The intention of this thesis is to provide an insight into the two-decade period of colonisation of the Sakhalin island by the Russian and Japanese empires. I wished to research how colonisation influenced and changed the lives and environment of the indigenous Ainu people on the island. I was also interested to discover how exactly the colonisation strategies of both empires differed from one another. During my research, I studied and analysed historical and anthropological works that helped me learn the important historical context, which explained how the period of colonisation came to be. Additionally, I chronologically mapped out the legal background of the period, starting with the Shimoda Treaty, and ending with the Treaty of St.Petersburg. After setting up the stage in this manner, I finally examined the actual changes in the lifestyle and activities of the Ainu on Sakhalin. As a direct result of colonisation, their lifestyle, based on subsistence hunting and fishing was ruined, and they became dependent on trading in the market monopolised by the colonising forces, therefore losing the right to independently trade and feed themselves. Their environment became a lot more unsafe because of the newfound presence of Russian penal labourers and criminals, and they were forced to move further south, or even to Hokkaido in some cases. They were also the victims of many diseases and epidemics brought on by colonisers. As for the differences in colonisation strategies of the two empires, I found that Russia was more interested in the land itself as terra nullius, and treated it as an empty terrain to be used and moulded into a utopist penal colony, by settling the area with penal labourers. Japan was more inclined to use the resources the island already provided and therefore started a rich fishing industry supported by the Ainu as a workforce on the island.
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