The book tells about the history of Sakhalin in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There is a good bibliography. In the context of the transition of the world's leading countries to an information society, the importance of assimilating the historical experience of mankind in general and its people and native land in particular is increasing. The social functions of historical knowledge bring up civic responsibility for the historical destinies of peoples and nations, and, above all, their small homeland. History as a science, identifying the laws of the development of society, allows you to determine the optimal path of modern development and the place of each person in this process, to realize your own presence in history.