The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands ( /ˈkʊərɪl/, /ˈkjʊərɪl/, or /kjʊˈriːl/; Russian: Кури́льские острова́, Kuril'skie ostrova; ; Japanese: Chishima rettō (千島列島?)), 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 more minor rocks. It consists of Greater Kuril Ridge and Lesser Kuril Ridge. The total land area is about 15,600 square kilometres (6,000 sq mi) and total population about 19,000.
All of the islands are under the Russian jurisdiction, but 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.
Read more about Kuril Islands: Nomenclature, Geography, Marine Ecology, Terrestrial Ecology, Human Settlement History, Current Situation and The Economy, Atlasov Island, List of The Islands
Famous quotes containing the word islands:
“Consider the islands bearing the names of all the saints, bristling with forts like chestnut-burs, or Echinidæ, yet the police will not let a couple of Irishmen have a private sparring- match on one of them, as it is a government monopoly; all the great seaports are in a boxing attitude, and you must sail prudently between two tiers of stony knuckles before you come to feel the warmth of their breasts.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)