Kunashir Island

Kunashir Island

Disputed island Native name: Kunashir Island (Ainu) Other names: Russian: Кунаши́р; Japanese: 国後島
Kunashir Island coastline: photo taken by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in November 2010.
Geography
Kunashir Island Kunashir Island (off the coast of Hokkaidō)
Location	Sea of Okhotsk
Coordinates
Archipelago	Kuril Islands
Area	1,490 square kilometres (370,000 acres)
Length	123 kilometres (76 mi)
Width	from 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to 30 kilometres (19 mi)
Highest point	Tyatya 1,819 metres (5,968 ft)
Administered by
Russia
Oblast	Sakhalin
Largest city	Yuzhno-Kurilsk
Claimed by
Japan
Prefecture	Hokkaidō
Demographics
Population	aprox. 7800 (as of 2002)

Kunashir Island (Russian: Кунаши́р; Japanese: 国後島, Kunashiri-tō; Ainu: クナシㇼ or クナシㇽ, Kunasir), possibly meaning Black Island or Grass Island in Ainu, is the southernmost island of the Kuril Islands, which is under Russian jurisdiction.

It lies between the straits of Kunashir Island, Catherine, Izmena, and South Kuril. Kunashir Island is visible from the nearby Japanese island of Hokkaidō, from which it is separated by the Nemuro Strait.

• Area: 1,490 km²
• Length: 123 km
• Width: 4–30 km

Kunashir Island is formed by four volcanoes which were separate islands but have since joined together by low-lying areas with lakes and hot springs. All these volcanoes are still active: Tyatya (1,819 m), Smirnov, Mendeleev (Rausu-yama), and Golovnin (Tomari-yama).

The island is made up of volcanic and crystalline rocks. The climate is humid continental with very heavy precipitation especially in the autumn and a strong seasonal lag with maximum temperatures in August and September. The vegetation mostly consists of spruce, pine, fir, and mixed deciduous forests with lianas and Kuril bamboo underbrush. The mountains are covered with birch and Siberian Dwarf Pine scrub, herbaceous flowers or bare rocks.

Tree cores of century-old oaks (Quercus crispula) were found in July 2001 on Kunashiri Island.

History

In 1789 Kunashir Island was one of the settings of the Menashi-Kunashiri Battle in which Ainu revolted against Japanese tradespeople and colonists.

Russian navigator Vasily Golovnin attempted to map and explore the island in 1811, but was apprehended by Japanese authorities and spent two years in prison.

On September 1, 1945, or one day before the surrender documents of World War II were signed on September 2, 1945, in accordance with decisions made at the Yalta Conference, the Soviet Union acquired the Kuril Islands. The Japanese government claims that the (so-called) Northern Territories were not part of the Kuril Islands, due to historical reasons. This occurred after the Soviet Union renounced the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1945 and declared war on Japan on August 9, 1945 (formally, the pact itself remained in effect until April 13, 1946).

Settlements

The largest settlement on Kunashir Island is Yuzhno-Kurilsk, administrative center of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District.

Economy

The primary economic activity is the fishing industry. The island has a port next to Yuzhno-Kurilsk.

Transport

The island is served by Mendeleyevo Airport.

Population

After the 1994 earthquake, about one-third of Kunashiri Island's population left, and did not return. By 2002, the island's population was approximately 7,800. The total population of the disputed Kuril islands at that time was approximately 17,000.

Mendeleyev Volcano

Sulfuric River, Kunashir Island

See also

• Kuril Islands dispute

References

General references

• Geographic data at the Wayback Machine (archived December 23, 2010)
• Flights to Kunashir Island banned

External links

• Sakhalin Oblast