Yuzhno-Kurilsk
Coordinates: 44°01′50″N 145°51′20″E / 44.0305556°N 145.8555556°E
Yuzhno-Kurilsk (Russian: Ю́жно-Кури́льск) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. Population: 5,833 (2010 Census preliminary results);[1] 5,751 (2002 Census);[2] 6,344 (1989 Census).[3]
It is the largest settlement on the Kunashir Island of the Kuril Islands.
The history of Yuzhno-Kurilsk is connected with the history of the Kuril Islands as a whole. In Russia, the Kurile Islands first became known after an expedition by Russian explorer Ivan Moskvitin and his companions, after which another explorer Kolobov in 1646 talked of the Ainus—the indigenous inhabitants of the Kuriles. According to some Japanese sources, Kunashir became known to the Russians later than the other islands of the Kuril chain.
After that, the Kuriles, Sakhalin and Hokkaido were explored ans settled both by the Russians and Japanese. By the end of the 18th century, first settlements of Russian exiles and volunteers appeared on the Kuriles. Also, along with Ainu settlemets, the islands had a Japanese trading post and fortified settlements with military garrisons. In 1769, Lieutenant Ivan Cherny received was informed that the Japanese lived on Kunashir where they were had founded a settlement with a fortress and a permanent garrison.
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[edit] Japanese settlement
Weakened by the Crimean War, in 1855 Russia signed Simodsky treatise and ceded a part of the South Kuril Islands to Japan, including the island of Kunashir. The Japanese predecessor of Yuzhno-Kurilsk - Furukamappu village Japanese: Furukamappu (古釜布) - was located in the northeast corner of the bay of the same name. Furukamappu with the neighboring villages of Okinokotan and Isoyanbetsu had 50 houses. There was a post office with the telegraph and shops. When the island was administered by Japan (1855–1945), other settlements were founded as well.
[edit] The founding of Yuzhno-Kurilsk
Kunashir came back under the Russian rule on September 1, 1945 as a result of the Kuril landing operation. A Platoon of the Machine Gun Battalion of the 113th Infantry Brigade of the 87th Infantry Corps of the 2nd Far Eastern Front landed near Furukamappu. On the shore there was a Japanese battalion commander waiting for them with a white flag in hands. The Japanese garrison surrendered without a fight. On February 2, 1946 the island was included in the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Sakhalin) Oblast of the USSR, and the village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk was founded. The first Yuzhno-Kurilsk City Council and all the services of civil authority were formed from members of the 113th Infantry Brigade. Captain Babukhadiya, an artillery division battery commander, became the first chairman of the regional executive committee.
After World War II, active construction was launched using Soviet military forces. Japanese prisoners of war who were kept on Kunashir in a separate camp were also used for the construction. Japanese prisoners of war were given the same rations as Soviet soldiers. The Japanese wore their uniform with their own insignia, were divided into platoons and companies with their commanders in the lead. They moved around in formation, abode by strict discipline and order according to the statutes of the Japanese army (if it posed no harm to the Soviet side).
According to the decision of the Soviet Government, in the summer of 1947 all the Japanese people were repatriated from the Kuril Islands to Hokkaido, Japan. By that time Kunashir was settled by many immigrants and seasonal workers from various regions of the Soviet Union. Fisheries based on Kunashir and Shikotan began to increase their production output and revenues.
After the 1953 tsunami, many Yuzhno-Kurilsk public facilities had to be rebuilt 30m above the previous level, the new settlement was named "the New District". After the 1994 earthquake in the open sea to the east of the island of Hokkaido, New District buildings sustained extensive damage and were rebuilt at a new location.
After a period of uncertainty and decline in the 90's, largely caused by the fears that the island was going to be ceded to Japan, Yuzhno-Kurilsk gradually began to revive. A Federal Program for the Development of the Kuril Islands involves a significant investment to build a new airport, roads and other facilities on the island.
[edit] Climate
Yuzhno-Kurilsk has a borderline humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) that is almost cold enough to be a subarctic climate. Precipitation, however, is much heavier than most climates of its type owing to the presence of strong onshore winds from the Pacific Ocean. These, however, make the whole archipelago extremely cloudy, especially in the summer when fog from the Oyashio current produces near-saturation humidity and extremely high cloudiness. However, Yuzhno-Kurilsk itself is less affected than places to the north because it is somewhat shielded from fog by the Shiretoko and Nemuro Peninsulas and actually receives more sunshine than Wakkanai and only marginally less than Sapporo. Maritime influences are also reflected in summer temperatures being much lower than in comparable latitudes in the interior of Asia; for example, the warmest month at Yuzhno-Kurilsk is 5 °C (9.00 °F) cooler than at Vladivostok and 9 °C (16.20 °F) cooler than in Harbin.
| Climate data for Yuzhno-Kurilsk (1981-2010) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 8.5 (47.3) |
9.3 (48.7) |
11.9 (53.4) |
20.9 (69.6) |
26.2 (79.2) |
25.4 (77.7) |
30.4 (86.7) |
30.5 (86.9) |
27.8 (82.0) |
22.4 (72.3) |
18.2 (64.8) |
14.8 (58.6) |
30.5 (86.9) |
| Average high °C (°F) | −1.9 (28.6) |
−2.6 (27.3) |
0.0 (32.0) |
4.8 (40.6) |
8.7 (47.7) |
11.4 (52.5) |
15.1 (59.2) |
18.4 (65.1) |
17.2 (63.0) |
13.3 (55.9) |
7.2 (45.0) |
1.5 (34.7) |
7.8 (46.0) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −6.7 (19.9) |
−8.1 (17.4) |
−5.2 (22.6) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
2.8 (37.0) |
6.6 (43.9) |
10.7 (51.3) |
14.1 (57.4) |
12.8 (55.0) |
8.1 (46.6) |
1.6 (34.9) |
−3.3 (26.1) |
2.8 (37.0) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −16.5 (2.3) |
−20.3 (−4.5) |
−18 (0) |
−11.4 (11.5) |
−3.1 (26.4) |
0.3 (32.5) |
2.8 (37.0) |
7.0 (44.6) |
4.3 (39.7) |
−1 (30) |
−7.6 (18.3) |
−13.6 (7.5) |
−20.3 (−4.5) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 65 (2.56) |
41 (1.61) |
66 (2.6) |
91 (3.58) |
135 (5.31) |
111 (4.37) |
128 (5.04) |
137 (5.39) |
177 (6.97) |
138 (5.43) |
112 (4.41) |
72 (2.83) |
1,273 (50.12) |
| Snowfall cm (inches) | 66 (26) |
77 (30.3) |
72 (28.3) |
54 (21.3) |
13 (5.1) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0.06 (0.024) |
5 (2) |
20 (7.9) |
41 (16.1) |
348 (137) |
| % humidity | 72 | 73 | 76 | 83 | 87 | 93 | 95 | 93 | 85 | 76 | 72 | 71 | 81.3 |
| Avg. snowy days | 26 | 22 | 22 | 11 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.06 | 1 | 13 | 24 | 121.06 |
| Sunshine hours | 111.6 | 152.5 | 167.4 | 159.0 | 161.2 | 123.0 | 102.3 | 117.8 | 156.0 | 176.7 | 123.0 | 111.6 | 1,662.1 |
| Source no. 1: pogoda.ru.net | |||||||||||||
| Source no. 2: Yuzhno-Kurilsk, Russia (sunshine hours) | |||||||||||||
[edit] References
- ^ Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Federal State Statistics Service) (2011). "Предварительные итоги Всероссийской переписи населения 2010 года (Preliminary results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census)" (in Russian). Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года (2010 All-Russia Population Census). Federal State Statistics Service. http://www.perepis-2010.ru/results_of_the_census/results-inform.php. Retrieved February 9, 2012.
- ^ Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Federal State Statistics Service) (May 21, 2004). "Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек (Population of Russia, its federal districts, federal subjects, districts, urban localities, rural localities—administrative centers, and rural localities with population of over 3,000)" (in Russian). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года (All-Russia Population Census of 2002). Federal State Statistics Service. http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/doc/1_TOM_01_04.xls. Retrieved February 9, 2012.
- ^ "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 г. Численность наличного населения союзных и автономных республик, автономных областей и округов, краёв, областей, районов, городских поселений и сёл-райцентров. (All Union Population Census of 1989. Present population of union and autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts and okrugs, krais, oblasts, districts, urban settlements, and villages serving as district administrative centers.)" (in Russian). Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года (All-Union Population Census of 1989). Demoscope Weekly (website of the Institute of Demographics of the State University—Higher School of Economics. 1989. http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus89_reg.php. Retrieved February 9, 2012.
[edit] External links
- Official website of Yuzhno-Kurilsk (Russian)
