Kuril Islands

The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (/ˈkʊərɪl/, /ˈkjʊərɪl/, or /kjʊˈriːl/; Russian: Кури́льские острова́, tr. Kurilskiye ostrova; IPA: [kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva]; Japanese: クリル列島 (Kuriru rettō) or 千島列島 (Chishima rettō)), in Russia's Sakhalin Oblast region, form a volcanic archipelago that stretches approximately 1,300 km (810 mi) northeast from Hokkaido, Japan, to Kamchatka, Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands and many minor rocks. It consists of Greater Kuril Ridge and Lesser Kuril Ridge. The total land area is 10,503.2 square kilometres (4,055.3 sq mi) and the total population is 19,434.

All of the islands are currently under Russian jurisdiction. Japan claims the two southernmost large islands (Iturup and Kunashir) as part of its territory, as well as Shikotan and the Habomai islets, which has led to the ongoing Kuril Islands dispute. They are also known in Japan as "Northern Territories".

Etymology

The name Kuril originates from the autonym of the aboriginal Ainu, the islands' original inhabitants: "kur", meaning man. It may also be related to names for other islands that have traditionally been inhabited by the Ainu people, such as Kuyi or Kuye for Sakhalin and Kai for Hokkaidō. In Japanese, the Kuril Islands are known as the Chishima Islands (Kanji: 千島列島 Chishima Rettō pronounced [tɕʲiɕʲima ɽetːoː], literally, Thousand Islands Archipelago), also known as the Kuriru Islands (Katakana: クリル列島 Kuriru Rettō [kɯᵝɽʲiɽɯᵝ ɽetːoː], literally, Kuril Archipelago). Once the Russians reached the islands in the 18th century they found a pseudo-etymology from Russian kurit ("курить" - "to smoke") due to the continual fumes and steam above the islands from volcanoes.