Etorofu

Etorofu is a long volcanic island in the southern Kurils, inhabited by Ainu communities whose fishing, hunting, and exchange linked them with neighbouring islands. Its indented coast faces the Sea of Okhotsk on one side and the Pacific on the other. Ainu from the island traded Japanese goods for Russian cloth and furs on nearby Urup. At the end of the eighteenth century, Russian settlement on Urup drew Japanese attention to the southern Kurils. A Japanese expedition reached Etorofu in 1798, and the shogunate took direct control of eastern Ezo in 1799. Officials sought to change Ainu names, dress, and customs, while restricting movement and contact with people from islands farther north.