Although word of a string of islands in the north Pacific had reached Europe several centuries before, it was not until the 17th century that Europeans actually set foot on Sakhalin and the Kurils.

The first information was brought by Marco Polo, who traveled the countries of central and east Asia in 1271-1295. He lived in China for more than 15 years and was acquainted with the geographic concepts of the Chinese and Mongolians. On one of the maps brought by the famous Italian traveler we can see a rather exact picture of Sakhalin and the Kurils, Hokkaido, Kamchatka, the Aleutian islands and Alaska.

At the beginning of the 17th century a Spanish expedition attempted to explore the lands north of Japan.

In 1618 and 1621 the Italian Jesuit missionary Giro-lamo de Angelis visited Hokkaido and recorded what he had learned of the Ainu and land they had settled, which he imagined to be an enormous island lying to the north of Japan.

The first European to reach the shores of Sakhalin and the Kurils was the Dutch mariner, Maerten Gerrit-szoon Vries. The Vries expedition was organized by the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies, Anthony van Diemen, "to explore the unknown coastline of Tartary, the kingdom of China and the western coastline of America, as well as islands lying to the east of Japan which are rich in gold and silver." Vries had two ships at his disposal: the brig Castricum (under his command) and the yacht Breskens (under the command of Captain H.C. Schaep). A storm near the southern shores of Japan separated the two ships, and they continued on independently.

On 13 June 1643, the Castricum reached the islands of the Lesser Kurils. The next day the Dutch caught sight of Kunashir, which they mistook for a part of Hokkaido. From there they sailed northeast and on 20 June Vries entered the straits between the islands of Iturup and Urup (which today bears his name). However, Vries mistakenly identified Urup as a projection of mainland North America, based on his faith in the reports of Spanish explorers that the coastline of America just north of California began to slant sharply westward toward Asia.

The Castricum rode at anchor in the Vries Straits for five days. The Dutch sailors made landings every day. On Urup they found "soil which resembles an ore and appears to contain silver." Vries was extremely interested in the findings and hurried to proclaim Urup a Dutch dominion.

Leaving the Vries Straits, the Castricum entered the Sea of Okhotsk and journeyed southward. On 1 July the Dutch sighted the northwestern point of Kunashir and extreme southern tip of Iturup. For eight days they probed the shoreline, attempting (unsuccessfully) to find the straits between the two islands.

On 14 July the Castricum found itself in Aniva Bay, shrouded in dense fog. Vries could make out the shoreline of Sakhalin to the northwest and northeast, and of Hokkaido to the southwest, but not the strait separating them. Thus he concluded (again mistakenly) that Sakhalin was part of Hokkaido. On 16 July the Castricum dropped anchor at an Ainu settlement in the northern part of Aniva Bay, where the Dutch landed and made contact with the Sakhalin Ainu. It was during one of these visits on 17 July that the Castricum's navigator, Cornelius Janszen Coen, heard a report from the natives that white men had arrived on Sakhalin before the Dutch — probably the Spanish.

The Castricum departed, rounded the southeastern tip of Sakhalin and, turning north, followed the Sakhalin shoreline as far as Cape Terpeniye. At that point the Dutch tacked to the southeast and on 5 August exited into the Pacific Ocean via the Vries Straits.

Meanwhile, Schaep on the yacht Breskens, having lost the Castricum, headed out in a northerly direction and probably reached the central part of the Greater Kurils.

The eastward expansion of the Russian Empire began in the mid-16th century, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible (1533-1583), with the subjugation of Kazan, Astrakhan and later the Sibir khanate. Over the course of the next century, Russia would acquire a vast territory stretching from the Volga to the Pacific Ocean.

The first Russians to reach the Pacific shore were Cossacks from the detachment of Ivan Moskvitin. In 1639 they descended the Ul'ya river and came to the Sea of Okhotsk. Near the mouth of the Ul'ya the Cossacks settled for the winter. In April 1640 they learned from a Lamut prince they had taken prisoner that to the south of the Ul'ya "on islands in the Sea live Tun-gus peoples and settled Gilyaks, and they have Bears which they feed." Probably, the captive Lamut was speaking of Sakhalin and the Nivkhi who inhabit the northern part (or Gilyaks, as they were called by the neighboring peoples).

In summer 1640 the Cossacks set out on a voyage across the Sea of Okhotsk. It was during this voyage that they probably reached the shores of Sakhalin, according to the Russian historian B.P. Polevoy, who cites as proof the questions asked by one of the participants of the expedition under command of Nekhoroshko Kolobov. However, due to the vagueness of the text it is impossible to ascertain definitively today whether the Moskvitin expedition actually approached the mouth of the Amur or just heard about it from the Tungus.

The first Russians who beyond a shadow of a doubt espied the coastline of Sakhalin were the members of the Amur campaign under command of Vasiliy Po-yarkov, who was sent "to the Zeya and Shilka rivers to collect the yasak (fur tribute from able-bodied males) for the Sovereign and to search for peoples who do not pay the yasak, and for silver, copper and lead ore, and for bread..." In the summer of 1643 the 133-man detachment set out from the Yakutsk stockade on an expedition that would last nearly three years. The Cossacks journeyed through unknown lands, met the stubborn resistance of the Amur peoples and decimated those who would not submit, and perished from starvation, disease and the crude weapons of the aborigines. But they pressed onward, driven by the aspiration to enrich themselves and their Sovereign.

At the end of the summer of 1644 Poyarkov's greatly reduced detachment reached the Lower Amur and found itself in the land of the Gilyaks (Nivkhi). At the beginning of September the Cossacks discovered the mouth of the Amur and decided to winter there, collecting a total of 12 bundles of sable (40 pelts each) and six sable fur coats asyasak tribute for all the Gilyak lands. To ensure the tribute payment went smoothly, Poyarkov seized three hostages who were later carried off to the Yakutsk stockade.

It was from the mouth of the Amur that Russians first espied the northwestern coastline of Sakhalin, and learned more about the island from the Amur Nivkhi. As the participants of the \mur campaign recalled, "The Gilyaks said there is, in a Bay at the Mouth of the river Amur an Island, whereon this Island are twenty-four ulus (nomad camps), and Gilyaks live there as well, and in the ulus are yurt (tents), fifty to one hundred each... and on this Island there are Fish aplenty, and of many kinds, and of Sable on the Island of the Gilyaks there are also many, although they, the Gilyaks, trap very few owing to the fact that they, the Gilyaks, trade with no one." Poyarkov also learned of the Sakhalin Ainu: "The Gilyaks told us and the men: there live, near the Sea, a black people called the Kui, and they live there by the Sea on the right hand side."

In the autumn of 1655 a sizeable detachment of Russian Cossacks (more than 600 strong) with the clerk Onufriy Kuznets at its head descended the Lower Amur. In "The Book of Yasak of the Daurian, Diuch-er and Gilyak Lands," which has been preserved to this day, we find that in October 1655 the Gilyaks of the Taun, Dutmyt, Chagadan and Maganzyan ulus presented their yasak tribute to the Cossacks. Soviet researcher B.O.Dolgikh compared the names of these ulus in the "Book of Yasak" to the 19th century names of Nivkhi settlements and concludes that they probably correspond to T'angi, Dui, Changi, and Mangal on the western coast of northern Sakhalin. There is no indication in the Book that yasak collectors ever actually set foot on Sakhalin.

Russia had barely begun the process of opening up the Amur valley and Sakhalin when it was interrupted by the Manchu. In the early 17th century a federation of Manchurian tribes created a strong state on the territory of modem northeastern China, which in 1644 conquered the whole of the Chinese empire. The Manchu established the Qmg dynasty, which would rule China until 1911.

Qmg China reacted aggressively to Russian colonization of the Amur, where military clashes between the outnumbered Russians and Manchu Chinese armies flared up in the 1650's. In June 1658 the Manchu wiped out a detachment under the command of O.Stepanov during a hard-fought action in which Stepanov and 220 of his men perished. The middle and lower reaches of the Amur reverted to Manchu control. According to the Treaty of Nerchinsk signed between Russia and Qmg China in 1689, Russia was to quit the Amur valley. This state of affairs lasted almost 150 years, effectively putting Sakhalin beyond the sphere of Russian interests for a long time.

The Nivkhi actively participated in driving the Russians from the Lower Amur. The primary reason for this, it must be said, was the cruelty and greed of the Cossacks. Two and a half centuries after the Cossacks were forced to leave the Amur, the Nivkhi were still telling of the "Russians who fried our children on their bayonets and ate the meat, and beheaded our women."

Having won the fight for the Amur, the Manchu extended their influence to Sakhalin. In 1709 the Emperor K'ang-hsi sent an expedition to the Lower Amur headed by Regis, Giartu and Fidelli, three Jesuit missionaries in the Emperor's service. In the course of the expedition they learned of a great island lying near the mouth of the Amur. In 1710 the Manchu dispatched a second expedition which crossed over to Sakhalin from the Amur and explored the island. This expedition was the first to learn of the Oroki (now known as the Uilta, a reindeer-breeding people living in the central and northern parts of the island).

The Manchu expedition also compiled one of the first detailed maps of Sakhalin, later to be included in the famous "Map of the Emperor K'ang-hsi" (an enormous multi-page map of the Chinese Empire).

The K'ang-hsi map sparked great interest among European scientists. A copy had already appeared in Russia by the 1720's and was used for many years in compiling charts of the north Pacific. In 1735 the French cartographer D'Anville used the K'ang-hsi map in compiling his adas, in which the following inscription appears next to the drawing of Sakhalin: "The name that is usually given to mis island is Sagalien Anga Hata, which means 'island at the mouth of the Black River. Trade relations between the Chinese and the peoples of Sakhalin intensified in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The island exported primarily furs (sable, fox, otter) to China, and received in return brocades, tobacco, smoking pipes, alcohol, beads, needles, etc. Some of the goods brought from China were in turn exported from the island to Japan.

Relations between the Sakhalin population and the Manchu merchants who came every year to the island were not always good. Deals often ended in quarrels and fights. Sometimes the Sakhalin natives murdered the traveling merchants and took their goods. One such incident, which occurred sometime before the middle of the 18th century, served as the pretext for landing Manchu troops on Sakhalin. Having occupied the island, the Manchu fixed a tribute for the Nivkhi and Ainu, and appointed elders from among their ranks who were to ensure the annual delivery of tribute. In exchange, the elders received gifts from the Manchu officials and were permitted to buy from the Manchu and Chinese merchants the goods needed by their peoples.

Denied the Amur valley, Russia could nonetheless turn its energies to annexing and defending a vast territory in extreme northeast Asia. In 1696-1699 a small detachment of Russian Cossacks under the leadership of Vladimir Atiasov conquered Kamchatka for Russia. During mis expedition they learned from the Kamchatka natives of certain islands lying to the south of the peninsula, and by 1697 the Cossacks had first viewed Alaid island in the Kurils.

Russians first set foot on the Kuril islands in August 1711, when a detachment of Kamchatka Cossacks under the leadership of Daniil Antsiferov and Ivan Kozyrevsky landed on Shumshu, the northernmost of the Greater Kurils. The Ainu living on Shumshu attempted to resist the Cossacks but were defeated. After Shumshu, the Cossacks claimed to have traveled as far the next island, Paramushir, to make Russian subjects of the population. However, here the natives met the Cossacks in such numbers that "they decided not to engage them in combat; and to the gentle, peaceful suggestion 'give usyasak,' the Cossacks met with a flat refusal from the Kurillians."

In 1713 a new campaign to the Kuril islands was organized under the leadership of Kozyrevsky. The campaign included 55 Russian Cossacks and tradesmen as well as eleven Kamchadal natives. After a short stop on Shumshu the Kozyrevsky detachment landed on Paramushir. The Ainu of Paramushir made an attempt to defend their freedom and engaged the Cossacks in three battles. The fortunes of war this time were on the side of the conquerors and in the end the inhabitants of Paramushir were forced to pay yasak and acknowledge the suzerainty of Russia. Having gathered the tribute, Kozyrevsky returned to Kamchatka, taking with him two yasak hostages and one Iturup Ainu named Shitanay. From him, Kozyrevsky learned in detail about the rest of the Kurils and the island of Hokkaido. Based on this information and the stories of Japanese who had been washed ashore on Kamchatka by a storm, Kozyrevsky compiled his "Sketch of the Sea Islands," which included information about most of the Kuril islands, as well as Hokkaido and Japan.

In the 1720's and 30's Russian mariners visited the majority of the Kuril Islands. In 1719 Peter I sent the geodesists Ivan Yevreinov and Fyodor Luzhin to the Far East, who by 1721 had described fourteen of the islands lying to the south of Kamchatka (up to and including Simushir).

In 1738 and 1739 a detachment of the second Kamchatka expedition under the leadership of Martin Span-berg made a voyage down the chain as far as the shores of Japan, during which Russian explorers for the first time visited the shores ofUrup, Iturup, Kunashir, Shiko-tan and other islands.

In August 1742 the catamaran Nadezhda under command ofA.E.Sheldng, apartofSpanberg's detachment, made landfall on the Sakhalin coast near Terpeniye Bay while exploring the southern reaches of the Sea of Okhotsk. For two weeks the Russian mariners attempted to survey the eastern shoreline of the island, but were hampered by strong winds and dense fogs.

Life for the native peoples became significantly more difficult following the subjugation of Shumshu and Paramushir and their annexation to Russia. Ainu living on the northern Kurils were required to pay yasak, sometimes not only for themselves but also for any tribe members who had died or run away. Holding of hostages was a common method of enforcing Ainu obedience. These measures compelled the Ainu to flee islands under Russian jurisdiction. Efforts to bring back the "wayward Kurillians" (as the refugees were called) focused the attention of Russian administrators on the islands to the south of Paramushir. Close on the heels of the "wayward, "yasak collectors began to collect furs from the population of the middle Kurils in 1750. In 1768 the line extended to Urup and Iturup, and by 1778-1779 yasak was being collected as far south as Kunashir. With nowhere left to run, the process of subduing the Kuril Ainu was over.

However, Russia was unable to maintain possession of the islands south of Urup. Although Russia had annexed a huge territory in an extremely short period of time, the Russian government was unable to exercise effective control over it. Cossacks, trappers and merchants in the conquered territories acted completely independently of direction from St.Petersburg. Unreported abuses occurred at the fringes of the great Empire, and outright robbery, extortion, seizure of trapping lands and episodes of cruelty were the cause of frequent Kuril Ainu uprisings against the Russians. This led finally in 1779 to the issuance of an Imperial Edict from the Empress Catherine II, as follows: "With regard to difficulties encountered in exercising control over the newly subjugated lands, and abuses against Our new subjects, the hairy Kurillians, the latter are to be left in peace, and no collection of any kind shall be demanded of diem, nor shall the inhabitants thereof ever henceforth be compelled to pay; but rather try, by friendly treatment and gentleness, for furdier benefit in trapping and trade, to continue the relationship we have begun with them." Nine years later, there was a new decree by the Russian empress:

"We emphasize most strongly to all trappers as regards the Kuril Islands, that they are not to engage in disputes about possession with the Chinese (sic), nor likewise set foot on islands which are under the jurisdiction of other States.

A measure of economic development accompanied the exploration and subjugation of the Kurils. In the 1740's Russians began trapping sea otter, and during the reign of Catherine II the islands were frequently visited by Russian merchants. In the 1790's a Russian trading post and trapper's settlement was founded on Urup island.

By the end of the 18th century English and French explorers showed an interest in Sakhalin and the Kurils. In 1787, ships of the La Perouse expedition (the frigates Bussole and Astrolabia} conducted their explorations. Jean Francois Galoup de la Perouse thus became the first European to sail into the Tatar Straits. Sailing northward, the French mariner plotted on the map die outlines of Sakhalin and the mainland, but could not find a passage between them. Near the entrance to the narrowest part of the Tatar Straits die soundings became shallower and shallower, and it appeared mat the coasdines of Sakhalin and the mainland joined at the horizon. La Perouse wrote, "the bottom rose quickly and I, supposing a gradual shallowing, calculated that we had six miles left before running aground." La Perouse did not venture further and instead sent out two rowboats, which were also forced to turn back as die depth readings quickly decreased. The shallow readings misled die French mariner into concluding that Sakhalin was joined to die mainland by an isdunus, and under a freshening wind La Perouse was forced to turn soudi. The French sailors explored more dian 700 kilometers of Sakhalin coasdine southward and after a short stop near Cape Krilon, the ships under La Perouse's command sailed from the Sea ofJapan to the Sea of Okhotsk via the strait between Sakhalin and Hokkaido which today bears his name.

In 1796-1797, the English captain William Robert Broughton explored the coastline of Sakhalin and the Kurils. Broughton sailed eight miles further up the Tatar Straits than La Perouse, but being unable to sail further north due to shallow water, he concluded that he was in a gulf surrounded by low, sandy shores. Thus appeared the theory that Sakhalin was a peninsula.

Owing to the fact that Japanese historians have been so successful in creating myths about the initial colonization of Sakhalin and the Kurils (which is no less true of their Soviet colleagues), it is very difficult for us today to ascertain when exactly Japan began its exploration of these territories. With a certainty, we can say only that in spite of its relative proximity, Japan began relatively late to open up these territories. Doubtless, the first news of islands north of Hokkaido came to Japan long before the first Europeans appeared in this region; however, it was not until the 17th century that Japanese explorers, fishermen and merchants directed their attention to Sakhalin and the Kurils. The primary base for the development of the northern territories was Oshima peninsula in southern Hokkaido. This was the seat of the Matsumae clan, which played a prominent role in subjugating the Ainu tribes and organizing Japanese expeditions northward from Hokkaido.

The first Japanese expedition which can be reliably documented visited Sakhalin in 1635. Japanese fishermen and traders began to penetrate the island from the south toward the end of the 17th century. In 1664 the first Japanese map of the Kurils appeared. In 1731 the Matsumae clan began to receive tribute from the Ainu living on Kunashir and Iturup. Later (in 1754) the first Japanese trading post appeared on the Kuril Islands. Japanese expansion in the Kurils was accompanied by suppression of the natives, who from time to time fought back. In 1789 the Ainu rose against the Japanese on Kunashir. The insurrection was put down, with some of its leaders killed and some taken prisoner.

Systematic study of Sakhalin and the Kurils by the Japanese began at the end of the 18th century. In 1785 the Japanese government organized an expedition which explored Hokkaido, Sakhalin and the Kurils. A year later the Japanese traveler Mogami Tokunai landed on Iturup island, where he heard from the Ainu about three Russians who had escaped from Urup island after a quarrel with their superiors. Mogami interviewed the Russians, who described for him the further Kurils and Kamchatka. Intrigued, Mogami made an attempt to reach Kamchatka, but storms prevented him from sailing further than the northern tip of Urup and he was forced to return to Hokkaido. After the Japanese explorer Oishi Ippei journeyed to Sakhalin in 1786, Mogami turned his attentions there as well and undertook a series of expeditions in the 1780's and 90's. He explored more than 700 km of Sakhalin coastline along the Tatar Straits, the entire Aniva bay, and the western coast of the island from Cape Aniva to Lake Tarai-ka (Nevskoye) and the Poronay River. Japanese geographers were acquainted with the results of Sakhalin exploration by European mariners through their contact with the Dutch. By the end of the 18th century, this acquaintance had led to widespread belief in Japan in the false notion that Sakhalin was a peninsula. Japanese trading posts had appeared on Sakhalin by the 1790's, the largest of which was at Shiranushi, near Cape Krilon. Ainu, Nivkhi ( from the Amur and from northern Sakhalin), and other tribes from the Amur basin, as well as Manchu Chinese merchants, came to Shiranushi to barter with the Japanese. At the turn of the 19th century Japanese government officials and sentry posts appeared in the south of Sakhalin, on Kunashir and Iturup.