Between the 16th and 17th centuries, the Yamato Japanese intensified their influence over the southern part of the island of Azuchi, which they called Hokkaido, a name that can be translated as “Northern Sea Route.” At that time, the island was inhabited by the Ainu people, originally from Siberia. For a long period, Japanese settlers in the south traded fish, silk, and furs with the Ainu, also imposing certain tributes upon them.

A turning point came with the Meiji Restoration: in 1869, the imperial government took control of the entire island and established the Hokkaido Development Agency to encourage colonization and promote agricultural, mining, and industrial growth. The objectives were multiple, to curb Russian expansion in the region, present Japan as a colonial power to European eyes, exploit the island’s raw materials, and address domestic issues such as unemployment and the decline of former samurai families by allocating land to settlers.

In 1874, the first group of soldier-settlers was dispatched to the island. Due to the cold climate, rice cultivation was not possible, so the Japanese introduced rye, oats, and wheat, as well as cattle farming. Mining industries expanded, cities grew, and new infrastructure and railways were built.

The Ainu people paid a heavy price for this development. Between the 1870s and 1880s, Hokkaido’s total population grew from 58,000 to 240,000, while the Ainu population plummeted from around 80,000 in the 18th century to just over 10,000 by 1870. Ainu lands were confiscated and redistributed to Japanese settlers. Many indigenous people were relocated to the island’s harshest and least fertile areas and were forbidden to hunt.

The government attempted to turn the Ainu into farmers, but this effort only reduced them to a source of cheap labor for the Japanese. They also endured a forced assimilation process into Yamato culture: the government required them to adopt Japanese names, send their children to Japanese schools, and abandon certain traditional customs considered “barbaric,” such as tattoos and animal sacrifices.

An especially notable aspect of Hokkaido’s colonization was the influence of the United States. Former American officials and experts advised Japan on which crops to cultivate on the island, and in its treatment of the Ainu, the imperial government modeled its policies on the American system of Native American reservations.