, other_names = kz, Kün Ashyr; ja, 国後島 , location = Sea of Okhotsk , locator_map = File:Kurily Kunashir.svg , coordinates = , archipelago =

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 ...

, total_islands = , major_islands = , area = , length = , width = from to , coastline = , highest_mount = Chacha , elevation = , country = , country_admin_divisions_title_1 =

Federal subject The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation (russian: субъекты Российской Федерации, subyekty Rossiyskoy Federatsii) or simply as the subjects of the federation (russian ...

, country_admin_divisions_1 =

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 ...

, country_admin_divisions_title_2 =

District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

, country_admin_divisions_2 = Yuzhno-Kurilsky , country_largest_city = , country_largest_city_population = , country_leader_title = , country_leader_name = , population = approx. 7000 , population_as_of = 2007 , density = , ethnic_groups = , additional_info = , country_claim = , country_claim_divisions_title_1 = Prefecture , country_claim_divisions_1 =

Hokkaido 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 lar ...

, country_claim_divisions_title_2 =

Subprefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several districts, sometimes translated as subprefectures. ...

, country_claim_divisions_2 =

Nemuro Nemuro may refer to: * Nemuro Subprefecture, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan ** Nemuro, Hokkaido, a city ** Nemuro Peninsula ** Nemuro Strait ** Nemuro Bay * Nemuro Province was an old province in Japan in what is today Nemuro Subprefecture, Hokkai ...

, country_claim_capital = , country_claim_largest_city = , country_claim_largest_city_population = , country_claim_leader_title = , country_claim_leader_name = Kunashir Island (russian: Кунаши́р, Kunashír; ja, 国後島, Kunashiri-tō; ain, クナシㇼ, translit=Kuna=sir), possibly meaning ''Black Island'' or ''Grass Island'' in Ainu, is the southernmost island of the

archipelago. The island has been under Russian administration since 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 ...

, when Soviet forces took possession of the Kurils. It is claimed by Japan (see Kuril Islands dispute).

Geography

Kunashir lies between the straits of Kunashir Island, Catherine, Izmena, and South Kuril. Kunashir Island is visible from the nearby Japanese island of

, from which it is separated by the

Nemuro Strait Nemuro Strait, also called Notsuke Strait and Kunashirsky Strait (russian: Кунаширский пролив), is a strait, located at , separating Kunashir Island of the Kuril Islands, Russia ( claimed by Japan) from the Shiretoko Peninsula, Hok ...

. *

Area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an ope ...

: * Length: *

Width Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Intern ...

: Kunashir Island is formed by four

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the Crust (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Ear ...

es 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 Tyatya (russian: Тятя, also spelled Tiatia and known as Chachadake (爺爺岳) in Japanese) is a volcano located in the northeastern part of Kunashir Island, Kuril Islands, Russia. It is the highest peak on the island with an elevation of . ...

(), Smirnov,

Mendeleev Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (sometimes transliterated as Mendeleyev or Mendeleef) ( ; russian: links=no, Дмитрий Иванович Менделеев, tr. , ; 8 February Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._27_January.html" ;"title="O ...

(Rausu-yama), and

Golovnin Golovnin ( ja, 泊山, ''Tomari-yama''; russian: Головнин) is a caldera located in the southern part of Kunashir Island, Kuril Islands, Russia. It is the southernmost volcano of the Kuril Islands. It is named after Russian explorer Vasil ...

(Tomari-yama). The island is made up of

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

and

crystalline A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...

rocks. File:Мыс Столбчатый. После заката.jpg,

Cape Stolbchaty Cape Stolbchaty ( rus, links=no, мыс Столбчатый, p=mɨs ˈstoɫpt͡ɕɪtɨj, t=Cape Columnar) is a geographic cape on the west shore of Kunashir Island, the southernmost of the Kuril Islands, in Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. It is famou ...

on the western side of the island File:Kunashir_Island_(Kunashirito)_Relief_Map,_SRTM-1.jpg, Relief map File:Rausu Kunashiri Observatory Deck 1.jpg, View of Kunashir from the Rausu Kunashiri Observatory Deck

Environment

The climate is

humid continental 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 freez ...

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 A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

, fir, and mixed

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

forests with lianas and Kuril

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

underbrush. The mountains are covered with

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...

and

Siberian Dwarf Pine ''Pinus pumila'', commonly known as the Siberian dwarf pine, dwarf Siberian pine, dwarf stone pine, Japanese stone pine, or creeping pine, is a tree in the family Pinaceae native to northeastern Asia and the Japanese isles. It shares the commo ...

scrub, herbaceous flowers or bare rocks. Tree cores of century-old oaks ''(Quercus crispula)'' were found in July 2001 on Kunashiri Island.

Important Bird Area

Kunashir, along with the neighbouring Lesser Kuril Chain of smaller islands, has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International as the island supports populations of various

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

bird species, including many waterbirds,

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

s and

wader 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...

History

The Ainu are the original natives of the island until the Yamato Japanese colonists expanded northward, with Matsumae clan established Kunashir fishery and trading site (国後場所,''Kunashiri-basho'') in 1754. Administration office of the fishery and trading site located in Tomari (now Golovnino). Area of Kunashir fishery and trading site was consisted of Kunashir, Iturup and

Urup Urup ( ja, 得撫島, Uruppu-to; russian: Уру́п, Urúp, ain, ウルㇷ゚, Urup) is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Kuril Islands chain in the south of the Sea of Okhotsk, northwest Pacific Ocean. Its name is derived from the Ainu la ...

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

Vasily Golovnin Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin ( Russian: Василий Михайлович Головнин; , Gulyniki, Ryazan Oblast – , Saint Petersburg) was a Russian navigator, Vice Admiral, and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences ...

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

On September 1, 1945, or one day before the surrender documents of

were signed on September 2, 1945, in accordance with understandings reached at the

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...

, the Soviet Union invaded and occupied the Kuril Islands. This occurred after the Soviet Union renounced the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact signed in April 1941, and declared war on Japan on August 9, 1945 (formally, the pact itself remained in effect until April 13, 1946). Although Japan agreed after deliberations to cede its claims to "the Kurile Islands" as part of the

Treaty of San Francisco The , also called the , re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers on behalf of the United Nations by ending the legal state of war and providing for redress for hostile actions up to and including World War II. It w ...

in 1951, the Japanese government has claimed since the mid-1950s that the southern islands were not part of the ceded

Settlements

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

Yuzhno-Kurilsky District Yuzhno-Kurilsky District (russian: Ю́жно-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 Yuzhno-Kuril ...

Economy

The primary economic activity is fishing. The island has a port next to Yuzhno-Kurilsk. Kunashir Island enjoys a Mendeleevskaya GeoPP geothermal power plant with the capacity of 1.8 MW.

Transport

The island is served by Mendeleyevo Airport.

Population

After the 1994 earthquake, about one-third of Kunashir 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.Yuzhno-Kurilsk Journal; Between Russia and Japan, a Pacific Tug of War — The New York Times, 2002