The Description of the Ainu and the Japanese by Gavriil Davydov (1807)

• Main Author: Klimova Olga Vadimovna
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: Russian Japanology Review 2021
• Subjects: Khvostov; Davydov; Sakhalin expedition; Russo-Japanese relations; Ainu; Japanese; Kuril Islands; Kamchatka; Sakhalin
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.24412/2658-6444-2021-1-95-116; https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/the-description-of-the-ainu-and-the-japanese-by-gavriil-davydov-1807

In 1802, upon the orders of the Russian-American Company, Ensign Davydov and Lieutenant Khvostov were sent to deliver food supplies to the Russian colonies in America. In 1804, the Company repeatedly ordered these two officers to make the voyage to America. Before their departure, they met Rezanov, who arrived to Kamchatka after his unsuccessful mission to Japan, where he was supposed to establish trade relations. Due to this failure and the attempt to save Russian colonies and expand the territory of the Russian Empire, Rezanov decided to start trading with the local inhabitants of the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. This study will examine the information about the Japanese, their settlements in the Kuril Islands, and the local inhabitants of the Kuril Islands – the Ainu. This research is based on the unique historical document The Journal of the Voyage of an American Company Tender Avos’ in 1807, under the Command of Ensign Davydov, which gives a detailed description of the Japanese, the Ainu, their settlements and compares them to the Russian ones.