 During an eruption of 1872, Russian authorities recorded that 13 inhabitants died; however, when the island was returned to the Empire of Japan per the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875) along with the rest of the Kuril islands, no inhabitants remained as they had chosen to move north to Kamchatka, which remained under the Russian jurisdiction.The island was formerly administered as part of Shimushu District of Nemuro Subprefecture of Hokkaidō.In 1893, a settlement was attempted by nine members of the Chishima Protective Society led by Gunji Shigetada; however, when a ship called on the island a year later, five of the colonists had already died, and the remaining four were critically ill with beri-beri.