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Whose originally were the Kuril Islands. Conflict between Japan and the USSR over the Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands are represented by a series of Far Eastern island territories, they have one side, this is the Kamchatka Peninsula, and the other is about. Hokkaido in . The Kuril Islands of Russia are represented by the Sakhalin Oblast, which stretches for about 1,200 km in length with an available area of 15,600 square kilometers.
The islands of the Kuril ridge are represented by two groups located opposite each other - called Big and Small. A large group located in the south belongs to Kunashir, Iturup and others, in the center - Simushir, Keta and in the north are the rest of the island territories.
Shikotan, Habomai and a number of others are considered to be the Small Kuriles. For the most part, all island territories are mountainous and go up to 2,339 meters in height. The Kuril Islands on their lands have about 40 volcanic hills that are still active. Also here is the location of springs with hot mineral water. The south of the Kuriles is covered with forest plantations, and the north attracts with unique tundra vegetation.
The problem of the Kuril Islands lies in the unresolved dispute between the Japanese and Russian sides over who owns them. And it has been open since WWII.
The Kuril Islands after the war began to belong to the USSR. But Japan considers the territories of the southern Kuriles, and these are Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan with the Habomai group of islands, as its territory, without having a legal basis for that. Russia does not recognize the fact of a dispute with the Japanese side over these territories, since their ownership is legal.
The problem of the Kuril Islands is the main obstacle to a peaceful settlement of relations between Japan and Russia.
The essence of the dispute between Japan and Russia
The Japanese demand that the Kuril Islands be returned to them. There, almost the entire population is convinced that these lands are originally Japanese. This dispute between the two states has been going on for a very long time, escalating after the Second World War.
Russia is not inclined to concede to the Japanese leaders of the state in this matter. The peace agreement has not been signed to this day, and this is connected precisely with the four disputed South Kuril Islands. About the legitimacy of Japan's claims to the Kuril Islands in this video.
The meanings of the southern Kuriles
The Southern Kuriles have several meanings for both countries:
- Military. The Southern Kuriles are of military importance, thanks to the only outlet to the Pacific Ocean for the country's fleet located there. And all because of the scarcity of geographical formations. At the moment, the ships enter the ocean waters through the Sangar Strait, because it is impossible to pass through the La Perouse Strait due to icing. Therefore, submarines are located in Kamchatka - Avachinskaya Bay. The military bases operating in the Soviet era have now been looted and abandoned.
- Economic. Economic importance - in the Sakhalin region there is a rather serious hydrocarbon potential. And belonging to Russia of the entire territory of the Kuriles, allows you to use the waters there at your discretion. Although its central part belongs to the Japanese side. In addition to water resources, there is such a rare metal as rhenium. Extracting it, the Russian Federation is in third place in the extraction of minerals and sulfur. For the Japanese, this area is important for fishing and agricultural purposes. This caught fish is used by the Japanese to grow rice - they simply pour it into the rice fields for fertilizer.
- Social. By and large, there is no special social interest for ordinary people in the southern Kuriles. This is because there are no modern megacities, people mostly work there and live in cabins. Supplies are delivered by air, and less often by water due to constant storms. Therefore, the Kuril Islands are more of a military-industrial facility than a social one.
- Tourist. In this regard, things are better in the southern Kuriles. These places will be of interest to many people who are attracted by everything real, natural and extreme. It is unlikely that anyone will remain indifferent at the sight of a thermal spring gushing out of the ground, or from climbing the volcano caldera and crossing the fumarole field on foot. And there is no need to talk about the views that open to the eye.
For this reason, the dispute over the ownership of the Kuril Islands has not moved forward.
Dispute over the Kuril territory
Who owns these four island territories - Shikotan, Iturup, Kunashir and the Habomai Islands, is not an easy question.
Information from written sources indicates the discoverers of the Kuriles - the Dutch. The Russians were the first to populate the territory of Chishim. Shikotan Island and the other three are designated for the first time by the Japanese. But the fact of discovery does not yet give grounds for the possession of this territory.
The island of Shikotan is considered to be the end of the world because of the cape of the same name located near the village of Malokurilsky. It impresses with its 40-meter drop into the ocean waters. This place is called the end of the world due to the amazing view of the Pacific Ocean.
Shikotan Island translates as Big City. It stretches for 27 kilometers, has a width of 13 km, occupied area - 225 square meters. km. The highest point of the island is the mountain of the same name, rising to 412 meters. Partially its territory belongs to the state nature reserve.
Shikotan Island has a very indented coastline with many coves, headlands and cliffs.
Previously, it was thought that the mountains on the island are volcanoes that have ceased to erupt, with which the Kuril Islands abound. But they turned out to be rocks displaced by shifts in lithospheric plates.
A bit of history
Long before the Russians and the Japanese, the Kuril Islands were inhabited by the Ainu. The first information among Russians and Japanese about the Kuriles appeared only in the 17th century. A Russian expedition was sent in the 18th century, after which about 9,000 Ainu became citizens of Russia.
A treaty was signed between Russia and Japan (1855), called Shimodsky, where the boundaries were established, allowing Japanese citizens to trade on 2/3 of this land. Sakhalin remained a nobody's territory. After 20 years, Russia became the undivided owner of this land, then losing the south in the Russo-Japanese War. But during the Second World War, Soviet troops were still able to take back the south of Sakhalin land and the Kuril Islands as a whole.
Between the states that won the victory and Japan, nevertheless, a peace agreement was signed and it happened in San Francisco in 1951. And according to it, Japan has absolutely no rights to the Kuril Islands.
But then the Soviet side did not sign, which many researchers considered a mistake. But there were good reasons for this:
- The document did not indicate specifically what was included in the Kuriles. The Americans said that it is necessary to apply for this to a special international court. Plus, a member of the delegation of the Japanese state announced that the southern disputed islands are not the territory of the Kuril Islands.
- The document also did not indicate exactly who the Kuriles would belong to. That is, the issue remained controversial.
Between the USSR and the Japanese side in 1956, a declaration was signed, preparing a platform for the main peace agreement. In it, the Land of the Soviets goes to meet the Japanese and agrees to transfer to them only the two disputed islands of Habomai and Shikotan. But with a condition - only after the signing of a peace agreement.
The declaration contains several subtleties:
- The word "transfer" means that they belong to the USSR.
- This transfer will actually take place after the signing of the peace treaty.
- This applies only to the two Kuril Islands.
This was a positive development between the Soviet Union and the Japanese side, but it caused alarm among the Americans. Thanks to pressure from Washington, the ministerial chairs were completely changed in the Japanese government, and new officials who rose to high positions began to prepare a military agreement between America and Japan, which began to operate in 1960.
After that, a call came from Japan to give up not two islands proposed by the USSR, but four. America puts pressure on the fact that all agreements between the Land of Soviets and Japan are not obligatory to be fulfilled, they are supposedly declarative. And the existing and current military agreement between the Japanese and the Americans implies the deployment of their troops on Japanese territory. Accordingly, now they have come even closer to Russian territory. 
Proceeding from all this, Russian diplomats declared that until all foreign troops were withdrawn from its territory, it was impossible even to talk about a peace agreement. But in any case, we are talking about only two islands of the Kuriles.
As a result, the power structures of America are still located on the territory of Japan. The Japanese insist on the transfer of the 4 Kuril Islands, as stated in the declaration.
The second half of the 80s of the 20th century was marked by the weakening of the Soviet Union, and under these conditions, the Japanese side again raises this topic. But the dispute about who will own the South Kuril Islands, the countries remained open. The Tokyo Declaration of 1993 states that the Russian Federation is the legal successor of the Soviet Union, respectively, and previously signed papers must be recognized by both parties. It also indicated the direction to move towards the solution of the territorial affiliation of the disputed four Kuril Islands.
The 21st century, and specifically 2004, was marked by the raising of this topic again at a meeting between President Putin of the Russian Federation and the Prime Minister of Japan. And again, everything happened again - the Russian side offers its own conditions for signing a peace agreement, and Japanese officials insist that all four South Kuril Islands be transferred to their disposal. 
2005 marked by readiness Russian President end the dispute, guided by the 1956 agreement and transfer two island territories to Japan, but the Japanese leaders did not agree with this proposal.
In order to somehow reduce the tension between the two states, the Japanese side was offered to help in the development of nuclear energy, the development of infrastructure and tourism, and further improve the environmental situation, as well as security. The Russian side accepted this proposal.
At the moment, for Russia there is no question - who owns the Kuril Islands. Without a doubt, this is the territory Russian Federation, based on real facts - following the results of the Second World War and the generally recognized UN Charter. 
Everything is simple. Hidden under Japanophilia is a desire to turn the Sea of Okhotsk from inland Russian into a sea open to the "world community." With great consequences for us, both military and economic.
Well, so who was the first to master these lands? Why on earth does Japan consider these islands to be its ancestral territories?
To do this, let's look at the history of the development of the Kuril ridge.
The islands were originally inhabited by the Ainu. In their language, “kuru” meant “a person who came from nowhere,” from which their second name “smokers” came from, and then the name of the archipelago.
In Russia, the Kuril Islands were first mentioned in the reporting document of N. I. Kolobov to Tsar Alexei from 1646 on the peculiarities of the wanderings of I. Yu. Moskvitin. Also, data from the chronicles and maps of medieval Holland, Scandinavia and Germany testify to the indigenous Russian villages. N. I. Kolobov spoke about the bearded Ainu inhabiting the islands. The Ainu were engaged in gathering, fishing and hunting, lived in small settlements throughout the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin.
Founded after the campaign of Semyon Dezhnev in 1649, the cities of Anadyr and Okhotsk became bases for exploring the Kuril Islands, Alaska and California.
The development of new lands by Russia took place in a civilized manner and was not accompanied by the extermination or displacement of the local population from the territory of their historical homeland, as happened, for example, with the North American Indians. The arrival of the Russians led to the spread among the local population of more effective means hunting, metal products, and most importantly - contributed to the cessation of bloody tribal strife. Under the influence of the Russians, these peoples began to join agriculture and move on to a settled way of life. Trade revived, Russian merchants flooded Siberia and the Far East with goods, the existence of which was not even known to the local population.
In 1654, the Yakut Cossack foreman M. Stadukhin visited there. In the 60s, part of the northern Kuriles was mapped by the Russians, and in 1700 the Kurils were mapped by S. Remizov. In 1711, the Cossack ataman D. Antsiferov and the captain I. Kozyrevsky visited the Paramushir Shumshu Islands. The following year, Kozyrevsky visited the islands of Iturup and Urup and reported that the inhabitants of these islands live "autocratically."
I. Evreinov and F. Luzhin, who graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Geodesy and Cartography, traveled to the Kuril Islands in 1721, after which the Evreinovs personally handed over to Peter I a report on this voyage and a map.
Russian navigators Captain Spanberg and Lieutenant Walton in 1739 were the first Europeans to open the way to the eastern shores of Japan, visited the Japanese islands of Hondo (Honshu) and Matsmae (Hokkaido), described the Kuril ridge and mapped all the Kuril Islands and the eastern coast of Sakhalin.
The expedition found that under the rule of the "Japanese Khan" is only one island of Hokkaido, the rest of the islands are not subject to him. Since the 60s, interest in the Kuriles has noticeably increased, Russian fishing vessels are increasingly mooring to their shores, and soon the local population - the Ainu - on the islands of Urup and Iturup was brought into Russian citizenship.
Merchant D. Shebalin was ordered by the office of the port of Okhotsk to "convert the inhabitants of the southern islands to Russian citizenship and start bargaining with them." Having brought the Ainu into Russian citizenship, the Russians founded winter huts and camps on the islands, taught the Ainu how to use firearms, breed livestock and grow some vegetables.
Many of the Ainu converted to Orthodoxy and learned to read and write.
Russian missionaries did everything to spread Orthodoxy among the Kuril Ainu and taught them the Russian language. Deservedly the first in this line of missionaries is the name of Ivan Petrovich Kozyrevsky (1686-1734), Ignatius in monasticism. A.S. Pushkin wrote that “in 1713 Kozyrevsky conquered two Kuril Islands and brought news to Kolesov about the trade of these islands with the merchants of the city of Matmaia.” In the texts of Kozyrevsky’s “Drawing of the Sea Islands”, it was written: “On the first and other islands in Kamchatsky Nos, from the autocratic ones shown, he smoked in that campaign with caress and greetings, and others, in military order, again brought him to yasak payment.” Back in 1732, the well-known historian G.F. Miller noted in the academic calendar: “Before this, the inhabitants there had no faith. But in twenty years, by order of his imperial majesty, churches and schools have been built there, which give us hope, and this people will be led out of their error from time to time. Monk Ignatius Kozyrevsky in the south of the Kamchatka Peninsula, at his own expense, laid a church with a limit and a monastery, in which he later took the vows. Kozyrevsky succeeded in converting "the local people of other faiths" - the Itelmens of Kamchatka and the Kuril Ainu.
The Ainu fished, beat the sea animal, baptized their children in Orthodox churches, wore Russian clothes, had Russian names, spoke Russian and proudly called themselves Orthodox. In 1747, the "newly baptized" Kurils from the islands of Shumshu and Paramushir, who numbered more than two hundred people, through their toen (leader) Storozhev, turned to the Orthodox mission in Kamchatka with a request to send a priest "to confirm them in the new faith."
At the behest of Catherine II in 1779, all fees that were not established by decrees from St. Petersburg were canceled. Thus, the fact of the discovery and development of the Kuril Islands by the Russians is undeniable.
Over time, the crafts in the Kuriles were depleted, becoming less and less profitable than off the coast of America, and therefore, by the end of the 18th century, the interest of Russian merchants in the Kuriles had weakened. In Japan, by the end of the same century, interest in the Kuriles and Sakhalin was just awakening, because before that the Kurils were practically unknown to the Japanese. The island of Hokkaido - according to the Japanese scientists themselves - was considered a foreign territory and only a small part of it was inhabited and developed. In the late 70s, Russian merchants reached Hokkaido and tried to start trading with the locals. Russia was interested in acquiring food in Japan for Russian fishing expeditions and settlements in Alaska and the Pacific Islands, but it was not possible to start trade, as it forbade the Japan isolation law of 1639, which read: "For the future, until the sun illuminates world, no one has the right to land on the shores of Japan, even if he were an envoy, and this law can never be repealed by anyone on pain of death.
And in 1788, Catherine II sent a strict order to Russian industrialists in the Kuriles so that they "do not touch the islands under the jurisdiction of other powers," and a year before that, she issued a decree on equipment round the world expedition for an accurate description and mapping of the islands from Masmaya to Kamchatka Lopatka, in order to "formally classify them all as the possession of the Russian state." It was ordered not to allow foreign industrialists to "trade and crafts in places belonging to Russia and to deal with local residents peacefully." But the expedition did not take place due to the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791.
Taking advantage of the weakening of Russian positions in the southern part of the Kuriles, Japanese fishermen first appear in Kunashir in 1799, and the next year on Iturup, where they destroy Russian crosses and illegally set up a pillar with a sign indicating that the islands belong to Japan. Japanese fishermen often began to arrive on the shores of South Sakhalin, fished, robbed the Ainu, which was the reason for frequent skirmishes between them. In 1805, Russian sailors from the frigate "Yunona" and the tender "Avos" on the shores of Aniva Bay set up a pole with the Russian flag, and the Japanese parking lot on Iturup was devastated. The Russians were warmly welcomed by the Ainu.
In 1854, in order to establish trade and diplomatic relations with Japan, the government of Nicholas I sent Vice Admiral E. Putyatin. His mission also included the delimitation of Russian and Japanese possessions. Russia demanded recognition of its rights to the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, which had long belonged to it. Knowing perfectly well what a difficult situation Russia found itself in, waging a war with three powers in the Crimea at the same time, Japan put forward unfounded claims to the southern part of Sakhalin.
At the beginning of 1855, in the city of Shimoda, Putyatin signed the first Russian-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship, according to which Sakhalin was declared undivided between Russia and Japan, the border was established between the islands of Iturup and Urup, and the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate were opened for Russian ships and Nagasaki.
The Shimoda Treaty of 1855 in Article 2 defines:
“From now on, the border between the Japanese state and Russia will be established between the island of Iturup and the island of Urup. The entire island of Iturup belongs to Japan, the entire island of Urup and the Kuril Islands to the north of it belong to Russia. As for the island of Karafuto (Sakhalin), it is still not divided by the border between Japan and Russia.”
The government of Alexander II made the Middle East and Central Asia the main direction of its policy and, fearing to leave its relations with Japan uncertain in the event of a new aggravation of relations with England, agreed to sign the so-called Petersburg Treaty of 1875, according to which all the Kuril Islands in exchange for the recognition of Sakhalin Russian territory passed to Japan.
Alexander II, who had previously sold Alaska in 1867 for a symbolic and at that time amount of 11 million rubles, made a big mistake this time by underestimating the strategic importance of the Kuril Islands, which were later used by Japan for aggression against Russia. The tsar naively believed that Japan would become a peaceful and calm neighbor of Russia, and when the Japanese, substantiating their claims, refer to the treaty of 1875, they for some reason forget (as G. Kunadze "forgot" today) about his first article: ".. ... and henceforth eternal peace and friendship will be established between the Russian and Japanese empires."
Russia actually lost access to the Pacific Ocean. Japan, whose imperial ambitions continued to grow, actually got the opportunity at any moment to begin a naval blockade of Sakhalin and the entire Far East of Russia.
Immediately after the establishment of Japanese power, the population of the Kuriles was described in his notes on the Kuril Islands by the English captain Snow:
“In 1878, when I first visited the northern islands ... all the northern inhabitants spoke Russian more or less tolerably. All of them were Christians and professed the religion of the Greek Church. They were visited (and visited to this day) by Russian priests, and in the village of Mayruppo in Shumshir a church was built, the boards for which were brought from America. ... The largest settlements in the Northern Kuriles were in the port of Tavano (Urup), Uratman, on the shores of Broughton Bay (Simushir) and the above-described Mairuppo (Shumshir). In each of these villages, except for huts and dugouts, there was a church...”.
Our famous compatriot, Captain V. M. Golovnin, in the famous "Notes of the Navy of Captain Golovnin ..." mentions the Ainu, "who called himself Alexei Maksimovich." ...
Then there was 1904, when Japan treacherously attacked Russia.
At the conclusion of the peace treaty in Portsmouth in 1905, the Japanese side demanded from Russia as an indemnity the island of Sakhalin. The Russian side then stated that this was contrary to the 1875 treaty. What did the Japanese say to this?
The war crosses out all agreements, you have been defeated and let's proceed from the current situation.
Only thanks to skillful diplomatic maneuvers did Russia manage to keep the northern part of Sakhalin for itself, and South Sakhalin went to Japan.
At the Yalta Conference of the Heads of Powers, the countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition, held in February 1945, it was decided after the end of the Second World War that South Sakhalin and all the Kuril Islands be transferred to the Soviet Union, and this was the condition for the USSR to enter the war with Japan - three months after end of the war in Europe.
On September 8, 1951, 49 states signed a peace treaty with Japan in San Francisco. The draft treaty was prepared during the Cold War without the participation of the USSR and in violation of the principles of the Potsdam Declaration. The Soviet side proposed to carry out demilitarization and ensure the democratization of the country. Representatives of the United States and Great Britain told our delegation that they had come here not to discuss, but to sign the treaty, and therefore they would not change a single line. The USSR, and with it Poland and Czechoslovakia, refused to sign the treaty. And interestingly, Article 2 of this treaty states that Japan waives all rights and title to Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands. Thus, Japan itself renounced its territorial claims to our country, backing it up with its signature.
1956, Soviet-Japanese negotiations on the normalization of relations between the two countries. The Soviet side agrees to cede the two islands of Shikotan and Habomai to Japan and offers to sign a peace treaty. The Japanese side is inclined to accept the Soviet proposal, but in September 1956 the United States sends a note to Japan stating that if Japan renounces its claims to Kunashir and Iturup and is satisfied with only two islands, then in this case the United States will not give up the Ryukyu Islands where the main island is Okinawa. The Americans put Japan before an unexpected and difficult choice - in order to get the islands from the Americans, you need to take ALL the Kuriles from Russia. ... Or neither Kuril nor Ryukyu with Okinawa.
Of course, the Japanese refused to sign a peace treaty on our terms. The subsequent security treaty (1960) between the United States and Japan made it impossible for Japan to transfer Shikotan and Habomai. Our country, of course, could not give the islands to American bases, nor could it bind itself to any obligations to Japan on the issue of the Kuriles.
A worthy answer about the territorial claims to us from Japan was given at the time by A.N. Kosygin:
- The borders between the USSR and Japan should be considered as the result of the Second World War.
This could be put an end to, but I would like to remind you that only 6 years ago, M.S. Gorbachev, at a meeting with a delegation of the SPJ, also strongly opposed the revision of borders, while emphasizing that the borders between the USSR and Japan were "legal and legally justified" .
"these territories are not part of the Kuril Islands, which Japan renounced under the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951." Pars pro toto. The whole cannot equal the part. "…create the danger that we will mistake a part for the whole. …encourage us - dangerously - to mistake parts for the whole." Japan has not renounced the North. Smoked, but from the Kurils. San Francisco Treaty 1951 8 September. chapter II. Territory. Article 2. (c) "Japan renounces all right, title and claim to the Kurile Islands, … Japan renounces all right, title and claim to the Kurile Islands, …" website/fareast/20110216/166572662.html 02/16/11 World in our time: Russian anti-aircraft missiles in the Kuriles ("Commentary Magazine", USA) J. E. Dyer P.J. Crowley made it equally clear that the treaty does not apply to defense of the Kuril Islands, because the islands are “not under Japanese administration.” J. Crowley just as clearly pointed out that the treaty does not apply to the defense of the Kuril Islands, since they are "not under the control of Japan". If Jap. the tops look at the Treaty of San Francisco and see after the words "Yap-ya renounces" instead of the real 4 hieroglyphs "Chishima retto" (Kurile Archipelago, Kuriles) 4 virtual "Hoppo no Chishima" (Northern Kuriles), then what can be a clinical diagnosis? All the Kuril Islands were called and are called in Japanese by one name, it sounds something like “Chishima”, which translates as “1000 islands”. The Southern Kuriles are called "Minami Chishima" or "Southern Chishima". In the description of the modern revisionist map of the Nemuro Subprefecture, where they painstakingly included the South Kuriles. the character combination "Minami Chishima" is used. Moreover, in international documents, in particular in memorandum 677 (which, among others, removed the Kuriles from the sovereignty of Japan as a separate clause), the English transcription of Chishima, that is, all the Kuriles, was used. It is funny and sad at the same time! Yap-ya looks like an enraged husband. discovered after the divorce that he was deprived of access to the body. If you clearly said PAS in the game, you will not be able to get involved in the game again! Japan itself abdicated in San Francisco in 1951. If a mother gives the child to an orphanage and signs a notarized waiver of the child, then what does it matter to a person who wants to adopt if he was not a witness to the signing of the waiver? The same is true in case of divorce. How many husbands married to ex-divorced wives witnessed that divorce being finalized? These are the kind we have in Japan, in the Russian Federation, God forgive me, jurists. The LAW clearly distinguishes between "lost (and newly found)" property and "Abandoned" property. When property is lost, the law sees that the loss occurred by accident and against the will of the owner. Found someone else's property cannot be appropriated and must be returned to the owner in due time. On the contrary, when the owner voluntarily parted with his property, the law asserts that the property becomes not belonging to anyone, no one, and, therefore, not only the above property, but also all rights to its maintenance and use, passes to the FIRST person who took possession of it. them. Claims to the San Francisco treaty are unfounded, since for the Anglo-Saxons the rights of the USSR were self-evident. Japan renounced Kurile (not North-ern Kurile, Jap. Chishima (not Hoppo no Chishima) on mature reflection, 6 years after the war. What else do you need a FORMULA OF RENUNCIATION?
which is only open to
who is really interested in her...
Kurile Islands.
An archipelago of volcanic islands on the border of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean, between the island of Hokkaido and the Kamchatka Peninsula (Sakhalin Region). It consists of the Greater and Lesser Kuril Ridges, separated by the Kuril Straits. Islands form an arc dl. OK. 1175 km. Total sq. 15.6 thousand km?. The largest islands of the Great Kuril ridge: Paramushir, Onekotan, Simushir, Urup, Iturup, Kunashir. The Lesser Kuril Ridge consists of 6 islands and two groups of rocks; the largest about Shikotan.
Each island is a volcano or a chain of volcanoes connected by foothills or separated by small isthmuses. The shores are mostly steep, sandy on the isthmuses, there are few sheltered bays. The islands are mountainous, with heights of 500-1000 m, the Alaid volcano (Atlasov Island in the northern ridge) rises to 2339 m. On the islands, approx. 160 volcanoes, including 40 active, many thermal springs, there are strong earthquakes.
The climate is monsoon. Wed the temperature of August is from 10 ° C in the north to 17 ° C in the south, in February -7 ° C. Precipitation is 600-1000 mm per year, typhoons are frequent in autumn. There are many lakes, including in craters and lagoons. On the sowing on the islands, thickets of alder and mountain ash, dwarf pine and heath, on the islands cf. groups - sparse forests of stone birch with Kuril bamboo, to the south. islands - forests of Kuril larch, bamboo, oak, maple.
Notes on the Kuril Islands "V. M. Golovnin, 1811
In 1811, the outstanding Russian navigator Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin was commissioned to describe the Kuril and Shantar Islands and the coast of the Tatar Strait. In the course of this assignment, he, along with other sailors, was captured by the Japanese, where he spent more than 2 years. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the first part of his note "Remarks on the Kuril Islands", which was compiled as a result of the study in the same 1811.
1. About their number and names
If all the islands located between Kamchatka and Japan are understood as the Kuril Islands, then their number will be 26, namely:
1. Alaid
2. Shumshu
3. Paramushir
4. Fly
5. Makan-Rushi
6. Onekotan
7. Harimkotan*
8. Shnyashkotan**
9. Ekarma
10. Chirinkotan***
11. Musir
12. Raikoke
13. Matua
14. Rasshua
15. Middle Island
16. Ushisir
17. Ketoi
18. Simusir
19. Trebungo-Tchirpoy
20. Yangi-Tchirpoy
21. McIntor**** or Broton Island
22. Urup
23. Iturup
24. Chikotan
25. Kunashir
26. Matsmai
Here is a real account of the Kuril Islands. But the Kurilians themselves and the Russians visiting them count only 22 islands, which they call: the first, second, etc., and sometimes by their own names, which are:
Shumshu first island
Paramushir II
Width third
Makan-Rushi fourth
Onekotan the fifth
Harimkotan sixth
Shnyashkotan seventh
Ekarma eighth
Chirinkotan ninth
Musir tenth
Raikoke Eleventh
Matua twelfth
Rasshua thirteenth
Ushisir the fourteenth
Ketoy fifteenth
Simusir sixteenth
Tchirpoy seventeenth
Urup eighteenth
Iturup nineteenth
Chikotan twentieth
Kunashir twenty-first
Matsmay twenty second
The reason for this difference in the number of islands is the following: neither the Kuriles nor the Russians living in that region consider Alaid to be the Kuril Island, although in all respects it belongs to this ridge. The islands of Trebungo-Tchirpoy and Yangi-Tchirpoy are separated by a very narrow strait and, located not far from them to the NW, almost bare, the small island of Makintor, or Brotonov Island, they mean by the common name of the seventeenth island and, finally, the island of Sredny, almost connected with Ushisir by a ridge of surface and pitfalls, they do not consider a special island. So, with the exception of these four islands, there remain 22 islands that are somehow usually supposed to be in the Kuril chain.
It is also known that in different descriptions and on different maps of the Kuril Islands, some of them are called differently: this dissimilarity arose from error and ignorance. Here it would not be superfluous to mention under what names some of the Kuril Islands are known on the best foreign maps and in the description of Captain Kruzenshtern.
Musir Island, otherwise called sea lion stones by the inhabitants, Captain Kruzenshtern calls Stone traps.
He calls Raikoke Musir, Matua - Raikoke, Rasshua - Matua, Ushisir - Rasshua, Keta - Ushisir, Simusir - Ketoi, and on foreign maps they write it Marikan.
Tchirpoy French after La Perouse called the Four Brothers.
Urup foreigners write Company Land, and the Russian American Company calls Alexander Island.
Iturup on foreign maps is called the Land of the States. Chikotan, or the island of Spanberg. Matsmai, or the Land of Esso.
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The island of Alaid mentioned in the text is the island of Atlasov, which received its modern name in 1954 - the island-volcano Alaid. It is an almost regular cone of a volcano, the base diameter of which is 8-10 km. Its peak lies at around 2339 m (according to historical data, before the strong eruptions of 1778 and 1821, the height of the volcano was much higher), which means that Alaid is the highest volcano of the Kuril ridge.
Please note that the 26th island of the Kuril ridge is called the island of Matsmai - this is Hokkaido. Hokkaido became part of Japan only in 1869. Until that time, the Japanese lived only on the southern tip of the island, where there was a small Japanese principality. The rest of the territory was inhabited by the Ainu, who even outwardly differed sharply from the Japanese: white-faced, with a strong hairline, for which the Russians called them "hairy smokers." It is known from documents that, at least in 1778-1779, Russians collected yasak from the inhabitants of the northern coast of Hokkaido.
The largest of the Kuril Islands in the direction from north to south: Shumshu - 467 square kilometers,
Paramushir - 2479 square kilometers,
Onekotan, or Omukotan - 521 square kilometers,
Harimkotan - 122 square kilometers,
Shiyashkotan - 179 square kilometers,
Simusir - 414 square kilometers,
Urup - 1511 square kilometers, Iturup, the largest of the Kuril Islands - 6725 square kilometers.
Kunashir Island - 1548 square kilometers
and Chikotan or Skotan - 391 square kilometers.
Island Shikotan This place is the end of the world. Just 10 km from the village of Malokurilskoye, beyond a small pass, lies its main attraction - Cape End of the World. ... Russian navigators Rikord and Golovnin called him Fr. Chikotan.
Small islands are located from north to south: Alaid - 92 square kilometers (Atlasova Island), Shirinka, Makanrushi or Makansu - 65 square kilometers, Avos, Chirinkotan, Ekarma - 33 square kilometers, Musir, Raikoke, Malua or Matua - 65 square kilometers . Islands: Rasshua - 64 square kilometers, Ketoi - 61 square kilometers, Broughton, Chirpoi, Brother Chirpoev, or Brother Hirnoy, (18 square kilometers). Straits lead between the islands from the Sea of Okhotsk to the east to the Pacific Ocean: the Kuril Strait, the Small Kuril Strait, the Nadezhda Strait, the Diana Strait, the Bussoli Strait, the De Fris Strait and the Pico Strait.
The entire series of the Kuril Islands is of volcanic origin. In total, there are 52 volcanoes, including 17 active ones. There are many hot and sulfur springs on the islands;
earthquakes .
Ainu - the peoples who inhabited the Kuriles, christened each island separately. These are the words of the Ainu language: Paramushir - wide island, Onekotan - old settlement, Ushishir - land of bays, Chiripoy - birds, Urup - salmon, Iturup - big salmon, Kunashir - black island, Shikotan - the best place. Beginning in the 18th century, the Russians and the Japanese tried to rename the islands in their own way. Most often used serial numbers - the first island, the second, etc.; only the Russians counted from the north, and the Japanese from the south.
