Kuril Islands
For the political history of the sovereignty conflict, see Kuril Islands dispute.The
Kuril Islands (
Russian:Кури́льские острова́ ) or
Kurile Islands in
Russia's
Sakhalin Oblast region, stretch approximately 1,300 km (700 miles) northeast from
Hokkaidō,
Japan, to
Kamchatka,
Russia, separating the
Sea of Okhotsk from the North
Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands in total.
The Kuril Islands are known in
Japanese as the
Chishima Islands (
Kanji: 千島列島 /
Hepburn Romaji:
Chishima rettō , literally,
Thousand Islands Archipelago), also known as the
Kuriru Islands (
Kanji: クリル列島 /
Hepburn Romaji:
Kuriru rettō , literally,
Kuril Archipelago). The name
Kuril originates from the
autonym of the aboriginal
Ainu: "kur", meaning man.
The islands were inhabited primarily by the
Ainu and were being explored and settled by the
Russians and
Japanese in the
18th and
19th centuries. The border between the two
empires was established in
1875, when Japan inherited the islands (
Treaty of Saint Petersburg) in exchange for ceding
Sakhalin to
Russia. Russia reclaimed them after
World War II (
Treaty of San Francisco), but Japan maintains a claim to the four southernmost islands of
Kunashiri,
Etorofu,
Shikotan, and the
Habomai rocks, together called the
Northern Territories (see
Kuril Islands Dispute).
The Kuril Islands form a volcanic
island arc as a result of
plate tectonics and are home to over 100 volcanoes, about 35 of which are active. The
Kuril Trench is an
oceanic trench that runs about 200
km east of the Kuril Islands. The islands themselves are summits of
stratovolcanoes that rise from the seabed. There are frequent
earthquakes.
The islands are renowned for their fogginess, but are rich in seaweed and marine life, such as fish and sea otters. The northernmost,
Atlasov Island (
Oyakoba to the Japanese), is an almost perfect
volcanic cone rising sheer out of the sea, and has led to many Japanese eulogies in
haiku,
wood-block prints, etc., extolling its beauty, much as they do the more well-known
Mt. Fuji.
Today, roughly 30,000 people (ethnic
Russians,
Ukrainians,
Belarusians,
Tatars,
Koreans,
Nivkhs,
Oroch, and
Ainu) inhabit the Kuril Islands. About half of the population lives below the
poverty line, according to the regional administration.
Fishing is the primary occupation. The islands have strategic and economic value, in terms of fisheries and also mineral deposits of
pyrite,
sulfur, and various
polymetallic ores.
While in Russian sources the islands are mentioned for the first time in
1646, the earliest detailed information about them was provided by the explorer
Vladimir Atlasov in
1697. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Kuril Islands were explored by
Danila Antsiferov, I.Kozyrevsky,
Ivan Yevreinov,
Fyodor Luzhin,
Martin Shpanberg,
Adam Johann von Krusenstern,
Vasily Golovnin, and Henry James Snow.
 |
Atlasov Island - northernmost island of the Kurils, view from space |
From north to south, the main islands are:
*
Shumshu (
Shumushu)
*
Atlasov Island (
Oyakoba or
Araito)
*
Paramushir (
Paramushiro or
Poromushiri)
*
Makanru (
Makanrushiri)
*
Onekotan (
Onnekotan)
*
Kharimukotan (
Harumokotan)
*
Antsiferova (
Shirinki)
*
Ekarma (
Ekaruma)
*
Shiashkotan (
Shashukotan)
*
Chirinkotan (
Chirinkotan)
*
Raykoke (
Raikoke)
*
Matua (
Matsuwa)
*
Rasshua (
Rasuwa)
*
Ketoy (
Ketoe or
Ketoi)
*
Yankicha (
Yankisha)
*
Ushishir (
Ushishiri or
Ushichi)
*
Lovushiki (
Mushiri)
*
Simushir (
Shimushiro or
Shinshiru)
*
Broutona (
Buroton)
*
Ostrova Chorniie Brata*
Chirpoy (
Chirinhoi or
Burato-Chiripoi)
*
Urup (
Uruppu)
*
Iturup (
Etorofu)
*
Kunashir (
Kunashiri)
*
Shikotan (
Shikotan)
*
Poloskogo (
Habomai)
*
Seleni (
Shibotsu)
*
Taraku*
Yuri*
Akiyuri*
Suisho*
Zelioni (
Kaigara)
*
Oodoke*
Moeshiri*
Shirinki*
Chishima Province*
Karafuto*
Japanese administration of the Kuril Islands*
Organization of Hokkai(North) Army *
Organization of Kita and Minami Fortresses*
Governor-General of Karafuto *
Political Division of Karafuto Province(1905-1945)*
Organization of Karafuto Fortress*
Evacuation of Karafuto and Kuriles*
Kuril Islands at Ocean Dots.com (includes space imagery)
*http://artedi.fish.washington.edu/okhotskia/ikip/index.htm
*http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/europe/russia/territory/index.html
