Nevelsk (russian: Не́вельск; ja, 本斗, ''Honto'') is a port

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of Nevelsky District of

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

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, located on the southwest coast of the Sakhalin Island, from

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk ( rus, Ю́жно-Сахали́нск, a=Ru-Южно-Сахалинск.ogg, p=ˈjuʐnə səxɐˈlʲinsk, literally "South Sakhalin City") is a city on Sakhalin island, and the administrative center of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. I ...

, the administrative center of the

oblast An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdo ...

. Population:

History

The first Russian settlers founded a village on the present site of Nevelsk in 1789. The region was the site of a struggle for control between the Russians and Japanese. After 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 ...

officially transferred the southern

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 ...

to Japan in 1855, the settlement was placed under joint Russian-Japanese administration under the name Honto it comes from the Ainu language. View of Honto

Honto reverted to complete Russian administration in 1875, as the Treaty of Saint Petersburg gave control of all the Kuril Islands to Japan, in exchange for complete Russian sovereignty over the island of Sakhalin. It then returned to Japanese rule in 1905, after the

Treaty of Portsmouth A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...

ceded southern Sakhalin to Japan to end the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

. Sakhalin's first ice-free harbor was constructed here between 1916 and 1927, and the settlement developed as a center for the local fishing industry. The end of

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 opposing ...

saw the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

retake the full island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The settlement was granted town status in 1947 under its present name, in honor of Admiral

Gennady Nevelskoy Gennady Ivanovich Nevelskoy (; in Drakino, now in Soligalichsky District, Kostroma Oblast – in St. Petersburg) was a Russian navigator. In 1848 Nevelskoy set out in command of what became the to the area of the present-day ...

. The town was damaged by the 2007 Sakhalin earthquake (near the Tatar Strait), leaving about two thousand people homeless.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Nevelsk serves as the

of Nevelsky District and is subordinated to it.Law #25-ZO As a municipal division, the town of Nevelsk and ten rural localities of Nevelsky District are incorporated as Nevelsky Urban Okrug.Law #524

Economy

The town's economy relies largely on fishing and associated industries. Due to relatively warm ocean currents, the town is located in the mildest climatic zone on the island of Sakhalin, making possible agriculture in the surrounding region. There have been recent efforts to develop the area as a tourist area for marine animal viewing, diving and yachting. The
HSCS-Hokkaido-Sakhalin Cable System
HSCS-Hokkaido-Sakhalin Cable System undersea fiber optic cable runs between Ishikari (Hokkaido, Japan) and Nevelsk.

Climate

Nevelsk has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Dfb'') with cold winters, warm summers and generally heavy

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

from the

Aleutian Low The Aleutian Low is a semi-permanent low-pressure system located near the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea during the Northern Hemisphere winter. It is a climatic feature centered near the Aleutian Islands measured based on mean sea-level press ...

, whose winds hit the town direct from the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

References

Notes

Sources

* *

External links

Official website of Nevelsk

Unofficial website of Nevelsk
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Sakhalin Oblast