Sakhalin

PACIFIC OCEAN, SAKHALIN ISLAND, RUSSIA

Sakhalin

Sakhalin In Russian: Сахали́н,In Japanese: Karafuto or Saharin (サハリン, Saharin; is a large elongated island in the North Pacific, lying between 45°50' and 54°24' N. It is part of Russia and is its largest island, administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast (Region). The indigenous peoples of the island are the Sakhalin Ainu, Oroks and Nivkhs Most Ainu relocated to Hokkaido when Japanese were expelled from the island in 1949]

The European names derived from misinterpretation of a Manchu name sahaliyan ula angga hada (peak of the mouth of Amir River). Sahaliyan means black in Manchu and refers to Amur River (sahaliyan ula). Its Japanese name, Karafuto (樺太, comes from Ainu Kamuy-Kara-Puto-Ya-Mosir (Kara Puto), which means "God of mouth of water land". The name was restored to the island by the Japanese during their possession of its southern part (1905–1945).

History

Sakhalin was inhabited in the Neolithic Stone Age. Flint implements, like those found in Siberia, have been found at Dui and Kusanai in great numbers, as well as polished stone hatchets, like European examples, primitive pottery with decorations like those of the Olonets, and stone weights for nets. Afterwards a population to whom bronze was known left traces in earthen walls and kitchen-middens on the Aniva Bay.

Among the indigenous people of Sakhalin are the Ainu on the southern half, the Oroks in the central region, and the Nivkhs on the northern part.

The Yuan Mongol Empire tried to subjugate the Guwei (Sakhalin) people from 1280's. They paid tributes to the Mon gols until the end of their regime in China (1368). The Chinese in the Ming Dynasty knew the island as Kuyi (Chinese: 苦兀; pinyin: Kǔwù), and later as Kuye There is some evidence that the Ming eunuch admiral Yishiha reached Sakhalin in 1413 during one of his expeditions to the lowerAmur, and granted Ming titles to a local chieftain.

Sakhalin became known to Europeans from the travels of Ivan Moskvitin and Matin Gerrita de Vries in the 17th century

Sakhalin Island

On the basis of it being an extension of Hokkaidō, geographically and culturally, Japan unilaterally proclaimed sovereignty over the whole island in 1845, as well as the Kuril Islands, as there were competing claims from Russia. However, the Russian navigator Gennady Nevelskoy in 1849 definitively recorded the existence and navigability of this strait and — in defiance of the Qing and Japanese claims; Russian settlers established coal mines, administration facilities, schools, prisons, and churches on the island.

In 1855, Russia and Japan signed the Treaty of Shimoda, which declared that both nationals could inhabit the island: Russians in the north, and Japanese in the south, without a clear boundary between. Russia also agreed to dismantle its military base at Ootomari. Following the Opium War, Russia forced China to sign the Treaty of Aigun and Convention of Peking, under which China lost claim to all territories north of Heilongjiamg (Amur) and east of Ussuri, including Sakhalin, to Russia. A katorga (penal colony) was established by Russia on Sakhalin in 1857, but the southern part of the island was held by the Japanese until the 1875 Treaty of St Petersburg, when they ceded it to Russia in exchange for the Kuril Islands.

After the Russo japanese War, Russia and Japan signed the Treaty of Portsmouth of 1905, which resulted in the southern part of the island below 50° N reverting to Japan; the Russians retained the other three-fifths of the area. South Sakhalin was administrated by Japan as Karafuto-chō, with the capital Toyohara (now Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), and had a large number of migrants from Japan and Korea.

In August 1945, according to Yalta Conference agreements, the USSR took over the control of Sakhalin.

No final peace treaty has been signed and the status of four neighboring islands remains disputed. Japan renounced its claims of sovereignty over southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in the Treaty of San Francisco (1951), but claims that four islands currently administered by Russia were not subject to this renunciation. Japan has granted mutual exchange visas for Japanese and Ainu families divided by the change in status. Recently, economic and political cooperation has gradually improved between the two nations despite disagreements.

Korean Auir flight Number 007, a South Korean civilian airliner, flew over Sakhalin and was shot down just west of the island by the Soviet Union on 1 September 1983. The airplane first flew into Soviet airspace illegally over the Kamchatka peninsula, just before the time set for the test firing of an SS-25 mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It did not respond to repeated attempts to contact it by Soviet authorities, who claim they thought it was a spy plane. All 269 passengers and crew died, including a U.S. Congressman.

On May 28, 1995, an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richer scale occurred, killing 2,000 people in the town of Neftegorsk.

Geography

Sakhalin is separated from the mainland by the narrow and shallow Mamiya Strait or Strait of Tartary, which often freezes in winter in its narrower part, and from Hokkaido in Japan, Strait of La Perouse. Sakhalin is the largest island of Russia, being 948 kilometres (589 miles) long, and 25 to 170 km (16 to 106 mi) wide, with an area of 78,000 km2 (30,116 sq mi).

Its georography and geological structure are imperfectly known. One theory is that Sakhalin arose from the Sakhalin Islandarc Nearly two-thirds of Sakhalin is mountainous. Two parallel ranges of mountains traverse it from north to south, reaching 600–1500 m (2000–5000 ft). The Western Sakhalin Mountains peak in Mount Ichara, 1,481 m (4,859 ft) , while the Eastern Sakhalin Mountains's highest peak, Mount Lopatin 1,609 m (5,279 ft), is also the island's highest mountain. Tym-Poronaiskaya Valley separates the two ranges. Susuanaisky and Tonino-Anivsky ranges traverse the island in the south, while the swampy Northern-Sakhalin plain occupies most of its north.

Main rivers: the Tym, 400 km (249 mi) long and navigable by rafts and light boats for 80 km (50 mi), flows north and north-east with numerous rapids and shallows, and enters the Sea of Okotsk. The Poronai River flows south-south-east to the Gulf of Patience, on the south-east coast. Three other small streams enter the wide semicircular Gulf of Anivay at the southern extremity of the island.

The northernmost point of Sakhalin is Cape of Elisabeth, while Cape Crillon is the southernmost point of the island.

The capital Yuzhno-SZakhalinsk, a city of about 175,000, has a large Korean minority, typically referred to as Sakhalin Koreans, who were forcibly brought by the Japanese during Wsorld War 11 to work in the coal mines. Most of the population lives in the southern half of the island, centered mainly around Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and two ports, Kholmsk and Korsakov (population about 40,000 each).

Transport

Transport, especially by sea, is an important segment of the economy. Nearly all the cargo arriving for Sakhalin (and the Kuril Islands) is delivered by cargo boats, or by ferries, in railway wagons, through a sea ferry passage at Vanino-Kholmsk. The ports ofKorsakov and Kholmsk are the largest and handle all kinds of goods, while ooal andtimber shipments often go through other ports. In 1999, a ferry service was opened between the ports of Korsakov and Wakkanai, Japan.

About 30% of all inland transport volume is realized through railways. With the existence of a ferry serving Vanino-Kholmsk, Sakhalin has railway connection with the railway network of the rest of Russia. The railways are only now being converted from the Japanese 1067-millimeter (3'-6") gauge to the Russian 1520-millimeter (5') gauge All mainland rolling stock is regauged at Holmsk. The original Japanese D51 steam locomotiveswere used by the Soviet Railways until 1979.

 

 

Sakhalin is connected by regular flights to various Russian cities. Email for details

 

In November 2008, Russian president Mr Dimitri Medvedev announced government support for the construction of the Sakhalin Tunnel, along with the required re-gauging of the island's railways to Russian standard gauge, at an estimated cost of 300-330 billion roubles.

The Economy

Sakhalin`s main exports are oil and gas, coal mining, forestry and fishing. Limited quantities of rye, wheat, oats, barley and vegetables are grown.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and economic liberalization, Sakhalin has experienced an oil boom with extensive petroleum exploration and mining by most large oil multinational companies. The oil and natural gas reserves contain an estimated 14 billion barrels (2.2 km³) of oil and 96 trillion cubic feet (2,700 km³) of gas and are being developed under production-sharing agreement contracts involving international oil companies like Exxon Mobil and Shell.

In 1996, two large consortiums signed contracts to explore for oil and gas off the northeast coast of the island, Sakhakin 1 and Sakghalin 11. The two consortia were estimated to spend a combined $21 billion US dollars on the two projects which almost doubled to $37 billion as of September 2006, triggering Russian governmental opposition. This will include an estimated $1 billion (US) to upgrade the island's infrastructure: roads, bridges, waste management sites, airports, railways, communications systems, and ports. In addition, Sakhalin-III-through-VI are in various early stages of development.

The Sakhalin I project, managed by Exxon Neftgas Limited (ENL), completed a production-sharing agreement (PSA) between the Sakhalin I consortium, the Russian Federation, and the Sakhalin government. Russia is in the process of building a 136 mile (219 km) pipeline across the Tatar Strait from Sakhalin Island to De-Kastri on the Russian mainland. From De-Kastri it will be loaded onto tankers for transport to East Asian markets, namely Japan, South Korea, and China.

The second consortium, Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. (Sakhalin Energy) is managing the Sakhalin II project. They completed the first ever production-sharing agreement (PSA) with the Russian Federation. Sakhalin Energy will build two 800 km pipelines running from the northeast of the island to Prigorodnoye (Prigorodnoe) in Aniva Bay at the southern end. The consortium will also build, at Prigorodnoye, the first ever liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant to be built in Russia. The oil and gas is also bound for East Asian markets.

In 2000, the oil and gas industry accounted for 57.5% of Sakhalin's industrial output. By 2006, it is expected to account for 80% of the island's industrial output. Sakhalin's economy is growing rapidly thanks to its oil and gas industry. By 2005, the island had become the largest recipient of foreign investment in Russia, followed by Moscow. Unemployment in 2002 was only 2%. However, all of the oil and gas is for export and none is available to the island's population.

As of 18 April 2007 Gazprom have taken a 50% plus one share interest in Sakhalin II by purchasing 50% of Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi's shares.