Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk - Tag

Verkhnee Lake in the Yu. A. Gagarin Refreshment Park. 

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Russian: Ю́жно-Сахали́нск) is a city and the administrative center of Sakhalin Oblast (which includes Sakhalin Island and the Kurils). The city was formerly called Vladimirovka between 1882–1905, then Toyohara (豊原) between 1905-1946. The city began as a small Russian settlement called Vladimirovka, founded by convicts in 1882. The Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905, which brought an end to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, awarded the southern half of Sakhalin Island to Japan. Vladimirovka was renamed Toyohara (meaning "bountiful plain"), and was the prefect capital of Japanese Karafuto. After the end of World War II, the Japanese portion of Sakhalin island was occupied by Soviet troops. Ownership of the city transferred back to the Soviet Union and it was renamed Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Town status was granted to it in 1946.

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