ABSTRACT
The main purpose of this chapter is to discuss the ways in which Russian and Japanese settlement policies represented different evaluations of the southern part of Sakhalin Island from the latter part of the nineteenth century to the early part of this century. In particular, the chapter will present a classification of settlement types in two southern river basins and discuss the contrasting landscape impact of settlement policy as a consequence of sovereignty transfer. In order to pursue these aims, the chapter will rely principally upon cartographic data and on literary accounts as aids to landscape reconstruction.
