Korsakov (town)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Korsakov (
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
: Корсаков; 町, ''Ōdomari-chou / Ōtomari-chou'') is a
town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
and the
administrative center An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...
of Korsakovsky District of
Sakhalin Oblast Sakhalin Oblast ( rus, Сахали́нская о́бласть, r=Sakhalinskaya oblastʹ, 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 country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. It is located south from
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (, , ) is a city and the administrative center of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. It is located on Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East, north of Japan. Gas and oil extraction as well as processing are amongst the main industries on ...
, at the southern end of
Sakhalin Island Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...
, on the coast of the Salmon Cove in the Aniva Bay. The town has a population of 33,526 as of the 2010 census.


History

Little is known of the early history of Korsakov. The site was once home to an Ainu fishing village called Kushunkotan (in Russian sources, Tamari-Aniva), which was frequented by traders of the
Matsumae clan The was a Japanese aristocratic family who were daimyo of Matsumae Domain, in present-day Matsumae, Hokkaidō, from the Azuchi–Momoyama period until the Meiji Restoration. They were given the domain as a march fief in 1590 by Toyotomi ...
from as early as 1790. On 22 September 1853, a Russian expedition, commanded by
Gennady Nevelskoy Gennady Ivanovich Nevelskoy (; in Drakino, Soligalichsky Uyezd, Kostroma Governorate – in St. Petersburg) was a Russian navigator and naval officer. In 1829 he joined the Naval Cadet Corps and in 1846 was given the rank of ...
, raised the Russian flag at the settlement and renamed it "Fort Muravyovsky", after Governor-General of Eastern Siberia Nikolay Muravyov.
The Occupation of Southern Saghalin by the Russians in 1853–54
'', Akizuki Toshiyuki, Hokkaidō University.
Nevelskoy left detailed recollections of the landing. He encountered a predominantly Ainu population (at least 600 people; another source mentions only 300 Ainu inhabitants) as well as Japanese nationals who, judging by Nevelskoy's account, exercised authority over the native inhabitants. At the time of Nevelskoy's arrival, the village featured several standing structures, Nevelskoy calls them "sheds", and even a Japanese religious temple. The villagers supposedly welcomed the Russians after they learned about their mission (protecting them from foreign incursion). The veracity of this account is in doubt, both because Nevelskoy had ulterior motives for claiming that he was "welcomed" by the inhabitants, and also because it is not clear to what extent the Russians were able to make themselves understood. The Russians abandoned the settlement on May 30, 1854, allegedly because their presence there, at the time of the
Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...
, raised the specter of Anglo-French attack, but returned in August 1869, now renaming the town "Fort Korsakovsky", in honor of then-Governor General of Eastern Siberia Mikhail Korsakov. Lingering territorial conflict between Japan and Russia has polarized scholarly opinion of Korsakov's early history, as each side tries to claim priority of early settlement to back up their respective territorial claims in the broader region. In 1875, the whole Sakhalin including the village was ceded to Russia, under the Treaty of Saint Petersburg. While under Russian administration Fort Korsakovsky was an important administrative center in Sakhalin's penal servitude system and a final destination for hundreds of prisoners from European Russia, sentenced to forced labor for particularly serious crimes. Such prisoners and their families comprised early settlers of Fort Korsakovsky until its hand-over to the Japanese. Prominent Russian writers, including A.P. Chekhov and V.M. Doroshevich, visited Korsakovsky and left keen observations of its unsavory trade. During the
Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...
of 1904–1905, a naval engagement, the Battle of Korsakov, took place off the town in August 1904. In 1905, Japan conquered Sakhalin in the late stages of the war, and southern Sakhalina, including Korsakovsky, was handed over to Japan in 1905 after Russia's defeat in the war. The Russians burned the wooden town before the hand-over. Upon the ashes of Fort Korsakovsky the Japanese built a stone-clad modern city with paved streets and electricity, renaming it ''Ōtomari'' (大泊), a translation of the Ainu words "Poro-an-tomari" (big harbor). The town was temporarily the capital of
Karafuto Prefecture , was established by the Empire of Japan in 1907 to govern the southern part of Sakhalin. This territory became part of the Empire of Japan in 1905 after the Russo-Japanese War, when the portion of Sakhalin south of 50°N was ceded by the R ...
between 1905 and 1907. While in Japanese hands the town grew substantially. A penal colony under Russia's administration, Ōtomari maintained the practice of forced labor: the Japanese brought thousands of ethnic Koreans to Ōtomari as workers. Korsakov's present-day Korean population is descended mainly from those labor conscripts. In the closing stages of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
conquered Karafuto Prefecture, and Old Ōtomari was burned down substantially upon the entry of Soviet troops. After the war, Japan ceded Karafuto, including, Ōtomari, to the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. The Japanese population was mostly repatriated by 1947, though a few remained, along with a sizable Korean population. The old bank, a Japanese bank building (originally, the Ōtomari Branch of
Hokkaido Takushoku Bank The , generally translated as ''Hokkaidō Development Bank'' (alternatively ''Hokkaidō Colonization Bank'') and also referred to by the shorthands or , was a significant Japanese bank, based in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. It was established in 1899-190 ...
) remains standing, though efforts to convert it into a museum came to nothing for lack of funds. Other Japanese sites and memorials were all destroyed, including a
Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...
shrine and a monument to Prince
Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...
, who had visited Ōtomari on an inspection tour. An interesting sample of Japanese monuments can now be seen near Prigorodnoye, which was known as Merei before 1945. During the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
Korsakov was also the site of two Naval airfields.


Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Korsakov serves as the
administrative center An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...
of Korsakovsky District and is subordinated to it.Law #25-ZO As a municipal division, the town of Korsakov and seventeen rural localities of Korsakovsky District are incorporated as Korsakovsky Urban Okrug.Law #524


Economy

According to a 1 November 1945 Soviet report, the town had: *two refrigerators for fish processing *a paper factory *a factory to extract salt from sea water (production capacity 20 thousand tons per year) *a sulphur-alcohol plant *7 sake production facilities *2 timber plants Up until the 1990s, Korsakov was a major base for the Russian Far Eastern fishing fleet. It was the home of the Base for Ocean Shipping, Baza Okeanicheskogo Rybolovstva (BOR), which went bankrupt during the post-Soviet recession. The thousands of fishermen employed by the BOR continued their work for private fishing companies, which usually operated small fishing boats not far off the coast, often without licences. The catch (primarily crab) was sold in Japan for hard currency, mainly in Wakkanai. Fishermen purchased Japanese electronics and used cars. This semi-illicit, semi-barter economy had a certain positive economic effect on Korsakov, though it contributed to organised crime. Among other large economic units in Korsakov was a factory, which produced cardboard boxes; Fabrika Gofrirovannoy Tary. The factory operated on run-down equipment, possibly left over from the Japanese times, and was visible to anyone in Korsakov, as it featured a tall chimney. Gennady Zlivko, formerly a mayor of the town, was once a director of this factory. It has long since gone bankrupt, and its tall chimney, no longer emitting black smoke, is the only thing that reminds one of the earlier years of Korsakov's economy. Korsakov is also the closest town to the huge LNG plant, constructed within the framework of the Sakhalin-2 project.


Demographics

Curiously, at the early stage of settlement (late 1890s), men in Korsakovsky outnumbered women almost by a factor of ten. In 1897, for example, 1,510 males and 192 females lived in the town. This imbalance was due to the majority of Korsakov's inhabitants being prisoners and prison-keepers; in both males predominated. The ethnic make-up, by mother tongue, was 63.2% Russian, 10.5% Ukrainian, 7.3%
Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...
, 6.3%
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...
, 2.2%
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
, 2.0% Belarusian, 1.3%
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
, 0.9% Lithuanian, 0.8% Circassian. The district of Korsakovsky (in 1897 covering 6,6762 square
verst A verst (; ) is an obsolete Russian unit of length, defined as 500 sazhen. This makes a verst equal to . Plurals and variants In the English language, ''verst'' is singular with the normal plural ''versts''. In Russian, the nominative singul ...
) had a population of 4,659 males and 2,194 females. The town's population was at its highest (just over 45,000) in the late 1980s, whereupon it experienced significant decline as inhabitants fled economic downturn by moving to neighboring Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk or to continental Russia. Korsakov's population remains in decline, although no longer as sharp as in the 1990s. The demographic make-up is primarily ethnic Russian with a large ethnic Korean minority.


Sport

Korsakov is the 2016
bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...
champions of Sakhalin.


Sights

Amenities include a fairly run-down and expensive hotel ("Alfa") next to the former park. The beach is easily accessible by car (Okhotsk, about 1 hour and Prigorodnoye, about 30 minutes). The formerly well-kept beach at Vtoraya Pad has now deteriorated into a messy junkyard. Winter sights include skating at the city stadium and excellent cross-country skiing past the former sea weed plant (Na Agarike). No facilities exist for downhill skiing. The town features a museum with an exhibit describing the local frontier history, and the Japanese possession of the city (1905–1945). Local market on the Sovetskaya Street offers great strawberries in the summer, and nicely prepared Korean delicacies (kimchi and the local hit, the paporotnik, all year around). Foreign tourists from certain countries or transiting via cruise ship or air are now able to visit the town without a visa for 72 hours.


Politics

The town has its executive (the mayor's office or "municipal administration"), and its legislature (Duma). In practice, the Duma exercises fairly limited influence over the executive. List of mayors: *Lada Mudrova (since 2008) *Gennady Zlivko (2004–2008): removed by court decision *Alexander Svoyakov (acting, 2004): lost election to Gennady Zlivko *Valery Osadchy (1993–2004): resigned *Yury Savenko (1991–1993): resigned


Transportation

Korsakov is located about from the
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Airport Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk International Airport (, ), also called Khomutovo International Airport (), is an international airport in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, on the Russian island of Sakhalin. The airport was established in 1945 as a military airfield. With cu ...
. Regular bus and minibus services connect Korsakov with the capital city of
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (, , ) is a city and the administrative center of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. It is located on Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East, north of Japan. Gas and oil extraction as well as processing are amongst the main industries on ...
, though not with the airport. A passenger ferry service between Korsakov and
Wakkanai file:Wakkanai city office.JPG, 290px, Wakkanai City Hall file:Wakkanai shore.jpg, 290px, Shore of Wakkanai is a Cities of Japan, city located in Sōya Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. Wakkanai is the capital of Sōya Subprefecture. Situated approx ...
,
Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan 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 railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...
,
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, across the Aniva Gulf, was re-established in 2016 and is in operation between June and September of each year. The passenger ferry service is operated by the
Commonwealth of Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...
flagged vessel Penguin 33, which is
High-speed craft A high-speed craft (HSC) is a high-speed water vessel for civilian use, also called a fastcraft or fast ferry. The first high-speed craft were often hydrofoils or hovercraft, but in the 1990s catamaran and monohull designs become more popu ...
owned b
Penguin International Limited
a Singaporean-owned publicly listed company. The Japan National Rail passenger ferry service previously operated a service from Wakkanai, called "Chihaku-Renrakusen (Chihaku Ferry Service)" from 1923 to 1945, which was linked to Japan's national rail network and to
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (, , ) is a city and the administrative center of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. It is located on Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East, north of Japan. Gas and oil extraction as well as processing are amongst the main industries on ...
(then called Toyohara). The old narrow-gauge Japanese railroad still runs along the scenic coastline, with sporadic rail service. There are several bus lines servicing the urban area and a number of villages in the proximity. The city has a large seaport.


International relations


Twin towns and sister cities

Korsakov is twinned with: * Monbetsu,
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
*
Wakkanai file:Wakkanai city office.JPG, 290px, Wakkanai City Hall file:Wakkanai shore.jpg, 290px, Shore of Wakkanai is a Cities of Japan, city located in Sōya Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. Wakkanai is the capital of Sōya Subprefecture. Situated approx ...
, Japan


Notable people

* Alexandr Anatolyevich Romankov (born 7 November 1953, Korsakov, Sakhalin) He trained at Dynamo in Minsk and won a gold medal, two silver medals and two bronze medals at the three Olympic Games that he competed in between 1976 and 1988.https://olympics.com/en/athletes/aleksander-romankov * Georgi Kulikov (born 11 June 1947, Korsakov, Sakhalin) is former butterfly and freestyle swimmer who competed in the 1968 Summer Olympics and in the 1972 Summer Olympics. He won two medals representing the Soviet Union at two Olympic Games.


References


Notes


Sources

* *


External links

*
Unofficial website of Korsakov
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Sakhalin Oblast Populated coastal places in Russia Korean communities in Russia