Reprint of the original, first published in 1859. The publishing house Anatiposi publishes historical books as reprints. Due to their age, these books may have missing pages or inferior quality. Our aim is to preserve these books and make them available to the public so that they do not get lost.

Japanese people have lived on the country's other three main islands--Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku--for many centuries, but ethnic Japanese, or Wajin, began coming to Hokkaido in large numbers only in the latter half of the nineteenth century. This book tells the story of Japan's aboriginal people, the Ainu, followed by that of foreign explorers and ethnic Japanese pioneers. The book pays close attention to the Japanese-Russian conflicts over the island, including Cold War confrontations and more recent clashes over fishing rights and the Hokkaido-administered islands seized by the U.S.S.R. in 1945.