Editing Sakhalin (section)

==== Russo-Japanese rivalry ====
[[File:Karafuto in the Edo period (Sakhalin).jpg|thumb|left|1823 Japanese map of Karafuto and the mouth of the Amur]]
[[File:Anton Chekhov museum Alexandrovsk-Sakhalinsky file 3.jpg|thumb|right|Anton Chekhov museum in [[Alexandrovsk-Sakhalinsky (town)|Alexandrovsk-Sakhalinsky]], Russia. It is the house where he stayed in Sakhalin during 1890.]]
[[File:V.M. Doroshevich-Sakhalin. Part I. Settlers Way of Life. Near Cathedral at Holiday.png|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Settler's way of life. Near church at holiday. 1903]]
On the basis of its belief that it was an extension of Hokkaido, both geographically and culturally, Japan again proclaimed sovereignty over the whole island (as well as the [[Kuril Islands]] chain) in 1845, in the face of competing claims from Russia. In 1849, however, the Russian navigator [[Gennady Nevelskoy]] recorded the existence and navigability of the strait later given his name, and Russian settlers began establishing coal mines, administration facilities, schools, and churches on the island. In 1853–54, [[Nikolay Rudanovsky]] surveyed and mapped the island.<ref>{{cite web |title=Началось исследование Южного Сахалина под руководством лейтенанта Николая Васильевича Рудановского |trans-title=Study of South Sakhalin Started under Lieutenant Nikolay Vasilievich Rudanovsky |language=Russian |date=October 18, 1853 |url=https://www.prlib.ru/history/1172668 |publisher=President Library of Russia |quote=“I made my trips around Sakhalin Island in autumn and winter ...”: reports of Lieutenant N. V. Rudanovskiy. 1853–1854 |access-date=October 31, 2021 }}</ref>

In 1855, Russia and Japan signed the [[Treaty of Shimoda]], which declared that nationals of both countries could inhabit the island: Russians in the north, and Japanese in the south, without a clearly defined boundary between. Russia also agreed to dismantle its military base at Ootomari. Following the [[Second Opium War]], Russia forced China to sign the [[Treaty of Aigun]] (1858) and the [[Convention of Peking]] (1860), under which China lost to Russia all claims to territories north of [[Heilongjiang]] ([[Amur River|Amur]]) and east of [[Ussuri]].

In 1857, the Russians established a penal colony, or ''[[katorga]]'', on Sakhalin.<ref>
{{cite book
 | editor1-last = Burkhardt
 | editor1-first = Frederick
 | editor1-link = Frederick Burkhardt
 | editor2-last = Secord
 | editor2-first = James A.
 | editor2-link = James A. Secord
 | title = The Correspondence of Charles Darwin
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXOgCgAAQBAJ
 | volume = 23
 | location = Cambridge
 | publisher = Cambridge University Press
 | date = 2015
 | page = 211
 | isbn = 9781316473184
 | access-date = 3 October 2020
 | quote = The Russians had established a penal colony in northern Sakhalin in 1857 [...].
}}</ref> The island remained under shared sovereignty until the signing of the 1875 [[Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875)|Treaty of Saint Petersburg]], in which Japan surrendered its claims in Sakhalin to Russia. In 1890, the author [[Anton Chekhov]] visited the penal colony on Sakhalin. He spent three months there interviewing thousands of convicts and settlers for a census and published his memoir ''[[Sakhalin Island (book)|Sakhalin Island]]'' ({{langx|ru|Остров Сахалин}}) of his [[:ru:Остров Сахалин (книга)|journey]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Chekhov's trip to Sakhalin puts lockdown in perspective |url=https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2020/07/02/chekhovs-trip-to-sakhalin-puts-lockdown-in-perspective |access-date=2024-03-28 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>