peoples", or ximin tizhi. These suggest that the island was at least nominally included under the administration of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission which was set up by Yishiha near today's village of Tyr on the Siberian mainland in 1411, and operated until the mid-1430s. A Ming boundary stone still exists on the island.
European and Japanese exploration
Display of Sakhalin on maps varied throughout the 18th century. This map from a 1773 atlas, based on the earlier work by d'Anville, who in his turn made use of the information collected by Jesuits in 1709, asserts the existence of Sakhalin�but only assigns to it the northern half of the island and its northeastern coast (withCape Patience, discovered by de Vries in 1643). Cape Aniva, also discovered by de Vries, and Cape Crillon (Black Cape) are, however, thought to be part of the mainland
According to Wei Yuan's work Military history of the Qing Dynasty the Later Jin sent 400 troops to Sakhalin in 1616, after a newfound interest because of northern Japanese contacts with the area, but later withdrew as it was considered there was no threat from the island.
A Japanese settlement in the southern end of Sakhalin of Ootomari was established in 1679 in a colonization attempt. Cartographers of the Matsumae clan created a map of the island and called it "Kita-Ezo" (Northern Ezo, Ezo being the old name for the islands north of Honshu). The 1689Nerchinsk Treaty between Russia and China, which defined the Stanovoy Mountains as the border, made no explicit mention of the island. Yet, the Qing Dynasty (1644�1912) did consider the island as part of its territory. Policies of the Qing Dynasty followed a similar pattern to the previous Ming Dynasty, which drew Sakhalin peoples further into the "system for subjugated peoples". Local people were forced to pay tribute at Qing posts, and Qing officials granted some titles to local elders and entrusted them with the task of "keeping the
