Tymovskoye

 town, GULAG, district center

Urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Tymovsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, located in the central part of the Sakhalin Island on the right bank of the Tym River, about 450 kilometers (280 mi) north of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Population: 7,855 (2010 Census).
The original Nivkh name of the Tymy river comes from the words Tymy (smoke), which means a depression at the bottom of the river where fish spawns, and "and" is the river. Therefore, the name of the river can be translated as "spawning river." In 1880 Derbinskoye (the original name of Tymovskoye) settlement for exiled convicts was founded, named after warden Derbin, who was killed by a prisoner for his cruel treatment. The writer Anton Chekhov visited Derbinskoye in 1890 during his travel through Sakhalin and described it in his book, Sakhalin Island. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, the area around Derbinskoye was occupied by Japanese troops, and then again after the October Revolution of 1917. The Bolsheviks did not regain control over northern Sakhalin until May 1925. Derbinskoye became the administrative center of Rykovsky District in 1928. The settlement was given its present name of November 15, 1949. On November 15, 1949, Derbinskoye was renamed to Tymovskoye. Under Joseph Stalin, Tymovskoye was home to a prison camp of the gulag system. In 1950–1953, this particular camp was the base for forced labor used in the construction of a railway connecting the planned tunnel between Sakhalin and the Russian mainland with the existing Sakhalin rail network. In 1963, Tymovskoye was granted urban-type settlement status.