Porokotan

Porokotan was a settlement on western Sakhalin near the meeting of Ainu and Nivkh territories. Its Ainu name and the Nivkh name Pilvo both mean a large settlement, distinguishing it within the surrounding country. Early nineteenth-century Japanese accounts describe people from the island's interior visiting Porokotan and crossing to the mainland. The settlement belonged to a coast where languages, families and trade linked the peoples of Sakhalin with those across the strait.