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Российская колония на Урупе (1795–1805) и её влияние на политику Японии в отношении айнов южных Курил
Based on comparative study of published Russian and Japanese sources, the article describes
the history of the Russian settlement on the island of Urup in 1795–1805. First, it clarifies the goals of the
foundation of the settlement and the reasons for its liquidation. Founded at the initiative of the Siberian
merchant Grigorii Shelekhov, the Russian settlement played an important role both in Russo-Japanese
relations and in the policy of the Japanese government towards the Ainu and their lands, especially in the
southern Kuril Islands, at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Russians founded the settlement in the view
of future trade opportunities with Japan, since, a few years earlier, the Russian envoy Adam Laxman had
received a permission to enter the port of Nagasaki to continue negotiations. In the beginning, Russians
managed to start exchange of Japanese goods and supplies with the Ainu. After Japanese governmental
expedition reached Iturup in 1798, however, information about relations between the Russians and the Ainu
led to the transfer of the northeast Hokkaido, Kunashir, and Iturup under the direct control of the bakufu, as
well as influenced the nature of Japanese policy towards the local population, the Ainu. The desire to expel
the Russians from Urup and thereby stop their relations with the Ainu of the southern Kuril Islands led to the
decision of the Japanese government to turn Iturup into a natural fortress and forbid the locals to leave the
island, and the Russians and Ainu of the northern and middle Kuril Islands to come there. At the same time,
the long stay of Russian settlers on Urup prevented the spread of Japanese influence north of Iturup.