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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 Russian Far East. It stretches approximately northeast from Hokkaido in
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 ...
to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia separating 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 ...
from the north Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands and many minor rocks. The Kuril Islands consist of the
Greater Kuril Chain Greater Kuril Chain (russian: Большая Курильская гряда) - A part of the Kuril Islands, the Greater Kuril Chain is a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. It includes North Kurils, Iturup and Kunashir. At its south western ...
and the Lesser Kuril Chain. They cover an area of around , with a population of roughly 20,000. The islands have been under Russian administration since their 1945 invasion as the Soviet Union towards the end of World War II. Japan claims the four southernmost islands, including two of the three largest (
Iturup , other_names = russian: Итуру́п; ja, 択捉島 , location = Sea of Okhotsk , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = , major_islands = , area_km2 = 3139 , length_km = 200 , width_km = 27 , coastline = , highest_moun ...
and Kunashir), as part of its territory, as well as Shikotan and the
Habomai ; ja, 歯舞群島, Habomai guntō , location = Pacific Ocean , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = 10 + several rocks , major_islands = , area_km2 = 100 , length = , ...
islets, which has led to the ongoing
Kuril Islands dispute The Kuril Islands dispute, known as the Northern Territories dispute in Japan, is a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia over the ownership of the four southernmost Kuril Islands. The Kuril Islands are a chain of islands that stretch b ...
. The disputed islands are known in Japan as the country's "Northern Territories".


Etymology

The name ''Kuril'' originates from the autonym of the aboriginal
Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...
, the islands' original inhabitants: ''kur'', meaning 'man'. It may also be related to names for other islands that have traditionally been inhabited by the Ainu people, such as ''Kuyi'' or ''Kuye'' for Sakhalin and ''Kai'' for
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 Japanese, the Kuril Islands are known as the Chishima Islands ( Kanji: , literally, 'Thousand Islands Archipelago'), also known as the Kuriru Islands ( Katakana: , literally, ''Kuril Archipelago''). Once the Russians reached the islands in the 18th century they found a
pseudo-etymology A false etymology (fake etymology, popular etymology, etymythology, pseudo-etymology, or par(a)etymology) is a popular but false belief about the origin or derivation of a specific word. It is sometimes called a folk etymology, but this is also a ...
from Russian ''kurit′'', курить 'to smoke' due to the continual fumes and steam above the islands from volcanoes.


Geography and climate

The Kuril Islands form part of the ring of tectonic instability encircling the Pacific Ocean referred to as the Ring of Fire. The islands themselves are summits of
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 ...
es that are a direct result of the subduction of the
Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...
under the Okhotsk Plate, which forms the
Kuril Trench 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 ...
some east of the islands. The chain has around 100 volcanoes, some 40 of which are active, and many
hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
and fumaroles. There is frequent seismic activity, including a magnitude 8.5 earthquake in 1963 and one of magnitude 8.3 recorded on November 15, 2006, which resulted in tsunami waves up to reaching the California coast. Raikoke Island, near the centre of the archipelago, has an active volcano which erupted again in June 2019, with emissions reaching . The climate on the islands is generally severe, with long, cold, stormy winters and short and notoriously foggy summers. The average annual precipitation is , a large portion of which falls as snow. The Köppen climate classification of most of the Kurils is
subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Generally, ...
(''Dfc''), although Kunashir is humid continental (''Dfb''). However, the Kuril Islands’ climate resembles the subpolar oceanic climate of
southwest Alaska Southwest Alaska is a region of the U.S. state of Alaska. The area is not exactly defined by any governmental administrative region(s); nor does it always have a clear geographic boundary. Geography Southwest Alaska includes a huge, complex, and ...
much more than the hypercontinental climate of Manchuria and interior Siberia, as precipitation is heavy and permafrost completely absent. It is characterized by mild summers with only 1 to 3 months above and cold, snowy, extremely windy winters below , although usually above . The chain ranges from temperate to sub-Arctic climate types, and the vegetative cover consequently ranges from tundra in the north to dense
spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...
and larch forests on the larger southern islands. The highest elevations on the islands are Alaid volcano (highest point: ) on Atlasov Island at the northern end of the chain and Tyatya volcano () on Kunashir Island at the southern end. Landscape types and habitats on the islands include many kinds of beach and rocky shores, cliffs, wide rivers and fast gravelly streams, forests, grasslands,
alpine tundra Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated alpine climate, harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alp ...
, crater lakes and peat bogs. The soils are generally productive, owing to the periodic influxes of volcanic ash and, in certain places, owing to significant enrichment by seabird
guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...
. However, many of the steep, unconsolidated slopes are susceptible to landslides and newer volcanic activity can entirely denude a landscape. Only the southernmost island has large areas covered by trees, while more northerly islands have no trees, or spotty tree cover. The northernmost, Atlasov Island (Oyakoba in Japanese), is an almost-perfect volcanic cone rising sheer out of the sea; it has been praised by the Japanese in haiku,
wood-block print Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is crea ...
s, and other forms, in much the same way as the better-known
Mount Fuji , or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest p ...
. Its summit is the highest point in Sakhalin Oblast.


Ecology


Marine

Owing to their location along the Pacific shelf edge and the confluence of Okhotsk Sea gyre and the southward Oyashio Current, the Kuril islands are surrounded by waters that are among the most productive in the North Pacific, supporting a wide range and high abundance of marine life. Invertebrates: Extensive kelp beds surrounding almost every island provide crucial habitat for
sea urchins Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...
, various
mollusks Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000  extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
and countless other invertebrates and their associated predators. Many species of
squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...
provide a principal component of the diet of many of the smaller marine mammals and birds along the chain. Fish: Further offshore,
walleye pollock The Alaska pollock or walleye pollock (''Gadus chalcogrammus'') is a marine fish species of the cod genus ''Gadus'' and family Gadidae. It is a semi-pelagic schooling fish widely distributed in the North Pacific, with largest concentrations fou ...
, Pacific cod, several species of
flatfish A flatfish is a member of the Ray-finned fish, ray-finned demersal fish order (biology), order Pleuronectiformes, also called the Heterosomata, sometimes classified as a suborder of Perciformes. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the ...
are of the greatest commercial importance. During the 1980s, migratory Japanese sardine was one of the most abundant fish in the summer. Pinniped: The main pinnipeds were a significant object of harvest for the indigenous populations of the Kuril islands, both for food and materials such as skin and bone. The long-term fluctuations in the range and distribution of human settlements along the Kuril island presumably tracked the pinniped ranges. In historical times, fur seals were heavily exploited for their fur in the 19th and early 20th centuries and several of the largest reproductive rookeries, as on
Raykoke Raikoke (russian: Райкоке, ja, 雷公計島), also spelled Raykoke, is, as of 2019 a Russian uninhabited volcanic island near the centre of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean, distant from the is ...
island, were extirpated. In contrast, commercial harvest of the
true seal The earless seals, phocids or true seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal lineage, Pinnipedia. All true seals are members of the family Phocidae (). They are sometimes called crawling seals to distinguish them from th ...
s and
Steller sea lion The Steller sea lion (''Eumetopias jubatus''), also known as the Steller's sea lion and northern sea lion, is a near-threatened species of sea lion in the northern Pacific. It is the sole member of the genus ''Eumetopias'' and the largest of t ...
s has been relatively insignificant on the Kuril islands proper. Since the 1960s there has been essentially no additional harvest and the pinniped populations in the Kuril islands appear to be fairly healthy and in some cases expanding. The notable exception is the now extinct Japanese sea lion, which was known to occasionally
haul out Hauling-out is a behaviour associated with pinnipeds (true seals, sea lions, fur seals and walruses) temporarily leaving the water. Hauling-out typically occurs between periods of foraging activity. Rather than remain in the water, pinnipeds hau ...
on the Kuril islands. Sea otters: Sea otters were exploited very heavily for their pelts in the 19th century, as shown by 19th- and 20th-century whaling catch and sighting records. Seabirds: The Kuril islands are home to many millions of seabirds, including
northern fulmar The northern fulmar (''Fulmarus glacialis''), fulmar, or Arctic fulmar is a highly abundant seabird found primarily in subarctic regions of the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. There has been one confirmed sighting in the Southern Hemis ...
s, tufted puffins, murres, kittiwakes, guillemots,
auklet An auk or alcid is a bird of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. The alcid family includes the murres, guillemots, auklets, puffins, and murrelets. The word "auk" is derived from Icelandic ''álka'', from Old Norse ''alka'' (a ...
s, petrels, gulls and
cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven ge ...
s. On many of the smaller islands in summer, where terrestrial predators are absent, virtually every possibly hummock, cliff niche or underneath of boulder is occupied by a nesting bird. Several of the islands, including Kunashir and the Lesser Kuril Chain in the South Kurils, and the northern Kurils from Urup to Paramushir, have been recognised as
Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
s (IBAs) by
BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
because they support populations of various threatened bird species, including many waterbirds, seabirds and waders.


Terrestrial

The composition of terrestrial species on the Kuril islands is dominated by Asian mainland taxa via migration from Hokkaido and Sakhalin Islands and by Kamchatkan taxa from the North. While highly diverse, there is a relatively low level of endemism on a species level. The WWF divides the Kuril Islands into two ecoregions. The southern Kurils, along with southwestern Sakhalin, comprise the
South Sakhalin-Kurile mixed forests South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...
ecoregion. The northern islands are part of the Kamchatka-Kurile meadows and sparse forests, a larger ecoregion that extends onto the Kamchatka Peninsula and Commander Islands. Because of the generally smaller size and isolation of the central islands, few major terrestrial mammals have colonized these, though red and Arctic
fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
es were introduced for the sake of the fur trade in the 1880s. The bulk of the terrestrial mammal biomass is taken up by
rodents Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are nat ...
, many introduced in historical times. The largest southernmost and northernmost islands are inhabited by brown bear, foxes, and martens.
Leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...
s once inhabited the islands. Some species of deer are found on the more southerly islands. It is claimed that a wild cat, the Kurilian Bobtail, originates from the Kuril Islands. The bobtail is due to the mutation of a dominant gene. The cat has been domesticated and exported to nearby Russia and bred there, becoming a popular domestic cat. Among terrestrial birds,
raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...
s,
peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (Bird of prey, raptor) in the family (biology), family Falco ...
s, some
wren Wrens are a family of brown passerine birds in the predominantly New World family Troglodytidae. The family includes 88 species divided into 19 genera. Only the Eurasian wren occurs in the Old World, where, in Anglophone regions, it is commonly ...
s and
wagtail Wagtails are a group of passerine birds that form the genus ''Motacilla'' in the family Motacillidae. The forest wagtail belongs to the monotypic genus ''Dendronanthus'' which is closely related to ''Motacilla'' and sometimes included therein. T ...
s are common.


History


Early history

The
Ainu people The Ainu are the indigenous people of the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, including Hokkaido Island, Northeast Honshu Island, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula and Khabarovsk Krai, before the arrival of the Y ...
inhabited the Kuril Islands from early times, although few records predate the 17th century.From the Kamakura period to the Muromachi period, there were Ezo (Ainu) people called Hinomoto from the Pacific coast of Hokkaido to the Kuril region, and Mr. Ando, the Ezo Sateshiku and Ezo Kanrei, was in charge of this ("Suwa Daimyojin Ekotoba"). ). It is said that when turmoil broke out on Ezogashima, he dispatched troops from Tsugaru. Its activities include the Kanto Gomensen, which calls itself the Ando Suigun, and is based in Jusanminato ("Kaisen Shikimoku"), supplying Japanese products to Ezo society and purchasing large quantities of northern products and shipping them nationwide. ("Thirteen Streets").The Matsumae clan, a feudal lord of Japan, became independent from the Ando clan (the family of Goro Ando). The Japanese administration first took nominal control of the islands during the Edo period (1603-1868) in the form of claims by the
Matsumae clan 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" ...
. The '' Shōhō Era Map of Japan'' (), a map of Japan made by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1644, shows 39 large and small islands northeast of Hokkaido's
Shiretoko Peninsula is located on the easternmost portion of the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, protruding into the Sea of Okhotsk. It is separated from Kunashir Island, which is now occupied by Russia, by the Nemuro Strait. The name Shiretoko is derived from the ...
and
Cape Nosappu is a point on the Nemuro Peninsula, Nemuro, Japan which is the easternmost point in Hokkaidō. It is also the easternmost point in Japan which is open to the public. It is located where the waters from the Pacific Ocean meet those from the Se ...
. A Dutch expedition under Maarten Gerritsz Vries explored the islands in 1643. Russian popular legend has
Fedot Alekseyevich Popov Fedot Alekseyevich Popov (russian: Федот Алексеевич Попов, also Fedot Alekseyev, russian: Федот Алексеев; nickname Kholmogorian, russian: Холмогорец, for his place of birth ( Kholmogory), date of birth un ...
sailing into the area . Russian Cossacks landed on Shumshu in 1711.
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
whaleships caught right whales off the islands between 1847 and 1892. Three of the ships were wrecked on the islands: two on Urup in 1855 and one on
Makanrushi Makanrushi (russian: Маканруши; Japanese 磨勘留島; Makanru-tō) is an uninhabited volcanic island located near the northern end of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Its name is derived f ...
in 1856. In September 1892, north of Kunashir Island, a Russian
schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...
seized the bark ''Cape Horn Pigeon'', of
New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...
and escorted it to Vladivostok, where it was detained for nearly two weeks.


Japanese administration

At the very end of the 19th century, the Japanese administration started the forced
assimilation Assimilation may refer to: Culture *Cultural assimilation, the process whereby a minority group gradually adapts to the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture and customs **Language shift, also known as language assimilation, the progre ...
of the native Ainu people. Also at this time the Ainu were granted automatic Japanese citizenship, effectively denying them the status of an indigenous group. Many Japanese moved onto former Ainu lands, including the Kuril islands. The Ainu required to adopt Japanese names, and ordered to cease religious practices such as animal sacrifice and the custom of tattooing. Although not compulsory education, education was conducted in Japanese. Prior to Japanese colonization (in 1868) about 100 Ainu reportedly lived on the Kuril islands.


World War II

* In 1941 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto ordered the assembly of the Imperial Japanese Navy strike-force for the Hawaii Operation attack on Pearl Harbor in Tankan or
Hitokappu Kasatka Bay ( rus, Залив Касатка, Zaliv Kasatka), formerly known by its Japanese name , is a natural harbor at the central part of Iturup, Kuril Islands. It has been controlled by the Soviet Union since the Soviets annexed the Kuril ...
Bay,
Iturup , other_names = russian: Итуру́п; ja, 択捉島 , location = Sea of Okhotsk , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = , major_islands = , area_km2 = 3139 , length_km = 200 , width_km = 27 , coastline = , highest_moun ...
Island, South Kurils. The territory was chosen for its sparse population, lack of foreigners, and constant fog-coverage. The Admiral ordered the move to Hawaii on the morning of 26 November. * On 10 July 1943 the first bombardment against the Japanese bases in Shumshu and Paramushir by American forces occurred. From Alexai airfield 8
B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...
s from the
77th Bombardment Squadron #REDIRECTSecret Agent 077 Secret Agent 077 is a fictional superspy, lead character in a trilogy of Eurospy films starring Ken Clark as Dick Malloy (or Maloy).p.274 Blake, Matt & Deal, David ''The Eurospy Guide'' 2004 Luminary Press However "077" ...
took off, led by Capt James L. Hudelson. This mission principally struck Paramushir. * Another mission was flown during 11 September 1943 when the
Eleventh Air Force The Eleventh Air Force (11 AF) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska.This unit is not related to the Eleventh Air Force headquarte ...
dispatched eight
B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...
s and 12
B-25 The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in e ...
s. Facing reinforced Japanese defenses, 74 crew members in three B-24s and seven B-25 failed to return. 22 men were killed in action, one taken prisoner and 51 interned in Kamchatka. * The Eleventh Air Force implemented other bombing missions against the northern Kurils, including a strike by six
B-24 The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...
s from the
404th Bombardment Squadron 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...
and 16
P-38 The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive twi ...
s from the
54th Fighter Squadron The 54th Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was to the 3d Operations Group, being stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. It was inactivated on 28 April 2000. History World War II Activated ...
on 5 February 1944. * Japanese sources report that the Matsuwa military installations were subject to American air-strikes between 1943 and 1944. * The Americans' strategic feint called "
Operation Wedlock Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
" diverted Japanese attention north and misled them about the U.S. strategy in the Pacific. The plan included air strikes by the USAAF and U.S. Navy bombers which included U.S. Navy shore bombardment and submarine operations. The Japanese increased their garrison in the north Kurils from 8,000 in 1943 to 41,000 in 1944 and maintained more than 400 aircraft in the Kurils and
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 ...
area in anticipation that the Americans might invade from Alaska. * American planners had briefly contemplated an invasion of northern
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 ...
from the Aleutian Islands during the autumn of 1943 but rejected that idea as too risky and impractical. They considered the use of Boeing B-29 Superfortresses, on
Amchitka Amchitka (; ale, Amchixtax̂; russian: Амчитка) is a volcanic, tectonically unstable and uninhabited island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. It is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refu ...
and Shemya bases, but rejected the idea. The U.S. military maintained interest in these plans when they ordered the expansion of bases in the western Aleutians, and major construction began on Shemya. In 1945, plans for a possible invasion of Japan via the northern route were shelved. * Between 18 August and 31 August 1945 Soviet forces invaded the North and South Kurils. * The Soviets expelled the entire Japanese civilian population of roughly 17,000 by 1946. * Between 24 August and 4 September 1945 the Eleventh Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces sent two B-24s on reconnaissance missions over the North Kuril Islands with the intention of taking photos of the Soviet occupation in the area. Soviet fighters intercepted and forced them away. In February 1945 the Yalta Agreement promised to the Soviet Union South Sakhalin and the Kuril islands in return for entering the
Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...
against the Japanese during World War II. In August 1945 the Soviet Union mounted an armed invasion of South Sakhalin at the cost of over 5,000 Soviet and Japanese lives.


Russian administration

The Kuril Islands are split into three administrative districts ( raions) part of Sakhalin Oblast: *
Severo-Kurilsky District Severo-Kurilsky District (russian: Се́веро-Кури́льский райо́н) is an administrative district (raion) of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia; one of the seventeen in the oblast.Law #25-ZO Municipally, it is incorporated as Severo-Kuril ...
( Severo-Kurilsk) * Kurilsky District (
Kurilsk Kurilsk (russian: Кури́льск; ja, 紗那村 ''Shana-mura'') is a town and the administrative center of Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, located on the island of Iturup. Population: History Ainu have been known to inhabit ...
) * Yuzhno-Kurilsky District (
Yuzhno-Kurilsk Yuzhno-Kurilsk (russian: Ю́жно-Кури́льск; ja, 留夜別, ''Ruyobetsu'') is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. Population: It is the l ...
) Japan maintains a claim to the four southernmost islands of Kunashir,
Iturup , other_names = russian: Итуру́п; ja, 択捉島 , location = Sea of Okhotsk , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = , major_islands = , area_km2 = 3139 , length_km = 200 , width_km = 27 , coastline = , highest_moun ...
, Shikotan, and the
Habomai ; ja, 歯舞群島, Habomai guntō , location = Pacific Ocean , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = 10 + several rocks , major_islands = , area_km2 = 100 , length = , ...
rocks, together called the ''Northern Territories''. In addition, the Japanese government claims that the Kuril Islands other than the Northern Territories and South Karafuto, are undetermined areas under international law because the San Francisco Peace Treaty does not specify where they belong and the Soviet Union has not signed it. On 8 February 2017 the Russian government gave names to five previously unnamed Kuril islands in Sakhalin Oblast: Derevyanko Island (after Kuzma Derevyanko, ), Gnechko Island (after Alexey Gnechko, ), Gromyko Island (after Andrei Gromyko, ), Farkhutdinov Island (after
Igor Farkhutdinov Igor Pavlovich Farkhutdinov (russian: Игорь Павлович Фархутдинов; April 16, 1950 – August 20, 2003) was governor of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia during 1995–2003. Biography Igor Farkhutdinov was born in 1950 in Novosib ...
, ) and Shchetinina Island (after Anna Shchetinina, ).


Demographics

, 19,434 people inhabited the Kuril Islands, of which over 16,700 live on the four disputed islands. These include ethnic Russians, Ukrainians,
Belarusians , native_name_lang = be , pop = 9.5–10 million , image = , caption = , popplace = 7.99 million , region1 = , pop1 = 600,000–768,000 , region2 = , pop2 ...
, Tatars, Nivkhs, Oroch, and Ainus.
Russian Orthodox Christianity Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...
is the main religion. Some of the villages are permanently manned by Russian soldiers (especially in Kunashir following recent tensions). Others are inhabited by civilians, which are mostly fishers, workers in fish factories, dockers, and social sphere workers (police, medics, teachers, etc.). Recent construction works on the islands attracts a lot of migrant workers from the rest of Russia and other post-Soviet states. , there were only 8 inhabited islands out of a total of 56. Iturup Island is over 60% ethnically Ukrainian.


Economy

Fishing is the primary occupation. The islands have strategic and economic value, in terms of fisheries and also mineral deposits of pyrite,
sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
, and various polymetallic
ores Ore is natural Rock (geology), rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Ret ...
. There are hopes that oil exploration will provide an economic boost to the islands. In 2014, construction workers built a pier and a breakwater in Kitovy Bay, central Iturup, where barges are a major means of transport, sailing between the cove and ships anchored offshore. A new road has been carved through the woods near Kurilsk, the island's biggest village, going to the site of
Yuzhno-Kurilsk Mendeleyevo Airport Yuzhno-Kurilsk Mendeleyevo Airport (russian: Аэропорт Южно-Курильск, ja, メンデレーエフ空港) is an airport in Yuzhno-Kurilsk, on the Russian and Japanese island of Kunashir in the Kuril Islands. Airlines and destin ...
. Gidrostroy, the Kurils' biggest business group with interests in fishing, construction and real estate, built its second fish processing factory on Iturup island in 2006, introducing a state-of-the-art conveyor system. To deal with a rise in the demand of electricity, the local government is also upgrading a state-run geothermal power plant at Mount Baransky, an active volcano, where steam and hot water can be found.


Military

The main Russian force stationed on the islands is the
18th Machine Gun Artillery Division The 18th Machine Gun Artillery Division is a division of the Russian Ground Forces stationed in the Sakhalin Oblast with administration over the Kuril Islands. It is currently deployed to Eastern Ukraine. First formation It was first formed as ...
, which has its headquarters in
Goryachiye Klyuchi Goryachiye Klyuchi (russian: Горячие Ключи) is the name of several rural localities in Sakhalin Oblast, Russia: *Goryachiye Klyuchi, Kurilsky District, Sakhalin Oblast, a '' selo'' in Kurilsky District * Goryachiye Klyuchi, Nogliksky Di ...
on Iturup Island. There are also Border Guard Service troops stationed on the islands. In February 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for substantial reinforcements of the Kuril Islands defences. Subsequently, in 2015, additional anti-aircraft missile systems
Tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia Sc ...
and
Buk Buk or BUK may refer to: Places Czech Republic * Buk (Prachatice District), a municipality and village in the South Bohemian Region * Buk (Přerov District), a municipality and village in the Olomouc Region *Buk, a village and part of Jindřichů ...
, coastal defence missile system Bastion, Kamov Ka-52 combat helicopters and one ''Varshavyanka'' project submarine came on defence of Kuril Islands. During the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine it was reported that parts of the 18th Machine Gun Artillery Division were redeployed to Eastern Ukraine.


List of main islands

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 __NOTOC__ Martin Spanberg (d. 1761; russian: Мартын Петрович Шпанберг, ''Martyn Petrovich Shpanberg'') was a Danish naval officer in Russian service who took part with his compatriot Vitus Bering in both Kamchatka expedition ...
, Adam Johann von Krusenstern, Vasily Golovnin, and Henry James Snow. The following table lists information on the main islands from north to south: } ! scope="col" , ja, Name ! scope="col" , Alternative
names ! scope="col" , Island Group ! scope="col" , Administrative centre /
! scope="col" , Other settlements ! scope="col" data-sort-type="number" , Area ! scope="col" , , - ,
Severo-Kurilsky District Severo-Kurilsky District (russian: Се́веро-Кури́льский райо́н) is an administrative district (raion) of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia; one of the seventeen in the oblast.Law #25-ZO Municipally, it is incorporated as Severo-Kuril ...
, , , North Kurils , North Kurils (Kita-chishima / 北千島) , Severo-Kurilsk , Shelikovo, Podgorny, Baikovo , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 2,560 , - , Shumshu , Шумшу , , Shumushu , North Kurils , Baikovo , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 20 , - , Atlasov , Атласова , , Oyakoba, Araido , North Kurils , Alaidskaya Bay , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Paramushir , Парамушир , , Paramushiru, Horomushiro , North Kurils , Severo-Kurilsk , Shelikovo, Podgorny , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 2,540 , - , Antsiferov , Анциферова , , Shirinki , North Kurils , Antsiferov beach , Cape Terkut , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - ,
Makanrushi Makanrushi (russian: Маканруши; Japanese 磨勘留島; Makanru-tō) is an uninhabited volcanic island located near the northern end of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Its name is derived f ...
, Маканруши , , Makanru , North Kurils , Zakat , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - ,
Avos' The Russian ''avos (russian: авось) describes a philosophy of behavior, or attitude, of a person who ignores possible problems or hassles and, at the same time, expects or hopes for no negative results or consequences. It is an attitude that tr ...
, Авось , , Hokake, Hainoko , North Kurils , , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Onekotan , Онекотан , , Onwakotan , North Kurils , Mussel , Kuroisi, Nemo, Shestakov , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - ,
Kharimkotan Kharimkotan (russian: Харимкотан); Japanese 春牟古丹島; Harimukotan-tō, alternatively Harumukotan-tō or 加林古丹島; Karinkotan-tō) is an uninhabited volcanic island located from Onekotan near the northern end of the Kuril ...
, Харимкотан ,
, Harimukotan, Harumukotan , North Kurils , Sunazhma , Severgin Bay , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - ,
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 ...
, Экарма , , Ekaruma , North Kurils , Kruglyy , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - ,
Chirinkotan Chirinkotan (russian: Чиринкотан; Japanese 知林古丹島; Chirinkotan-tō) is an uninhabited volcanic island located in the centre of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Its name is derived f ...
, Чиринкотан , , , North Kurils , Cape Ptichy , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Shiashkotan , Шиашкотан , , Shasukotan , North Kurils , Makarovka , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Lowuschki-Felsen , Ловушки , , Mushiru , North Kurils , , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Raikoke , Райкоке , , , North Kurils , Raikoke , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Matua , Матуа , , Matsuwa , North Kurils , Sarychevo , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - ,
Rasshua Rasshua (russian: Расшуа, ja, 羅処和島), is an uninhabited volcanic island near the center of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean, from Ushishir and southwest of Matua. Its name is derived f ...
, Расшуа , , Rashowa, Rasutsua , North Kurils , Arches Point , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Srednego , Среднего , , Suride , North Kurils , , , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Ushishir , Ушишир , , Ushishiru , North Kurils , Kraternya , Ryponkicha , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - ,
Ketoy Ketoy (or ''Ketoi'') (russian: Кетой; Japanese 計吐夷島; Ketoi-tō) is an uninhabited volcanic island located in the centre of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Its name is derived from the Ainu ...
, Кетой , , Ketoi , North Kurils , Storozheva , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Kurilsky District , , , Middle Kurils (Naka-chishima / 中千島) , split between both Japanese groups ,
Kurilsk Kurilsk (russian: Кури́льск; ja, 紗那村 ''Shana-mura'') is a town and the administrative center of Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, located on the island of Iturup. Population: History Ainu have been known to inhabit ...
, Reidovo, Kitovyi, Rybaki,
Goryachiye Klyuchi Goryachiye Klyuchi (russian: Горячие Ключи) is the name of several rural localities in Sakhalin Oblast, Russia: *Goryachiye Klyuchi, Kurilsky District, Sakhalin Oblast, a '' selo'' in Kurilsky District * Goryachiye Klyuchi, Nogliksky Di ...
,
Kasatka Kasatka (1976 – August 15, 2017) was a wild caught female orca who lived at SeaWorld San Diego. Life Kasatka was captured off the southeastern coast of Iceland on October 26, 1978 with another young female whale named Kahana. Both were estima ...
, Burevestnik, Shumi-Gorodok, Gornyy , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 6,606 , - ,
Simushir Simushir (russian: Симушир, ja, 新知島, translit=Shimushiru-tō, ain, シムシㇼ, translit=Simusir), meaning ''Large Island'' in Ainu, is an uninhabited volcanic island near the center of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okho ...
, Симушир , , Shimushiru, Shinshiru , North Kurils , Kraternyy , Srednaya bay , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Broutona , Броутона , , Buroton, Makanruru , North Kurils , Nedostupnyy , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - ,
Chirpoy Chyornye Bratya (russian: Чёрные Братья, lit. ''Black Brothers''; ja, 知理保以島, Chiripoi-to) is a pair of uninhabited volcanic islands between Simushir and Urup in the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest ...
, Чирпой , , Chirihoi, Chierupoi , North Kurils , Peschanaya Bay , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Brat Chirpoyev , Брат Чирпоев , , Chirihoinan , North Kurils , Garovnikova , Semenova , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Urup , Уруп , , Uruppu , North Kurils , Mys Kastrikum , Mys Van-der-Lind , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Other , , , , North Kurils , , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - ,
Iturup , other_names = russian: Итуру́п; ja, 択捉島 , location = Sea of Okhotsk , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = , major_islands = , area_km2 = 3139 , length_km = 200 , width_km = 27 , coastline = , highest_moun ...
, Итуруп , , Etorofu, Ietorupu , South Kurils (Minami-chishima / 南千島) ,
Kurilsk Kurilsk (russian: Кури́льск; ja, 紗那村 ''Shana-mura'') is a town and the administrative center of Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, located on the island of Iturup. Population: History Ainu have been known to inhabit ...
, Reidovo, Kitovyi, Rybaki,
Goryachiye Klyuchi Goryachiye Klyuchi (russian: Горячие Ключи) is the name of several rural localities in Sakhalin Oblast, Russia: *Goryachiye Klyuchi, Kurilsky District, Sakhalin Oblast, a '' selo'' in Kurilsky District * Goryachiye Klyuchi, Nogliksky Di ...
,
Kasatka Kasatka (1976 – August 15, 2017) was a wild caught female orca who lived at SeaWorld San Diego. Life Kasatka was captured off the southeastern coast of Iceland on October 26, 1978 with another young female whale named Kahana. Both were estima ...
, Burevestnik, Shumi-Gorodok, Gornyy , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 6,602 , - , Yuzhno-Kurilsky District , , , South Kurils , South Kurils ,
Yuzhno-Kurilsk Yuzhno-Kurilsk (russian: Ю́жно-Кури́льск; ja, 留夜別, ''Ruyobetsu'') is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. Population: It is the l ...
,
Malokurilskoye Malokurilskoye (russian: Малокури́льское) is a village ('' selo'') in Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. Population: 1,100 (2007), and 1,873 (2010).Otrada Otrada (russian: links=no, Отрада) is a rural locality (a selo) in Kipchak-Askarovsky Selsoviet, Alsheyevsky District, Bashkortostan The Republic of Bashkortostan or Bashkortostan ( ba, Башҡортостан Республикаһы, B ...
, Goryachiy Plyazh,
Aliger ''Aliger'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Strombidae, the true conchs. ''Aliger'' was previously a synonym of '' Lobatus'' Swainson, 1837 Species Species within the genus ''Aliger'' include: * †''Aliger dom ...
,
Mendeleyevo Mendeleyevo (russian: Менделе́ево) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. Urban localities *Mendeleyevo, Moscow Oblast, a work settlement in Solnechnogorsky District of Moscow Oblast Rural localities * Mendeleyevo, Kal ...
,
Dubovoye Dubovoye (russian: Дубовое) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a Village#Russia, selo) and the administrative center of Dubovsky Selsoviet of Mikhaylovsky District, Amur Oblast, Mikhaylovsky District, Amur Oblast, ...
,
Polino Polino is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Terni in the Italian region Umbria, located about 70 km southeast of Perugia and about 15 km east of Terni. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 275 and an area of 19.5&nb ...
, Golovnino , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 10,268 , - , Kunashir , Кунашир , , Kunashiri , South Kurils ,
Yuzhno-Kurilsk Yuzhno-Kurilsk (russian: Ю́жно-Кури́льск; ja, 留夜別, ''Ruyobetsu'') is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. Population: It is the l ...
, Rudnaya, Lagunnoye,
Otrada Otrada (russian: links=no, Отрада) is a rural locality (a selo) in Kipchak-Askarovsky Selsoviet, Alsheyevsky District, Bashkortostan The Republic of Bashkortostan or Bashkortostan ( ba, Башҡортостан Республикаһы, B ...
, Goryachiy Plyazh,
Aliger ''Aliger'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Strombidae, the true conchs. ''Aliger'' was previously a synonym of '' Lobatus'' Swainson, 1837 Species Species within the genus ''Aliger'' include: * †''Aliger dom ...
,
Mendeleyevo Mendeleyevo (russian: Менделе́ево) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. Urban localities *Mendeleyevo, Moscow Oblast, a work settlement in Solnechnogorsky District of Moscow Oblast Rural localities * Mendeleyevo, Kal ...
,
Dubovoye Dubovoye (russian: Дубовое) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a Village#Russia, selo) and the administrative center of Dubovsky Selsoviet of Mikhaylovsky District, Amur Oblast, Mikhaylovsky District, Amur Oblast, ...
,
Polino Polino is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Terni in the Italian region Umbria, located about 70 km southeast of Perugia and about 15 km east of Terni. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 275 and an area of 19.5&nb ...
, Golovnino , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 7,800 , - , Shikotan Group , Шикотан , , , South Kurils ,
Malokurilskoye Malokurilskoye (russian: Малокури́льское) is a village ('' selo'') in Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. Population: 1,100 (2007), and 1,873 (2010).Krabozavodskoye Krabozavodskoye (russian: Крабозаводское), also known as Anama ( ja, 穴澗; Anama), is a village ('' selo'') in Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontine ...
(formerly Anama),
Zvezdnaya Zvyozdnaya (russian: Звёздная) is a station on the Moskovsko-Petrogradskaya Line of the Saint Petersburg Metro. It was opened on December 25, 1972. It was designed by K.N. Afonskya, A.C. Getskin and V.P. Shuvalova. In the original bluepri ...
,
Voloshina Voloshin, Woloshin,Wolloshin, Voloshyn or Woloshyn (Cyrillic: Волошин) is a Ukrainian and Russian masculine surname. It comes from the dated exonym Volokh ("Vlach", "Romanian"). Its feminine forms are Voloshina, Woloshina, Voloshyna or Wolosh ...
, Kray Sveta , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 2,440 , - , Shikotan Island , Шикотан , , , South Kurils ,
Malokurilskoye Malokurilskoye (russian: Малокури́льское) is a village ('' selo'') in Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. Population: 1,100 (2007), and 1,873 (2010).Krabozavodskoye Krabozavodskoye (russian: Крабозаводское), also known as Anama ( ja, 穴澗; Anama), is a village ('' selo'') in Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontine ...
(formerly Anama),
Zvezdnaya Zvyozdnaya (russian: Звёздная) is a station on the Moskovsko-Petrogradskaya Line of the Saint Petersburg Metro. It was opened on December 25, 1972. It was designed by K.N. Afonskya, A.C. Getskin and V.P. Shuvalova. In the original bluepri ...
,
Voloshina Voloshin, Woloshin,Wolloshin, Voloshyn or Woloshyn (Cyrillic: Волошин) is a Ukrainian and Russian masculine surname. It comes from the dated exonym Volokh ("Vlach", "Romanian"). Its feminine forms are Voloshina, Woloshina, Voloshyna or Wolosh ...
, Kray Sveta , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 2,440 , - , Other , , , , South Kurils , , Ayvazovskovo , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - ,
Khabomai ; ja, 歯舞群島, Habomai guntō , location = Pacific Ocean , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = 10 + several rocks , major_islands = , area_km2 = 100 , length = , ...
, Хабомаи , , Habomai , South Kurils , Zorkiy , Zelyony, Polonskogo , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 28 , - , Polonskogo , Полонского , , Taraku , South Kurils , Moriakov Bay station , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 2 , - ,
Oskolki ''Fragments'' (russian: Осколки) was a Russian humorous, literary and artistic weekly magazine published in St Petersburg from 1881 to 1916. History From 1881 to 1906 ''Fragments'' was published by the popular writer Nikolay Leykin. From 19 ...
, Осколки , , Todo, Kaiba , South Kurils , , , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Zelyony , Зелёный , , Shibotsu , South Kurils , Glushnevskyi station , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 3 , - , Kharkar , Харкар , , Harukaru, Dyomina , South Kurils , Haruka , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - ,
Yuri Yuri may refer to: People and fictional characters Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. *Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Jap ...
, Юрий , , Yuri , South Kurils , Kalernaya , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Anuchina , Анучина , , Akiyuri , South Kurils , Bolshoye Bay , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Tanfil'yev , Танфильев , , Suishō , South Kurils , Zorkiy , Tanfilyevka Bay, Bolotnoye , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 23 , - ,
Storozhevoy ''Storozhevoy'' (russian: link=no, italic=yes, Сторожевой, "guardian" or "sentry") was a Soviet Navy Project 1135 Burevestnik-class anti-submarine frigate (NATO reporting name Krivak I). The ship initially was attached to the Sovie ...
, Сторожевой , , Moemoshiri , South Kurils , , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Rifovyy , Рифовый , オドケ島 , Odoke , South Kurils , , , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Signal'nyy , Сигнальный , , Kaigara , South Kurils , , , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - , Other , , , , South Kurils , , Opasnaga, Udivitelnaya , style="text-align: right;" , , style="text-align: right;" , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan="7" style="text-align: right;" scope="row" , Total: ! style="text-align: right;" , ! style="text-align: right;" , 19,434


See also

*
2006 Kuril Islands earthquake The 2006 Kuril Islands earthquake occurred on November 15 at with a magnitude of 8.3 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (''Very Strong'') and a maximum Shindo intensity of JMA 2. This megathrust earthquake was the largest event in the ce ...
*
2007 Kuril Islands earthquake The 2007 Kuril Islands earthquake occurred east of the Kuril Islands on 13 January at . The shock had a moment magnitude of 8.1 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (''Strong''). A non-destructive tsunami was generated, with maximum wave am ...
*
Chishima Province was a province of Japan created during the Meiji Era. It originally contained the Kuril Islands from Kunashiri northwards, and later incorporated Shikotan as well. Its original territory is currently occupied by Russia, and its territory was ren ...
*
Evacuation of Karafuto and Kuriles The evacuation of Karafuto (Sakhalin) and the Kuriles refers to the events that took place during the Pacific theater of World War II as the Japanese population left these areas, to August 1945 in the northwest of the main islands of Japan. Th ...
* Invasion of the Kuril Islands *
Karafuto Fortress The Karafuto Fortress was the defensive unit formed by the Karafuto fortification installations, and the Karafuto detachment of Japanese forces, the 88th Division. The headquarters was in Toyohara, capital of the province, based on the Suzuya pla ...
* Karafuto Prefecture * Organization of Hokkai (North) Army *
Organization of Kita and Minami Fortresses The Kita and Minami Fortresses (Japanese ''kita'', "north" and ''minami'', "south") were defensive structures of the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy in the Kuril Archipelago. The most northerly points were on the Kokutan and ...
*
Political divisions of Karafuto Prefecture Between 1905 and 1945, the Japanese Empire administered the southern half of Sakhalin, using the name . The area was designated a , the same term given to Hokkaidō at the time. It is commonly referred to as Karafuto Prefectures of Japan, Prefectu ...
*
Zemlyak Zemlyak (russian: земляк, "countryman") was a Russian political movement which emerged in 1992, founded by Mikhail Lukyanov, advocating for Russia to return the Kuril Islands to Japan as it would benefit the islanders economic An econom ...


References


Further reading

* Gorshkov, G. S. ''Volcanism and the Upper Mantle Investigations in the Kurile Island Arc''. Monographs in geoscience. New York: Plenum Press, 1970. * Krasheninnikov, Stepan Petrovich, and James Greive. ''The History of Kamtschatka and the Kurilski Islands, with the Countries Adjacent''. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1963. * Rees, David. ''The Soviet Seizure of the Kuriles''. New York: Praeger, 1985. * Takahashi, Hideki, and Masahiro Ōhara. ''Biodiversity and Biogeography of the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin''. Bulletin of the Hokkaido University Museum, no. 2-. Sapporo, Japan: Hokkaido University Museum, 2004. * Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi. ''Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan''. 2006. . * Alan Catharine and Denis Cleary. ''Unwelcome Company. ''A fiction thriller novel set in 1984 Tokyo and the Kuriles featuring a light aircraft crash and escape from Russian-held territory. On Kindle.


External links


Southern Kuriles / Northern Territories: A Stumbling-block in Russia-Japan Relationship
history and analysis by Andrew Andersen, Department of Political Science, University of Victoria, May 2001 * http://depts.washington.edu/ikip/index.shtml (Kuril Island Biocomplexity Project) * (includes space imagery)

a
Natural Heritage Protection Fund


* http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/europe/russia/territory/index.html
Chishima: Frontiers of San Francisco Treaty in Hokkaido
Short film on the disputed islands from a Japanese perspective
USGS Map showing location of Magnitude 8.3 Earthquake 46.616°N, 153.224°E Kuril Islands region, November 15, 2006 11:14:16 UTC



Pictures of Kuril Islands

Kuril Islands
at Encyclopædia Britannica {{Authority control Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean Islands of the Sea of Okhotsk Islands of the Russian Far East Archipelagoes of Japan Geography of Northeast Asia Archipelagoes of Sakhalin Oblast Disputed islands Disputed territories in Asia Pacific Coast of Russia Landforms of the Sea of Okhotsk Volcanoes of Sakhalin Oblast Stratovolcanoes of Russia Former Japanese colonies Shipwrecks in the Sea of Okhotsk Important Bird Areas of the Kurile Islands Seabird colonies