions with their own ethnic destiny can be distinguished - 1. Northern Sakhalin; 2.South Sakhalin; 3. Kuril Islands.
Sakhalin is a large island stretching 948 km from north to south. It is separated from the mainland by the Tatar Strait and the narrow Nevelskoy Strait. The northern third of Sakhalin is occupied mainly by the North Sakhalin Lowland. The eastern coast in this low-lying part of the island is indented by many lagoons, stretched in a chain along the coast and separated from the sea by sand spits. The remaining two-thirds of the island is mountainous.
The climate of Sakhalin, as well as the adjacent mainland of the Far East, is monsoon. The winter monsoon, coming from the cooled mainland, causes the severity of winter; The summer monsoon is associated with rain and fog, especially intense on the coast. In winter there is relatively a lot of snow in the mountains. But, however, since Sakhalin is very elongated in the meridional direction, the climate in the north and south of the island is very different - in the north it is almost tundra, in the south it is almost tropical.
People have inhabited Sakhalin since Paleolithic times. By the time Europeans appeared on Sakhalin in the 17th century, the southern part of the island was inhabited by the Ainu - the indigenous inhabitants of Japan and the Kuril Islands. The northern part of the island, along with the lower reaches of the Amur, was inhabited by the Gilyaks (now Nivkhs).
In 1643, the Dutch appeared off the coast of the Lesser Kuril Ridge. In July of the same year, they saw the shores of Sakhalin, but due to heavy fog, Dutch captain M.G. de Vries concluded that Sakhalin is part of Hokkaido. Soon the era of Russian discoveries of Sakhalin began. The discoverers of Sakhalin were Russian Cossack explorers who came to the Amur from Yakutsk. In 1639-1641. a detachment of Cossacks Ivan Yuryevich Moskvitin found himself near the lower reaches of the Amur. The Moskvitians visited the Shantar Islands. Here they received the first information about the Amur and Sakhalin Island from local residents. Analysis of the text of the documents made it possible to reliably establish that in the winter of 1639-40 on the Okhotsk coast, local Evens, who knew the sea route to the mouth of the Amur well, first informed the Russians about the existence of the “islands of the Gilyak Horde”, where “sedentary Gilyaks live, and they have fed bears” .
However, Russian fur traders preferred to move into the seas rich in marine mammals in the waters around Kamchatka and Alaska. Because of this, Sakhalin for some time found itself on the sidelines of the Russian advance. Throughout the 18th century, the Russians, who had advanced far into the lands and seas of North America, were not interested in Sakhalin. The situation changed only at the beginning of the 19th century. The leader of the first Russian round-the-world expedition, I.F. Kruzenshtern, undertook the first significant exploration of Sakhalin.
Approaching Sakhalin on May 14, 1805, his ship dropped anchor in Aniva Bay. I.F. Kruzenshtern explored the island in detail, got acquainted with the life of the Ainu and distributed gifts to them. In the summer of the same year, expedition members described and mapped the entire eastern and northwestern coast of Sakhalin, as well as 14 islands of the Kuril ridge. However, Kruzenshtern considered Sakhalin a “peninsula”, believing that it was connected to the mainland by a sandy isthmus.
By this time, the Japanese began to appear in the waters of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Despite its geographical proximity, Japan at the beginning of the 19th century was just beginning to develop the northern part of the island of Hokkaido (north of which Sakhalin is located). It was not until 1807 that the first group of samurai wintered in northern Hokkaido. Some Japanese fishermen were already trying to fish in the waters around Sakhalin, and some merchants began irregular trade with the aborigines. Thus, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands at that time were still “no man’s” land (the opinions of the aborigines did not count).
In 1805-07, Lieutenant N.A. Khvostov midshipman and G.I. Davydov on the ships “Juno” and “Avos” made an expedition to the shores of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Throughout the voyage, they explored the shores, studied the life and customs of the local population, and compiled a dictionary of the Ainu. They also burned Japanese warehouses on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. By the way, in modern Japan this is considered as “aggression” against the Land of the Rising Sun.
True, once again the distraction of St. Petersburg by European affairs and the underestimation of the importance of Russia's Pacific possessions delayed the actual assignment of Sakhalin to Russia. N.A. Khvostov and G.I. Davydov were even put on trial for arbitrariness.
G.I. Nevelskoy played a decisive role in the annexation of Sakhalin to Russia. In 1849 G.I. Nevelskoy, using the Baikal transport, examined the eastern, northern and northwestern shores of Sakhalin, the fairway of the Amur River and established that its mouth was accessible to sea vessels, thereby establishing that Sakhalin is an island. Having raised the Russian flag, G.I. Nevelskoy began practical actions to annex and settle Sakhalin.
On September 21, 1853, a Russian landing force was landed near the village of Tomari-Aniva from the ship "Nikolai". Having met with the Ainu elders, G.I. Nevelskoy declared Sakhalin the property of Russia.
In the same year, D.I. Orlov, at the direction of G.I. Nevelskoy, founded the first Russian military post on Sakhalin, Ilyinsky (now the village of Ilyinsky), and Nevelskoy himself on the shore of Aniva Bay, founded the military post Muravyovsky (on the site of the future Korsakov).
According to data from 1854, updated in 1857, in the south of the island there were 95 Ainu camps, in which 2,479 people lived. The general picture of the settlement of the natives looked as follows. There were 35 camps on the coast of Aniva Bay, 22 along the shore of the Sea of Okhotsk, and 35 along the shore of the Tatar Strait. The interior spaces of the southern part of Sakhalin remained almost uninhabited. The Gilyaks lived in the northern part. The total number of aborigines did not exceed 3 thousand people.
Decisive Russian action on Sakhalin was hampered by the legal uncertainty of Sakhalin, which was claimed by Japan.
On January 26, 1855, in the Japanese city of Shimoda, the first Russian-Japanese treaty was signed, according to which most of the Kuril Islands remained with Russia (the border was along the strait between Urup Island and Iturup Island), and Sakhalin remained undivided. Only 20 years later, according to the Treaty of St. Petersburg, Japan recognized all of Sakhalin as Russia's, and in exchange received all of the Kuril Islands.
But even now the Russian development of Sakhalin proceeded rather slowly. The incredible remoteness of the island, the unusual climate for Russian people and the lack of people prevented this. And then in St. Petersburg the idea arose to organize hard labor on Sakhalin. It was assumed that the convicts would be removed from main Russia, and willy-nilly they would be forced to engage in honest labor, re-educate and develop the island. The history of English hard labor in Australia and French hard labor in New Caledonia seemed to be a positive example.
The socio-economic situation also pushed us towards this. In post-reform Russia of the 60-90s. In the 19th century, large-scale social changes took place, such as the dispossession of the peasantry, the rapid growth of cities, in which masses of lumpen and asocial elements accumulated, which gave rise to an increase in crime. At the same time, social movements intensified. Peasant riots, student unrest, populist terrorism, strike struggles - all this became part of life in the second half of the 19th century. Accordingly, the number of prisoners grew. The empire's prisons were overcrowded. In search of new places for exile settlements, the government turned its attention to Sakhalin. On April 18, 1869, Alexander II approved the “Regulations of the Committee on the Arrangement of Hard Labor,” which officially designated Sakhalin as a place of exile. Also in 1869, the first group of convicts, numbering 800 people, was delivered to the island. According to historians, before the Russo-Japanese War, approximately 40-45 thousand people were exiled to the island. The conditions of hard labor were terrible, it is no coincidence that A.P. Chekhov called Sakhalin “hell on earth,” and the very name of the island “Sakhalin” acquired very odious fame in the country. All sorts of hooligans and fighters in Russia at the turn of the 19th - early 20th centuries. They were usually called “Sakhalinites,” implying that they would end up in Sakhalin hard labor. Political prisoners were usually not sent to Sakhalin; it is believed that during the entire existence of penal servitude, only 54 “politicians” were sent to the island, mainly from among the organizers of the “Obukhov Defense” of 1901 in St. Petersburg.
According to the first General Census of the Russian Empire in 1897, 28.1 thousand people lived on Sakhalin, 72.8% of whom were men and only 27.2% were women. This had an adverse effect on the “survival rate” of the population and its moral and living way of life. In addition to free and involuntary Russian settlers, Aboriginal people also lived on Sakhalin in 1897: 1,443 Ainu, 1,969 Gilyaks (Nivkhs), 749 Oroks and 143 Tungus (Evenks).
On January 1, 1902, there were already 40,577 settlers on Sakhalin, of which 5,563 were exiled convicts, 9,885 were exiled settlers, there were 9,719 free settlers (most often, relatives of prisoners), and there were 3,982 aborigines of the island. The remaining residents were guards, prison officials and members of their families. The vast majority of the inhabitants lived in the southern part of the island with its favorable climate. In 1890, A.P. Chekhov casually commented on northern Sakhalin as follows: “The upper third of the island, due to its climatic and soil conditions, is completely unsuitable for settlement and therefore does not count...”.
The main settlements on the island were prisons. The convicts worked mainly in coal mining. Shackled, and often chained to a wheelbarrow, with a pick and a shovel, they had to achieve complete self-sufficiency for their hard labor. Through the hard forced labor of convicts, dozens of settlements on the island were built, mineral deposits (iron ore, coal, oil) were discovered and partially developed, telegraph lines were laid, large areas of land were cultivated, agricultural farms were created, road communications were established, sea piers were built, etc. . p.. Construction of economic and administrative buildings, drainage of swamps, cutting of wood, catching and salting fish, haymaking, loading and unloading of sea vessels, keeping streets and squares clean, growing grain and vegetable crops, raising livestock, poultry, performing plumbing, carpentry, leather work, maintenance of meteorological stations, postal transportation - all were also the occupation of convicts.
The spiritual life of the convict island was satisfied by 10 Orthodox churches and 6 chapels. There were also houses of worship for Lutherans, Catholics, and a mosque. However, Sakhalin residents were not highly religious. One traveler wrote about his impressions in 1902 in the newspaper Vostochny Vestnik: “A Sakhalin settler rarely takes off his hat even before church, and when approaching a bucket of vodka, he always takes off his cap with reverence.”
During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. Sakhalin became a theater of military operations. In the summer of 1905, Japanese troops numbering 14 thousand people landed on the island. Although the Russian troops, along with whom the convicts who were called to arms fought, fought bravely, the island was captured. According to the Treaty of Portsmouth, the southern part of Sakhalin went to Japan. From that time on, for 40 years, the fate of parts of the island was different.
Northern Sakhalin 1905-1945
In the northern part of Russia that remained, penal servitude was abolished. Paradoxically, this led to the decline and desolation of the island. The population decreased immediately by 5 times, since not only former convicts and their guards, but also many free settlers left the island.
The Russian government, of course, took measures to populate Northern Sakhalin. But these measures were ineffective. In addition to the natural conditions of this part of the island, which did not attract settlers, there was another circumstance that was not conducive to its further settlement. Over the years of hard labor, Sakhalin has gained a sad reputation for itself. It is quite understandable that there were few people willing to go to the distant island at the edge of the world. The new governor of Northern Sakhalin A. M. Valuev, given the bad reputation of the island’s very name, even proposed renaming Sakhalin to Nevelskoy Island. However, his initiative was not developed; the island retained its historical name, and there were few people willing to settle on the convict island. During the period of Stolypin's reforms, hundreds of thousands of people moved to the Far East, but this flow bypassed Sakhalin. During 1906-14, less than 2 thousand immigrants arrived in northern Sakhalin.
Relocating to Sakhalin was far from easy. The government did not bother to build a port on the island, and all the previous ports in the south were in the hands of the Japanese. The steamer, anchored several kilometers from the shore, disembarked passengers, with all their property, into boats, which, along the stormy waves of the strait, delivered the settlers to the deserted shore.
In total, 8 thousand people lived on Sakhalin before the revolution, of which approximately 1,800 people were aborigines. Northern Sakhalin remained a sparsely populated outskirts, with an undeveloped economy and no roads.
Nevertheless, after the abolition of hard labor on Sakhalin, a fairly large number of permanent settlements were created, as a rule, sparsely populated. Roads were also built between populated areas and the coast of the island. Work to study the island continued. An instrumental survey of the coast and some inland parts of Northern Sakhalin was carried out, and maps were compiled. Russian merchants and industrialists began to show great interest in developing the natural resources of Sakhalin. In 1911, 313 applications were submitted for oil exploration and development. However, all attempts by Russian oil workers ended in failure. The development of oil wealth and the thorough settlement of the north-east of Sakhalin began much later - already under Soviet rule.
During the First World War, the population of Northern Sakhalin, due to conscription into the army and the closure of many enterprises (which led to the departure of many previously employed workers to the mainland), decreased by a thousand people. The Revolution and Civil War led to the occupation of the Russian Far East by foreign invaders, among whom the Japanese played a major role. At the same time, Northern Sakhalin was occupied by the Japanese in 1920, even without any justification in the form of assistance to the anti-Bolshevik white governments. The Japanese occupation lasted until May 1925. The Japanese authorities were not against “unifying” Sakhalin under their rule. True, the League of Nations, with all its anti-Sovietism, would not have given Japan the right to openly annex Northern Sakhalin, fearing the precedent of revising the borders of a former Entente member. In the end, due to financial difficulties and under diplomatic pressure from the USSR, Japan returned Northern Sakhalin. When leaving, the Japanese tried to take away everything of value. They partly removed and partly destroyed the equipment of enterprises, burned many residential and public buildings, rendered coal mines unusable, dismantled and removed the only railway track in Northern Sakhalin, cut down valuable forests, and exterminated many fur-bearing animals. By the time the Japanese left, less than 4 thousand inhabitants lived in northern Sakhalin.
But the Japanese retained the right to catch fish in the territorial waters of Northern Sakhalin. In addition, the USSR did not have the right to keep troops on Northern Sakhalin, except for border guards. Thus, Soviet sovereignty over the Soviet part of the island was incomplete.
The Soviet authorities immediately began “Sovietization” and economic development of their part of the island. The best solution for both problems here could be the mass settlement of Northern Sakhalin by citizens loyal to the Soviet state, especially since the local old-time Russian population was small. The Sakhalin Revolutionary Committee asked Moscow to pay special attention to the selection of settlers: “We need here not just settlers, but settlers who are quite politically stable or, in any case, quite loyal to the Soviet regime.”
However, in the 20s, in conditions of devastation and general poverty, the authorities could not provide special benefits for settlers. The population of the Soviet part of the island grew very slowly and on January 1, 1929 it amounted to only 26.5 thousand people. This situation was doubly disadvantageous for Soviet Russia, given the sharp deterioration of international relations in the late 20s, including in the Asia-Pacific region. This looked especially unpleasant against the backdrop of the annual resettlement of 20 thousand Japanese to South Sakhalin.
Nevertheless, Northern Sakhalin developed rapidly, and its population also increased. From 1925 to 1940, the number of residents increased 22 times and amounted to 110 thousand people. Entire sectors of the economy were created on the island, such as oil, coal, forestry, and fishing.
The delivery and settlement of the settlers was accompanied by enormous difficulties. There was practically no construction of comfortable housing in the region. The main type of housing in Sakhalin at that time was barracks. These are 20-30-room buildings, without basic amenities, with a common stove for the entire barracks, without any utility rooms. The average living space per person in those years in the region was about 3 square meters. meters!
By the end of the 30s, there were 384 settlements in the region. The north of Sakhalin has finally begun to take on a lived-in appearance. Large settlements, of course, by Sakhalin standards, were the cities of Aleksandrovsk (17.3 thousand people) and Okha (18.9 thousand people), the workers' villages of Due (2.9 thousand people), Mgachi (2.0 thousand . people), Oktyabrsky (1.9 thousand people), the villages of Derbinskoye (1.5 thousand people), Kirovskoye (1.2 thousand people). But most of the Sakhalin settlements were places of temporary residence. These were native camps, forest areas, checkpoints, patrols, settlements, settlements at fish factories and combines, etc. They were created as production needs required, and after some time they disappeared.
Local culture also developed. By 1940, 5 newspapers were published, a local history museum, several theaters, and libraries were opened. Clubs with film installations and red corners were created in remote areas.
However, Soviet Sakhalin did not escape many tragic moments of its common history. Collectivization was carried out, the last two operating churches were closed. The mass repressions carried out by the head of the Sakhalin NKVD Drekov were particularly sweeping. Nevertheless, Northern Sakhalin has ceased to be a convict region cut off from main Russia.
In August 1945, as a result of the Sakhalin and Kuril landing operations, the Japanese part of Sakhalin was united with the Soviet one. Now the entire island has again become one Russian island.
Japanese southern Sakhalin (Karafuto) 1905-1945.
After the division of Sakhalin under the Treaty of Portsmouth, the Japanese named their possessions Karafuto. This territory was subordinate to the Ministry of Colonies and was not administratively part of Japan proper.
Almost the entire Russian population left South Sakhalin (despite the fact that most of the Sakhalin residents lived in the south of the island). In 1909, 208 Russians still lived on South Sakhalin, but soon they too left Sakhalin. About 2 thousand aborigines (Ainu, Orochon, Gilyak) remained under Japanese rule.
Japan began to intensively populate its new colony. Seaports, piers, railways, highways, and airfields were built in southern Sakhalin. Industrial coal mining began. More than 40 crops were grown on the farms of Japanese colonists, from cereals to vegetables. The Japanese also organized fishing and forestry industries, and actively took up reindeer husbandry and fur farming. The main objects of industrial production in the coastal waters of Southern Sakhalin were herring, salmon, cod, pollock, ivory, flounder, crabs and seaweed - kelp. Overall, Karafuto accounted for 15% of Japan's total fish catch, 1/3 of the wood consumed, and half of the pulp.
In Karafuto in 1935, about 50 newspapers and the same number of magazines were published on a wide variety of topics. In the capital of the governorate, the city of Toyohara alone, 26 newspapers were published. 14 industrial associations and youth organizations, as well as 13 educational institutions had their own magazine publications.
However, the Japanese preserved the Sakhalin tradition of the convict island. In fact, forced laborers from Korea and China worked at the enterprises and industries of Karafuto.
The population of the Japanese part of the island in 1906 was 12 thousand people, in 1912 - 42 thousand, in 1923 - 140 thousand and in 1939 - over 390 thousand, of which 50 thousand were Koreans. The island's aborigines, the Ainu, only received Japanese citizenship in 1934. However, by this time their number had sharply decreased to several hundred people.
The center of Karafuto was the city of Toyohara, formed on the site of the Russian village of Vladimirovka. During this period, the cities of Maoka (Kholmsk), Rudaka (Aniva), Khonto (Nevelsk), Esutoru (Uglegorsk), Tomarioru (Tomari), Sikuka (former post of Tikhmenevsky, now Poronaysk), Noesi (Lesogorsk) and others grew rapidly. Dozens of industrial settlements and hundreds of small peasant villages are appearing. The trend towards population growth due to immigrants continued in the future. It must be admitted that under the Japanese, Karafuto developed rapidly.
After the defeat of Japanese troops in Manchuria, and then in the southern part of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, the complete surrender of Japan followed. The Second World War is over.
United Sakhalin
The decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR declared that “all land with its subsoil, forests and waters on the territory of the southern part of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands is state property, that is, the national property.”
On February 2, 1946, an independent Yuzhno-Sakhalin region was created in these territories, which, like the Sakhalin region, was part of the Khabarovsk Territory. The administrative-territorial structure of the new region was determined, 14 districts and their names were approved.
In the very first days of the young region’s existence, a government commission carried out the renaming of cities, workers’ towns and villages, and geographical locations. The Japanese names were abolished and the long-existing Russian names were restored: Korsakov, Solovyovka, Khomutovo, Mitsulevka. Many cities, towns, and railway stations were named after battle heroes and outstanding researchers, scientists, and writers associated with Sakhalin.
On January 2, 1947, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Yuzhno-Sakhalin Region was liquidated, and its territory was included in the Sakhalin Region. At the same time, the region was withdrawn from the Khabarovsk Territory. The formation of a single independent region consisting of all regions of Northern, Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands was recognition of its great political and economic importance for the country. This is how a new, only island Sakhalin region in the country appeared. The region exists within these territorial boundaries to this day.
The most important problems of the first period were the repatriation of the Japanese population and the settlement of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands by citizens of the USSR. All this was decided in a short time, from 1946 to 1949.
In September 1945, according to Soviet military authorities, there were 370 thousand inhabitants remaining on South Sakhalin. Including 358.5 thousand Japanese and 23.5 thousand Koreans, as well as 812 people of the indigenous population - Ainu, Orochon, Evenki and Nivkh. This number did not include prisoners of war and those Japanese civilians who managed to escape to Japan.
In accordance with the tripartite agreement between the USSR, the USA and Japan, from the spring of 1947 to the summer of 1948, 357 thousand Japanese citizens were repatriated from South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, including the indigenous island people - the Ainu. In principle, the USSR authorities were ready to leave the Ainu on their native island, but under the influence of Japanese propaganda, all the Ainu left Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, losing their homeland. Only a small number of people of mixed Aino-Nivkh and Aino-Korean origin remained in Kamchatka and northern Sakhalin.
At the same time, there was a massive resettlement of Soviet people to these territories. By the fall of 1946, there were already more than 70 thousand Soviet residents on Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The number of Soviet people who moved here soon increased to 350 thousand; by 1949 there were already more than 458 thousand people, and in 1957 663.8 thousand people lived in the region. This was the result of the state’s targeted resettlement policy, which included a number of effective measures and social guarantees in order to stop the population turnover and create conditions for retaining personnel who had already adapted here and received the professions needed for the region.
The ranks of settlers consisted of workers, collective farmers, demobilized soldiers, university graduates sent here, representatives of a wide variety of nations and nationalities - Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Koreans, Chuvash, Tatars, Azerbaijanis and many others. The capital of the region, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (formerly Toyohara, and even earlier - Vladimirovka) developed rapidly, reaching 85 thousand inhabitants in 1959, and 165 thousand in 1979.
Simultaneously with the solution of complex problems of settlement and economic development of the region, social issues were actively resolved. Schools, kindergartens, cultural centers, and many other social institutions were built. Active housing construction began. However, the zigzags of the government's policy in the social sphere did not contribute to the normal development of the region.
Thus, N.S. Khrushchev, having visited Sakhalin, came to the conclusion that the island, due to its natural conditions, was a “second Sochi”, and canceled the “northern” benefits for Sakhalin residents. All this coincided with the “enlargement” of rural settlements, the destruction of production cooperatives, etc. Since this also coincided with the transfer of Port Arthur to the Chinese, as well as with Khrushchev’s agreement to return the islands of the Lesser Kuril Ridge to Japan, it is not surprising that all these events caused Among Sakhalin residents there are panicky rumors about the impending transfer of the southern part of Sakhalin back to Japan. As a result, the influx of immigrants in 1956-61. decreased, and the number of arrivals became 100 thousand less than those who left the island.
However, the island developed. Oil, gas and coal were extracted. The fishing industry was active. The cultivation of marine biological resources began to develop. On the shore of Aniva Bay, near the port of Korsakov in the very south of the island, there was a unique plant for the production of agar-agar from seaweed. Sakhalin slowly began to lose its island isolation. In 1953, construction began on a railway tunnel between Sakhalin and the mainland. True, immediately after Stalin’s death, construction was frozen. In 1973, the ferry crossing Vanino - Kholmsk was opened. Thus, the delivery time for goods from the island was reduced by 3 times. The population of the Sakhalin region (including the Kuril Islands) in 1989 reached 710 thousand people. Representatives of more than 80 ethnic groups lived on the island. The indigenous ethnic groups of the island - Nivkhs (former Gilyaks), Oroks, and others, made up only 0.4% of the population. The vast majority of the region's residents lived in the southern part of Sakhalin Island. By Soviet standards, Sakhalin residents were very wealthy people. For example, the average monthly wage of workers and employees in the region from 1970 to 1990 more than doubled, from 223.4 to 477.2 then rubles.
The collapse of the USSR caused, as throughout the Far East, economic shocks that caused a massive outflow of the population. Since 1992, the population of the Sakhalin region has begun to decline. In 2002, 546 thousand people lived in the region, in 2010 - only 479 thousand. Industrial production was largely destroyed. True, the wealth of the Sakhalin shelf has led to the emergence of large oil and gas production projects.
Kurile Islands
From Kamchatka and almost to the Japanese island of Hokkaido there is a 1,200 km arc of the Kuril Islands. True, the total area of the islands is not that large - 16.5 thousand km2. However, their strategic and commercial significance is enormous.
By the time the Russian people arrived on the Kuril Islands, the population of the archipelago was not homogeneous. The Itelmens lived on the island of Shumshu. They partially assimilated the local Ainu, and partially pushed them to Paramushir and other islands of the northern group. On all the other islands lived only the Ainu, or “shaggy Kurilians,” as the Russians then called them.
In 1646, the Russian explorer N. Kolobov learned about certain bearded inhabitants of the islands. The discoverer of Kamchatka, V. Atlasov, already had certain information about the islands and their inhabitants from the inhabitants of Kamchatka. Soon Russian sailors penetrated the islands themselves, putting them on the map. The stages of the discovery of the Kuril Islands looked like this: in 1711, I. Kozyrevsky discovered and annexed the northern islands, Evreinov and Luzhin in June 1721 discovered the islands of the central group of the Kuril Islands up to and including Simushir; in 1739, M. Shpanberg and V. Walton carried out mapping of the archipelago, founded the first settlements (in 1743 on the island of Shumshu, in 1755 on the island of Simushir and in 1794 on the island of Urup); in 1778-1779 I. M. Antipin and D. Ya. Shebalin brought the majority of the inhabitants of the Kuril Islands, numbering over 1,500 people, into Russian citizenship.
From the 70s of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. The Kuril Islands were developed thanks to the initiative of Siberian commercial and industrial companies. At this time, the Kuril Islands were considered as a Russian outpost in the Pacific Ocean, a base for establishing trade relations with neighboring Japan. As before, intensive fishing for sea otters was carried out, and attempts were made, albeit unsuccessful, for agricultural development. However, the main attention of Russian industrialists was paid to Alaska, which was richer in marine animals, and therefore the Kuril Islands remained somewhat aloof from colonization.
Scientific research of the Kuril Islands, however, continued. V.M. made a great contribution to the scientific study of the Kuril Islands. Golovnin, who committed in 1807-13. and 1817-19 travel around the world.
At the next stage, the most intensive and long-lasting (1828-1875), the islands of the archipelago were developed by the Russian-American company, which, on a free-hire basis, used the labor of Russian industrialists, Aleuts, Kodiaks, Alaskan Creoles and Ainu. Some Aleuts and Eskimos from Alaska remained in the Kuril Islands.
The local Ainu called the newcomers the word “kuru”, hence the name of the archipelago. However, according to another point of view, the Russians were impressed by the local “smoking” (that is, smoking) volcanoes, which is why they named the islands that way. Gradually, the volcano islands became part of Russian possessions in the Pacific Ocean.
On the Kuril Islands in the period from 1747 to 1877. there were four long-term settlements - on the islands of Shumshu, Simushir, Northern Chirpoy and Urup. In addition, the Russians occasionally wintered on the other islands of the archipelago.
In principle, all these settlements were temporary bases for maritime industrialists and wintering places. But, however, this is exactly how many cities in the Russian North, Siberia, and also in Alaska started. Some temporary settlements existed continuously for several years. On Urup, a large mountainous island in the central part of the archipelago, the settlement of industrialists lasted a total of more than 10 years - from 1775 to 1785. During this time, the entire island was explored, local residents were brought into Russian citizenship, rye, wheat, and barley were planted, which yielded a harvest. Then, in 1794, on the initiative of G.I. Shelekhov, a new Russian fishing settlement arose on Urup, which existed until 1805. It should be noted that after the death of G.I. In Shelekhov, no one was interested in the fate of the settlement for many years. For 11 years, not a single ship came from Russia, and a handful of Russian people were essentially left to their own devices. However, they fished for sea otters and established contact with the Japanese, who began their expeditions in the southern part of the Kuril Islands.
In 1828, the Russian-American Company sent the brig “Baikal” with a detachment of industrialists from Novoarkhangelsk to Urup. The detachment consisted of 12 Russians and 49 Kodiaks. To set up a new settlement, the brig had timber, planks, bricks, cannons, rifles, tools, materials, a supply of provisions for 2 years and other necessary things. Sysoy Slobodchikov, who had previously served in Alaska and Hawaii, was appointed head of the settlement.
Only during 1828-1829. fishing on Urup brought the company more than 800 thousand rubles worth of furs. In the 30-40s of the 19th century, the settlement developed steadily. From 30 to 70 immigrants from Russian possessions in America permanently lived there under the leadership of several Russians and Creoles.
When relocating to the Kuril Islands, preference was given to young family people and company debtors. Partial rotation of settlers was carried out periodically, and after 4-5 years the population of the island was completely replaced, but some remained for 2-3 periods.
Every year, the villages of the Kuril Department were visited by the company’s ships, which brought everything they needed, picked up the furs and took them to Okhotsk.
The monotonous life on Urup was broken only in September 1855, when during the Crimean War the peaceful settlement was attacked and temporarily captured by Anglo-French ships. Significant material damage was caused, but after 2 years it was all restored.
After the liquidation of the Russian-American Company in 1867, almost all Russians left the Kuril Islands, but the Aleuts remained and continued to fish.
Another Russian settlement was on the island of Simushir. It arose back in 1755 as a temporary settlement. Since 1832 people lived here permanently. In the 1870s. there were 13 houses and 57 permanent colonists lived here. Residents of the village were mainly engaged in sea hunting. At the same time, they had domestic animals: sheep, cows; They also had small gardens where they grew vegetables.
Shumshu, the northernmost island of the Kuril ridge, has been visited by Russians since 1743. In 1749, settlers organized the first Russian school for the Ainu on the island, which existed in 1785. During the period of the existence of the Russian-American Company, there was a prosperous village on Shumshu, in which Russians, Aleuts, and Ainu lived.
However, Russian power in the Kuril Islands was not yet very firm. The first serious blow to the well-being of Russian settlements was dealt after the sale of Russian possessions in Alaska and the liquidation of the Russian-American Company in 1867. Soon after this, all Russians and Creoles left the islands, but many Aleuts remained, finding a second homeland here.
The second blow was more serious. In 1875, in accordance with the Treaty of St. Petersburg, the entire Kuril ridge was transferred by Russia to Japan in exchange for Japan's renunciation of claims to Southern Sakhalin. The Russians left the Kuril Islands, which they had been developing for a century.
The Japanese owned the Kuril Islands until 1945. Japanese colonists arrived on the islands, mainly engaged in fishing. True, the Japanese did not really like the Kuril climate. In the northern islands in the 30s. In general, only 200 people spent the winter. There were about 17 thousand Japanese colonists on the southern islands. In general, the Kuril Islands were considered by the Japanese authorities as a base for military operations in the North Pacific. In the summer of 1945, the number of military personnel on the archipelago was 80 thousand people! For the local Ainu, the Japanese period proved fatal. First, in 1883, all the Ainu from the northern islands were moved to the island of Shikotan into a real reservation. Gradually, the Ainu died out under the influence of difficult conditions, and in 1941 there were only 50 Ainu people left on all the Kuril Islands!
In August 1945, the Kuril Islands were liberated and included in the USSR. 17 thousand Japanese and local Ainu were evicted. Settlers from all over the Soviet Union arrived on the islands. In 1989 there were already 30 thousand people.
The natural conditions of the Kuril Islands are not always favorable for humans. Thus, in November 1952, a tsunami completely destroyed the city of Severo-Kurilsk and a number of villages. 2,300 people died. And subsequently, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions became the everyday reality of Kuril residents, a kind of part of their way of life.
Alas, the collapse of the USSR led to a mass exodus (a third of the former inhabitants left the islands). This was explained, among other things, by the deliberate sabotage of President Yeltsin’s entourage, who wanted to sell (literally) the islands to Japan, and for this they launched a newspaper hype about the “ineffectiveness” of Russian ownership of the islands. Using the vague wording of the unsigned 1956 USSR-Japan Treaty, Japan is still making official territorial claims to the southern Kuril Islands, which were previously recognized as Japanese under the Shimodo Treaty of 1855. Nevertheless, thanks to the struggle of the patriotic public and local residents, the islands remain (I hope they will continue to remain) Russian. President V.V. Putin put an end to the treacherous ambiguity of the Yeltsin era and made it clear that the Kuril Islands are Russian. In 2011, the Russian government doubled funding for the Kuril Islands.
Indigenous ethnic groups of Sakhalin
The Sakhalin region is the historical homeland of small peoples of the Far North: Nivkhs, Uilta (Oroks), Evenks, Nanais and other ethnic groups. True, on today's Sakhalin there are no longer any Ainu and the number of other aborigines has decreased significantly.
At the beginning of the 19th century, three main ethnic groups lived on Sakhalin: the Nivkhs - mainly in the north of the island, the Uilta (Oroks) - in the central part, and the Ainu - in the south of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. A small number of Evenks were also noted.
Ainu- one of the most ancient and mysterious peoples of the planet. Previously, the Ainu inhabited a significant part of the Japanese Islands. They differed sharply from neighboring Mongoloid peoples not only in their physical appearance, but also in their unique language and many features of material and spiritual culture. Light-skinned, bearded Ainu men and women with tattoos around their mouths and on their arms were a warlike people. Their main weapons are swords with belts made of plant fibers, heavy battle mallets with sharp spikes, a bow and arrows. With these weapons, the Ainu for many centuries steadfastly resisted the Japanese, who slowly moved north, gradually exterminating or assimilating the Ainu. However, the Ainu on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands were smaller in number and backward compared to their fellow tribesmen. They lived in a tribal system, engaged in fishing, sea fishing, and hunting. In 1945, the Sakhalin and Kuril Ainu, despite the proposals of the Soviet military administration in the annexed territories of the former Karafuto, to remain in their homeland, left with the Japanese for Japan proper. As a result, there are no aborigines left in all of Southern Sakhalin, and all its inhabitants are descendants of settlers of the 20th century. In Japan, on the island of Hokkaido at the beginning of the 21st century, 16 thousand Ainu lived, and less than 1 thousand of them are descendants of the Sakhalin and Kuril Ainu.
Nivkhi- most numerous among the indigenous peoples of Sakhalin Island. The main area of settlement was the coast of the northern part of the island. They were engaged in fishing, hunting seals and sea lions, hunting bear, deer, fur-bearing animals, and collecting taiga plants and roots. Boats of various modifications were used to travel on water.
In Soviet times, the Nivkhs were introduced to culture. Nivkh Vladimir Sangi developed the Nivkh alphabet and carried out a number of translations of Russian classical literature into the Nivkh language. In 1990, a newspaper began to be published in the Nivkh language. In 1993, Sangi was elected leader of the Nivkh people.
Wilta(oroks) and Evenks- representatives of the Tungus-Manchu family. A distinctive feature of their culture is reindeer husbandry, which required a nomadic lifestyle. Domestic reindeer is the main transport animal, which is used for saddle and pack, and in winter it is harnessed to a sled. In winter, nomadic routes passed through the taiga of northern Sakhalin, in summer - on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk and in the Terpeniya Bay area. An important role in the life of the Oroks, like all the aborigines of Sakhalin, was played by fishing and sea animal hunting.
At the beginning of the 21st century, indigenous ethnic groups numbered just over 3.8 thousand people.
Sakhalin Koreans
Sakhalin is also home to an interesting ethnic group that currently has the features of an independent ethnic group - the Sakhalin Koreans. They are not aborigines of the island; they arrived on Sakhalin largely not of their own free will. Finally, they differ from Soviet Koreans (Koryo-Saram) in that they moved not to Russia, but to Japanese possessions. Finally, their ancestors mostly came from the southern provinces of Korea, and not from the northern ones, like the bulk of the Koryo-saram.
The first Koreans, in fact, arrived on Russian Sakhalin. In 1897, 67 Koreans lived on the island. Subsequently, a number of Koreans ended up in Northern Sakhalin. These were mainly Koreans who moved to the island from the Russian Far East. But in 1937, all Koreans were deported. This also affected the Koreans of Soviet Northern Sakhalin. 293 Korean families with a total of 1,155 people were taken to the regions of Central Asia and Kazakhstan.
But since 1905, another Korean community began to form in the south of the island. The Japanese authorities began intensive colonization of Southern Sakhalin, including through the forced delivery of cheap labor from the Korean Peninsula. Some Koreans came voluntarily, hoping for a better life. But all Koreans were under strict military and police control.
According to the Soviet administration, after the end of the war, 23.5 thousand Koreans remained on South Sakhalin. As Japanese subjects, they now found themselves stateless. The Soviet authorities in relation to the Koreans proceeded from the fact that they were generally anti-Japanese, very hardworking, and therefore would prove very useful in the economic development of new Soviet territories. However, the Japanese authorities have always treated Koreans with a sense of racist arrogance, and refused to accept even those Koreans who retained Japanese citizenship. So even the Koreans loyal to Japan were abandoned by Japan on Sakhalin. Later, the number of Sakhalin Koreans increased slightly due to workers who arrived from North Korea, as well as some of those previously deported who returned to the Far East.
Starting in 1952, Sakhalin Koreans were allowed to obtain USSR citizenship, some of them had DPRK passports, some remained stateless persons (stateless), and finally, some were formally considered Japanese citizens for a long time. Only towards the end of the 60s. all Sakhalin Koreans officially became citizens of the Soviet Union.
Gradually, the Koreans established life on the island that had become their home. Their numbers increased by the end of the 80s. up to 35 thousand people.
By the end of the 1980s. Almost 11.5 thousand Koreans were employed in the national economy of the region, of which more than 4 thousand were employed in industry, approximately 1 thousand in agriculture, 2.3 thousand in construction and public utilities, 1 in consumer services, 8 thousand, in transport - 0.5 thousand, in the spheres of education and culture - 1.8 thousand. About 2 thousand Koreans were employed in management and engineering positions, almost 7 thousand had a highly skilled profession. It is characteristic that in the 1960s - 1980s, working together with Russian people, Koreans did not form purely national labor collectives, with the exception of small units and teams. But in general, they were the most important component of the personnel potential of the Sakhalin region and played an important role in the development of its productive forces.
By this time, linguistic Russification of the Koreans had occurred. According to the results of the 1989 census, of the 35.2 thousand Koreans living in the Sakhalin region, 12.9 thousand, or 36.6%, considered Korean their native language, while in 1959 - 39.7 thousand, or 93 ,8 %. True, the linguistic Russification of the Sakhalin people was not as significant as that of the Koreans of Central Asia.
During the Soviet period, the cultural life of the Sakhalin Korean population developed quite contradictorily. In the first post-war decades, conditions were created to eliminate illiteracy among Koreans, national schools were opened, publications were published in the Korean language, theatrical and artistic forms of culture developed, etc.
Sakhalin Koreans have preserved some Korean national traditions. As before, the basis of the diet of Sakhalin Koreans is boiled rice without salt, kimchi, rice noodles, and a large amount of red pepper is consumed. Koreans, along with all-Russian holidays, also celebrate 100 days from the birth of a child in the family and some other family Korean holidays. However, the cultural Russification of Koreans has become a fact. It is significant that when asked what items of national culture they have at home, Korean schoolchildren named icons, nesting dolls, and other elements of Russian traditional culture, since Russian culture was initially “their own” for them. Currently, approximately half of Sakhalin Koreans are married to representatives of another nationality, although back in the 60-70s. In the 20th century, such marriages were rare.
During the post-Soviet period, Sakhalin Koreans also experienced many social problems. However, we must give them their due - they quickly adapted to the new economic realities. Today, Koreans are well represented in the business life of the island. The fall of the notorious “Iron Curtain” made possible the emigration of Koreans to South Korea and Japan. It is significant that the number of emigrants turned out to be small - approximately 5% of Sakhalin Koreans went to South Korea, Japan, or the USA. Much more Sakhalin Koreans moved to the Russian mainland. In general, the Sakhalin Koreans turned out to be a very viable and active ethnic group.
Russian Sakhalin residents
The main population of Sakhalin is Russian. Since they are mostly descendants of Soviet-era settlers, it is difficult to identify any special features that would distinguish Sakhalin residents from the bulk of Russians. Nevertheless, as a native of Sakhalin, Doctor of Philosophy A. A. Eromasova notes, “natural, unpredictable conditions, especially on the Kuril Islands, made Sakhalin residents spiritually hardened, collected, businesslike, energetic, but, according to statistics, the physical health of Russians living on Sakhalin, leaves much to be desired. As a rule, these are heart and stomach diseases, rheumatism and arthritis from dampness and cold. But in general, Sakhalin residents are cheerful, resilient, hardworking, and goal-oriented.”
The Russian population of Sakhalin is quite educated. In the 60-80s. XX century, the Sakhalin region occupied one of the first places in terms of the share of scientific and artistic periodicals subscribed per capita. There were 204 libraries and 16 museums in the region. The university opened in 1998. Among the local residents, many work on fishing or cargo ships, often traveling abroad (and much less often on mainland Russia).
In an almost completely atheized area, a revival of Orthodoxy is taking place. In 1993, an independent Yuzhno-Sakhalin diocese arose. In 2011, there were 89 churches and 1 monastery on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The large Cathedral of the Ascension opened in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. 48 priests and 10 deacons cared for the believers. In addition to Russians, among Orthodox believers there are Koreans and representatives of aboriginal peoples. However, the number of various sects is also growing on Sakhalin. Nevertheless, the Russian identity of the Sakhalin residents is not questioned by anyone. And that means this region was and will be Russian.
Eromasova A. A. The mentality of Russians in the context of ethnocultural characteristics. St. Petersburg, 2006, p. 65
“Wherever the Russian flag is raised, it should not come down.”
NikolayI
Development of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands and the formation of the Russian-Japanese border
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The beginning of the formation of the Russian-Japanese maritime border in the area of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, as well as the beginning of the exploration of these territories in general, dates back to the 17th century. It is assumed that the first to know about Sakhalin were the Nivkhs, who visited the island in winter, when the narrow part of the strait froze. Sometimes in the summer they sailed across the Tatar Strait on their boats.
The first relatively accurate information about Sakhalin in Russia came from members of the expedition under the guidance of a written head V.D. Poyarkov in 1643 - 1646
Rafting on the Amur
Here the Cossacks of Poyarkov breathed calmly for the first time. From them he learned about Sakhalin, inhabited by hairy people. The Gilyak “princes” swore allegiance to Russia and voluntarily gave the first yasak - 12 forty sables and six sable fur coats. At the end of winter, the Cossacks again had to endure hunger. They again began to eat roots, bark, and feed on carrion. Before setting off on the campaign, Poyarkov raided the Gilyaks, captured the Amanats and collected tribute in sables. In the battle, Poyarkov lost half of his remaining squad. At the end of May 1645, when the mouth of the Amur was freed from ice, Poyarkov and his Cossacks went to the Amur Estuary.
Return
Poyarkov made a historically proven 12-week (3-month) voyage along the southwestern shores of the Sea of Okhotsk from the mouth of the Amur to the mouth of the Ulya, where Poyarkov’s detachment was caught in a storm and spent the winter in the fall of 1645.
Here already in 1639 a “Russian man” set foot Ivan Moskvitina, and local peoples paid tribute to the Moscow “white tsar”.
In November 1918, Admiral Kolchak was proclaimed the “supreme ruler” of Siberia. The Kolchak government intended to restore hard labor on Sakhalin. But we never made it. Although evidence of their atrocities was found in archival documents, including on Sakhalin. On July 14, 1919, a punitive detachment on the ship "Vzryvatel" arrived in Aleksandrovsk. On this ship a trial was held against the Bolsheviks, after which they were shot there.
The Japanese took advantage of the Russian civil war to their advantage. In exchange for military-economic assistance to Kolchak, they demanded the transfer of the right to exploit the natural resources of northern Sakhalin, hoping to eventually occupy this part of the island.
Representatives of foreign missions in the courtyard of the State Bank building after inspecting the gold reserves.
Omsk, summer 1919. First row from left to right sixth I.I. Bitch.
The head of the Foreign Ministry of the Kolchak government, Sukin, wrote in a telegram from Tokyo to Foreign Minister Sazonov: “We take into account the need to meet Japanese aspirations, especially in relation to Sakhalin... But we consider it necessary to make this dependent on negotiations with Japan to clarify how our relations with the latter and receiving military and economic assistance." But by the end of 1919, the Kolchakites were destroyed by the Red Army.
In 1920, citing an imaginary threat to the Japanese citizens of southern Sakhalin, the commander of the Japanese fleet, Admiral Hiroharu Kato, sent the battleship Mikaso and the cruiser Misimi to the shores of northern Sakhalin, and in April a detachment of two thousand Japanese landed in the port of Alexander, capturing the city.
Thus began the occupation of the northern part of Sakhalin Island.
The Russian population was considered as the population of a conquered country, with all the ensuing consequences. The situation of small nationalities was especially difficult. Entire camps and villages died out from hunger and disease.
In 1925, as a result of internal turmoil in the country, Japan signed an agreement on the transfer of northern Sakhalin to Soviet Russia.
Having practically defeated Nazi Germany, on April 5, 1945, the USSR denounced the neutrality treaty with Japan, which unceremoniously violated it. On August 8, 1945, the Japanese ambassador in Moscow was handed a statement that the Soviet Union considered itself in a state of war with Japan and on August 11, formations and units of the 56th Rifle Corps of the 16th Army under the command of Major General A.A. Dyakonov switched to active hostilities.
Stubborn battles began to capture strongholds in the area of the Khandasa post for access to the front edge of the enemy’s main defensive line - the Kharamitog fortified area. At the same time, the 179th Infantry Regiment's roundabout actions from the southeast through Muika (Pervomaiskoe village) captured the Koton railway station (Pobedino station) for a rear attack on the enemy's fortified area.
The Japanese had strongholds along the entire Soviet border along the fiftieth parallel. The Kharamitog fortified area had 17 reinforced concrete pillboxes, 31 artillery and 108 machine gun bunkers, 28 artillery and 18 mortar positions, up to 150 shelters, wire barriers, minefields and anti-tank ditches.
The area near the fortified area was completely covered with forest and swamps.
On the morning of August 16, 1945, units of the 79th Infantry Division, in cooperation with the 255th Aviation Division, attacked powerful enemy fortifications from the front and rear. The Japanese put up stubborn resistance and launched counterattacks. They kept every meter of land under fire. The machine gunners - suicide bombers, often chained in reinforced concrete casemates, resisted especially stubbornly. In the battles on the outskirts of the fortified area, a sergeant of the 165th Infantry Regiment, a Sakhalin resident, heroically fought the enemy Anton Efimovich Buyukly. When the company's advance was delayed due to continuous machine-gun fire from a Japanese bunker, Buyukly crawled through the open area to the bunker and covered its embrasure with his body, thereby opening the way for the attacking unit.
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Hero of the Soviet Union, Sergeant Anton Efimovich Buyukly
The assault on the enemy's fortified positions lasted three days. A significant part of the Japanese fortifications was destroyed. By the end of August 18, Soviet soldiers, having broken the fierce resistance of the Japanese troops and divided their defense into two groups isolated from each other, captured the Haramitog fortified area. The Japanese command capitulated. The remnants of the garrison numbering over three thousand soldiers and officers surrendered.
A heroic raid behind enemy lines across off-roads and swamps in order to capture the Coton railway station was carried out by the third battalion of the 179th Infantry Regiment under the command of Captain Leonid Vladimirovich Smirnykh. His battalion, being in the most critical sectors of the battle, broke the enemy’s resistance with bold and decisive actions, repulsed several counterattacks and successfully completed the assigned task. But the battalion commander himself died the death of the brave.
Hero of the Soviet Union, Captain Leonid Vladimirovich Smirnykh
At this time, fierce battles between our landing forces and the Japanese aggressors were still ongoing on the west coast. The ports of Toro (Shakhtersk), Esutoru (Uglegorsk), Maoko (Kholmsk) were all on fire. A bloody battle broke out at Kamyshevoy Pass, where the Japanese had targeted every meter of the terrain. Therefore, Soviet troops had to fight for every hill, every piece of land. On August 24, the vanguard units of the 56th Corps under the command of Major General Alimov entered the city of Toyohara (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk). On August 25, 1945, troops of the Second Far Eastern Front completed the liberation of the entire southern half of Sakhalin Island from Japanese invaders.
But the Kuril Islands were still occupied by the Japanese. The battles for their liberation were difficult.
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Over the long period of occupation, a huge number of coastal batteries, bunkers, pillboxes, underground galleries, trenches, trenches, minefields and wire barriers were built here. The northernmost islands of Shumshu and Paramushir were especially fortified. The enemy concentrated a significant number of troops and tanks. The battles for Shumshu Island lasted five days.
Immortal feats in the battles for the liberation of Soviet land were performed by petty officer of the first class Nikolai Vilkov and sailor Pyotr Ilyichev, both of them repeated the feat of Alexander Matrosov. At the same time, they covered two embrasures of the Japanese bunker with their bodies.
On August 30, the commander of the Kuril landing operation, Major General Alexey Romanovich Gnechko, reported to the front commander: “The Kuril Islands have been liberated and returned to our Motherland.” In accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, “since September 20, 1945, all land with its subsoil, forests and factories on the territory of the southern part of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands is state property, that is, the public property.”
And today, looking over the map of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, we see in the names of many villages and cities the names of those who discovered, developed and liberated these glorious Russian islands, not sparing their lives, for the good of the Fatherland.
Andrey Ivanov, Doctor of Historical Sciences