South Kuril Islands: History, Affiliation

In the chain of islands between Kamchatka and Hokkaido, with a convex arc stretching between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean, on the border of Russia and Japan are the South Kurile Islands - the Habomai group, Shikotan, Kunashir and Iturup. These territories are disputed by our neighbors, who even included them in the Japanese prefecture of the island of Hokkaido. Since these territories are of great economic and strategic importance, the struggle for the Southern Kuriles continues for many years.

Geography

The island of Shikotan is located at the same latitude as the subtropical city of Sochi, and the lower ones - at the latitude of Anapa. However, the climatic paradise has never been there and is not expected. The South Kuril Islands have always belonged to the Far North, although they can not complain about the same severe Arctic climate. Here the winters are much softer, warmer, the summer is not hot. This temperature regime, when in February - the coldest month - the thermometer rarely shows below -5 degrees Celsius, even the high humidity of the sea location deprives the negative impact. The monsoonal continental climate varies considerably here, since the close presence of the Pacific Ocean weakens the influence of no less close Arctic. If in the north Kuril in the summer +10 on average, the South Kurile Islands are constantly warming up to +18. Not Sochi, of course, but not Anadyr.

The encircle of islands is located on the very edge of the Okhotsk plate, above the subduction zone, where the Pacific plate ends. For the most part, the South Kuril Islands are covered with mountains, on the island of Atlasov the highest peak is more than two thousand meters. There are also volcanoes, since all the Kuril Islands lie in the Pacific Fiery Volcanic Ring. Here, seismic activity is very high. Thirty-six active volcanoes out of sixty-eight in the Kuril Islands require constant observation. Earthquakes here are almost constant, after which there is a danger of the world's largest tsunami. Thus, the islands of Shikotan, Simushir and Paramushir repeatedly suffered greatly from this element. Especially large were the tsunami of 1952, 1994 and 2006.

Resources, flora

Reserves of oil, natural gas, mercury, and a huge number of non-ferrous metal ores are explored in the coastal zone and on the territory of the islands themselves. For example, near Kudryavy volcano there is the richest in the world known rhenium deposits. Also, the southern part of the Kuril islands was famous for its extraction of native sulfur. Here, the total resources of gold - 1867 tons, and silver, too, a lot - 9284 tons, titanium almost forty million tons, iron - two hundred and seventy-three million tons. Now the development of all minerals is waiting for better times, they are too few in the region, except for a place like South Sakhalin. The Kurile Islands in general can be considered as a resource reserve of the country for a rainy day. Only two straits from all the Kurile Islands are navigable all year round, as they do not freeze. These are the islands of the South Kuril chain - Urup, Kunashir, Iturup, and between them - the straits of Catherine and Vries.

In addition to minerals, there are many other riches belonging to the whole of mankind. This is the flora and fauna of the Kuril Islands. It varies very much from north to south, because their length is quite large. In the north of the Kurils there is quite a scarce vegetation, and in the south - coniferous forests of amazing Sakhalin fir, Kuril larch, Ayan spruce. In addition, broad-leaved rocks cover the insular mountains and hills participate very actively: oak curly, elm trees and maples, calopanax lianas, hydrangeas, actinidia, lemongrass, wild grapes and much, much more. Even the magnolia in Kushanir is - the only wild species of obovate magnolia. The most frequent plant decorating the South Kuril Islands (a photo of the landscape is attached) is Kuril bamboo, whose impenetrable thickets hide from the eyes the slopes of the mountains and the forest edge. Herbs here are very high and diverse due to the mild and humid climate. A lot of berries that can be extracted on an industrial scale: lingonberry, crawberry, honeysuckle, blueberry and many others.

Beasts, birds and fish

In the Kuril Islands (especially in this respect northern) brown bear is about the same as in Kamchatka. In the south, it would be the same, if not for the presence of Russian military bases. The islands are small, the bear next to the missiles live closely. But especially in the south there are a lot of foxes, because for them there is a lot of food here. Small rodents - a huge number and many species, there are very rare. Of the terrestrial mammals, there are four orders: bats (brown ears, nights), rabbits, mice and rats, predators (foxes, bears, although they are few, mink and sable).

Of sea mammals in coastal insular waters, live otters, anthra (this is an island seal species), sea lion and lagga. A little farther from the coast there are a lot of cetaceans - dolphins, killer whales, whalebanks, northern whistles and sperm whales. Clumps of eared seals-Steller sea lions are observed along the entire coast of the Kurils, especially many on the island of Iturup. In the season here you can see colonies of fur seals, lakhtaks, seals, lionfishes. Ornamentation of sea fauna - sea otter. Precious fur animals were on the brink of extinction in the very near past. Now the situation with the sea otter is gradually leveling off. Fish in coastal waters is of great commercial importance, but there are also crabs, and mollusks, and squid, and trepangs, all crustaceans, sea kale. The population of the South Kuril Islands is mainly engaged in the extraction of seafood. In general, this place can be called without exaggeration one of the most productive territories in the World Ocean.

Colonial birds make up huge and picturesque bird markets. These are foolish, petticoats, cormorants, various gulls, cattle, guillemots, dead ends and many, many more. There are also many rare species of Red Data Book, rare: albatrosses and petrels, mandarins, osprey, golden eagles, eagles, peregrine falcons, falcon, Japanese cranes and snipe, filigree. Winter on the Kuril Islands from duck - mallard, teal, gogol, swans, crumbs, eagles. Of course, there are a lot of ordinary sparrows and cuckoos. Only on Iturup more than two hundred species of birds, of which one hundred are nesting. Eighty-four species from the Red List live in the Kuril reserve .

History: the seventeenth century

The problem of belonging to the Southern Kuril Islands did not appear yesterday. Before the arrival of the Japanese and Russians, the Ainu lived here, who met new people with the word "kuru", which meant - a person. The Russians picked up a word with their inherent humor and called the aborigines "smokers". Hence the name of the whole archipelago. The Japanese made the first maps of Sakhalin and all the Kuriles. This happened in 1644. However, the problem of belonging to the South Kuril Islands came up already then, because a year earlier, other maps of this region were compiled by the Dutch led by de Fris.

The earths have been described. But it is not true. Freese, named after the strait he discovered, attributed Iturup to the northeast of the island of Hokkaido, and Urup was considered part of North America. A cross was erected on Urup, and all this land is declared the property of Holland. And the Russians came here in 1646 with the expedition of Ivan Moskvitin, and the Kolobov Cossack with a funny name, Nekhoroshko Ivanovich, later told us about the bearded Ainu inhabiting the islands. The following, slightly more extensive information came from the Kamchatka expedition of Vladimir Atlasov in 1697.

Century eighteenth

The history of the Southern Kuril Islands suggests that the Russians really came to these lands in 1711. The Kamchatka Cossacks rebelled and killed their superiors, and then they changed their minds and decided to earn their pardon or perish. That's why they gathered an expedition for a campaign to new unexplored lands. Danil Antsiferov and Ivan Kozyrevsky with a detachment landed in August 1711 on the northern islands of Paramushir and Shumshu. This expedition gave new knowledge about the whole range of islands, including Hokkaido. In this regard, in 1719 Peter the Great commissioned the intelligence services to Ivan Evreinov and Fedor Luzhin, whose efforts the whole range of islands was declared Russian territories, including the island of Simushir. But the Ainu naturally did not want to obey and went under the rule of the Russian Tsar. Only in 1778 Antipin and Shabalin managed to convince the Kuril tribes, and in the citizenship of Russia passed about two thousand people from Iturup, Kunashir and even from Hokkaido. And in 1779 Catherine II issued a decree releasing all new Eastern subjects from any taxes. And already then the Japanese started conflicts. They even banned the Russians from visiting Kunashir, Iturup and Hokkaido.

Real control of the Russians here yet, but lists of lands were compiled. And Hokkaido, despite the existing Japanese city on its territory, was recorded as belonging to Russia. The Japanese also visited the south of the Kurils a lot and often, for which the local population justly hated them. The Ainu really did not have enough strength to rise, but they inflicted damage on the invaders: the ship would be sunk, or the outpost would be burnt. In 1799, the Japanese already organized the protection of Iturup and Kunashir. Although the Russian fishermen settled there relatively long ago - around 1785-87 - the Japanese asked them roughly to leave the islands and destroyed all evidence of Russians' stay on this land. The history of the South Kuril Islands even then began to acquire intrigue, but no one knew at that time how long it would be long-playing. For the first seventy years - until 1778 - the Russians and the Japanese in the Kuriles did not even meet. The meeting took place in Hokkaido, which at that time was not yet conquered by Japan. The Japanese came to bargain with the Ainu, and then they catch Russian fish. Naturally, samurai were furious, started to shake their arms. Catherine sent a diplomatic mission to Japan, but the conversation did not turn out right then.

The nineteenth century is the century of concessions

In 1805, the famous Nikolai Rezanov tried to continue negotiations on trade, which arrived in Nagasaki and failed. Not enduring shame, he instructed the two ships to make a military expedition to the South Kuril Islands - to stake out the disputed territories. It turned out a good revenge for the destroyed Russian factories, burnt ships and exiled (those who survived) fishers. A number of Japanese factories were destroyed, the village on Iturup was burnt. Russian-Japanese relations have approached the last pre-war front.

Only in 1855 the first real demarcation of territories was made. The northern islands are Russia, the southern islands are Japan. Plus joint Sakhalin. It was a great pity to give the South Kurile Islands, rich in crafts, Kunashir - especially. Iturup, Habomai and Shikotan also became Japanese. And in 1875, Russia obtained the right of undivided possession of Sakhalin for the concession of all the Kurile Islands of Japan without exception.

The twentieth century: defeat and victory

In the Russian-Japanese war of 1905, Russia, despite the heroism of the worthy songs of cruisers and gunboats , lost in the unequal battle of the defeated, lost half of Sakhalin, the southern one, the most valuable along with the war. But in February 1945, when the victory over Hitler's Germany was already predetermined, the USSR set the condition for Great Britain and the United States: it would help to defeat the Japanese, if they return the territories belonging to Russia: Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the Kuril Islands. The allies promised, and in July 1945 the Soviet Union reaffirmed its commitment. Already at the beginning of September the Kurile Islands were completely occupied by Soviet troops. And in February 1946 issued a decree on the formation of the South-Sakhalin region, which included the Kurils in full force, which became part of the Khabarovsk Territory. Thus, the return of Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands of Russia occurred.

Japan was forced to sign a peace treaty in 1951, which said that it does not claim and will not claim rights, titles and claims for the Kuril Islands. And in 1956 the Soviet Union and Japan were preparing to sign the Moscow Declaration, which confirmed the end of the war between these states. As a sign of goodwill, the USSR agreed to transfer to Japan the two Kuril islands: Shikotan and Habomai, but the Japanese refused to accept them because they are not refusing claims to other southern islands - Iturup and Kunashir. Here again had an impact on the destabilization of the US situation, when they threatened to not return Japan to the island of Okinawa in the event of signing this document. That is why the South Kuril Islands are still disputable territories.

Century of today, twenty first

Today, the problem of the South Kuril Islands is still relevant, despite the fact that peace and cloudless life has long settled in the entire region. With Japan, Russia has been cooperating quite actively, but from time to time the conversation about the ownership of the Kurils is on the rise. In 2003, the Russian-Japanese action plan on cooperation between countries was adopted. Presidents and prime ministers exchange visits, numerous Russian-Japanese friendship societies have been established at various levels. However, all the same claims are made by the Japanese all the same, but they are not accepted by the Russians.

In 2006, a whole delegation from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk visited a public organization popular in Japan, the League of Solidarity for the Return of Territories. In 2012, however, in Japan the term "illegal occupation" in relation to Russia was abolished in matters relating to the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. And the Kurile Islands continue to develop resources, implement federal programs for the development of the region, increase the amount of funding, there is a zone with tax benefits, the islands are visited by the highest state officials of the country.

The problem of belonging

How can we not agree with the documents signed in February 1945 in Yalta, where the conference of the countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition decided the fate of the Kuriles and Sakhalin, which will return to Russia immediately after the victory over Japan? Or Japan did not sign the Potsdam Declaration after signing its own surrender Act? Signed because. And it clearly indicates that its sovereignty is limited to the islands of Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu. All! On September 2, 1945, this document was signed by Japan, and, consequently, the conditions therein were confirmed.

And on September 8, 1951, a peace treaty was signed in San Francisco, where it wrote in writing refused all claims to the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island with the adjacent islands. This means that its sovereignty over these territories, obtained after the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, is no longer valid. Although here the US did extremely insidiously, adding a very clever reservation, because of which the USSR, Poland and Czechoslovakia did not sign the treaty. This country, as always, did not keep its word, because in the nature of its politicians always say "yes", but some of these answers will mean "no." The United States left in the contract a loophole for Japan, which, slightly licked wounds and releasing, how many turned out, paper cranes after the nuclear bombings, its claims resumed.

Arguments

They were as follows:

1. In 1855, the Kuril Islands were introduced into the traditional possession of Japan by the Simodsk Treaty.

2. The official position of Japan is that the islands of Tishima are not part of the Kurile ridge, so Japan did not abandon them by signing a treaty in San Francisco.

3. The USSR did not sign the contract in San Francisco.

So, territorial claims of Japan are imposed on the Southern Kuril Islands Habomai, Shikotan, Kunashir and Iturup, whose total area is 5175 square kilometers, and these are the so-called northern territories belonging to Japan. In contrast, Russia says on the first point that the Russo-Japanese War annulled the Shimoda Treaty, on the second point that Japan signed a declaration on the end of the war, where, in particular, it was said that the two islands - Habomai and Shikotan - the USSR is ready Give after signing a peace treaty. On the third point, Russia agrees: yes, the USSR did not sign this paper with a cunning amendment. But there is already no country as such, so there is nothing to talk about.

At one time with the USSR, talk about territorial claims was somehow inconvenient, but when it disintegrated, Japan got courage. However, apparently, even now these attempts are vain. Although in 2004 the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that he agreed to talk about the territories with Japan, nevertheless, one thing is clear: no changes in the ownership of the Kuril Islands can occur.