The recurring “discovery” of Hokkaido and the Ainu: three decades of nineteenth-century British travelogues

Abstract

What is the explorer or scientist to do when rapid advances in technology, communi-cations, and transport leave few truly untouched regions for them to “ discover ” ? This article will explore the case of Europeans and Americans during the second half of the nineteenth century who sought to make a name for themselves by exploring Hokkaido and studying the Ainu, a people indigenous to the Okhotsk region in Northeast Asia. I will argue that despite appearances, a careful reading and comparison of published sources from this period reveals that the Ainu in fact were visited by a signi fi cant number of Westerners and that these “ explorers ” made extensive use of a pre-existing travel infrastructure which expanded over time. I will analyze the diverse strategies that these Westerners combined to sell their travelogues to a British reading public, including emphasizing and exaggerating their supposed “ discoveries, ” claiming important contributions to science, and employing humor and exoticism.