Shiashkotan (russian: Шиашкотан); ( ja, 捨子古丹島; Shasukotan-tō) is an uninhabited

volcanic island Geologically, a high island or volcanic island is an island of volcanic origin. The term can be used to distinguish such islands from low islands, which are formed from sedimentation or the uplifting of coral reefs (which have often formed ...

near the center of the

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...

chain in the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...

in the northwest

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, separated from

Ekarma Ekarma (russian: Экарма; Japanese 越渇磨島; Ekaruma-tō) is an uninhabited volcanic island near the center of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean, separated from Shiashkotan by the Ekarma Strait ...

by the

Ekarma Strait Ekarma Strait () is a stretch of water in the Sea of Okhotsk that separates Ekarma at the northwest and Shiashkotan at the southeast. The islands are part of the Kuril Islands chain in the Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Да� ...

. Its name is derived from the

Ainu language Ainu (, ), or more precisely Hokkaido Ainu, is a language spoken by a few elderly members of the Ainu people on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is a member of the Ainu language family, itself considered a language family isolate ...

, from “

Konbu ''Konbu'' (from ja, 昆布, konbu or kombu) is edible kelp mostly from the family Laminariaceae and is widely eaten in East Asia. It may also be referred to as ''dasima'' ( ko, 다시마) or ''haidai'' (). Kelp features in the diets of many ...

village”.

Geology

Shiashkotan is roughly dumbbell-shaped, formed by two volcanic islands joined together by a narrow

landspit A spit or sandspit is a deposition bar or beach landform off coasts or lake shores. It develops in places where re-entrance occurs, such as at a cove's headlands, by the process of longshore drift by longshore currents. The drift occurs due ...

. The island has a total length of with a width ranging from at its widest point to at its narrowest, and an area of . Both ends of the island are complex

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...

s, and landing is possible only on the sandy isthmus. * Pik

Sinarka Sinarka (russian: Синарка) is a stratovolcano located at the northern end of Shiashkotan Island, Kuril Islands, Russia. Most eruptions occurred during the 17th and 18th centuries, although there has been some recent activity, mostly steam ...

(russian: влк. Синарка; ja, 黒岳; ''Kurodake''), which rises to above sea level occupies the northern end of the island, and is the island’s highest point. Historical eruptions have occurred at Sinarka during 1825–1750, 1846, 1855, and the last and largest from 1872 to 1878. To the east from this volcano is located interesting geothermal field - North-Western solfatara field with more than 100 fumaroles and several hot, geyser-like springs which erupt water up to 1.5 m high. * Pik

Kuntomintar Kuntomintar (russian: Кунтоминтар) is a stratovolcano located at the southern end of Shiashkotan Island, Kuril Islands, Russia. Kumtomintar is a high point on a small volcanic ridge with mellow slopes on all side except the north west ...

-(russian: влк.Китаио; ja, 北硫黄岳; ''Kitaiō-dake''), occupies the southern end of the island. A central cone fills a 4-4.5 kilometer diameter caldera, and there is a second caldera on the west side which is breached to the west. The only known postglacial activity of Kuntomintar is continuous fulmarole activity near the east wall of the inner caldera and a nearby hot sulfur spring.

History

Shiashkotan was inhabited by the Ainu, who subsided off of hunting and fishing at the time of European contact. The island appears on an official map showing the territories of

Matsumae Domain The was a Japanese clan that was confirmed in the possession of the area around Matsumae, Hokkaidō as a march fief in 1590 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and charged with defending it, and by extension the whole of Japan, from the Ainu "barbarians" ...

, a

feudal domain A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

dated 1644, and these holdings were officially confirmed by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

in 1715. Subsequently, claimed by the

Empire of Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. Th ...

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

initially passed to Russia under the terms of the

Treaty of Shimoda The Treaty of Shimoda (下田条約, ''Shimoda Jouyaku'') (formally Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia 日露和親条約, ''Nichi-Ro Washin Jouyaku'') of February 7, 1855, was the first treaty between the Russian Empire, a ...

. During an eruption of 1872, Russian authorities recorded that 13 inhabitants died; however, when the island was returned to the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

per the

Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875) The Treaty of Saint Petersburg ( ja, 樺太・千島交換条約, Karafuto-Chishima Kōkan Jōyaku; russian: Петербургский договор) between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire was signed on 7 May 1875, and its ratif ...

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 is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. Japan claims the southern parts of the disputed Kuril Islands (known as the Northern Territories in Japan) as part of this subprefecture. As of March 2009, the subprefecture has an estimated p ...

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

. In 1893, a settlement was attempted by nine members of the Chishima Protective Society led by

Gunji Shigetada Gunji may refer to: Places * Gunji, Karnataka, India * Gunji, Uttarakhand Gunji is a small village in Uttarakhand of India. It is administered by India, but dusputed by Nepal. It is near the borders of Tibet and Nepal and the confluence of th ...

; 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 Thiamine deficiency is a medical condition of low levels of thiamine (Vitamin B1). A severe and chronic form is known as beriberi. The two main types in adults are wet beriberi and dry beriberi. Wet beriberi affects the cardiovascular system, r ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the island came under the control of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, and is now administered as part of the

Sakhalin Oblast Sakhalin Oblast ( rus, Сахали́нская о́бласть, r=Sakhalínskaya óblast', p=səxɐˈlʲinskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast) comprising the island of Sakhalin and the K ...

of the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Notes

References

* *

External links

* {{Sea of Okhotsk Islands Active volcanoes Islands of the Sea of Okhotsk Islands of the Russian Far East Stratovolcanoes of Russia Islands of the Kuril Islands Uninhabited islands of Russia Calderas of Russia Volcanoes of the Kuril Islands Mountains of the Kuril Islands

Geology

History

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links