Kuril << KOO rihl >> Islands is a chain of islands that stretches 775 miles (1,247 kilometers) from the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia to Hokkaido Island of Japan. The Japanese name for the islands is Chishima (Thousand Islands). The islands are part of Russia, but Japan claims several of them, including Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai Islands.
The chain includes 36 large islands, 20 smaller islands, and many large rocks. It has a total land area of 6,023 square miles (15,599 square kilometers). Most of the Kurils were formed by volcanoes built up from the ocean floor. Lofty mountains rise on the islands. The highest one is a volcano on Atlasova Island called Alaid. The volcano rises 7,674 feet (2,339 meters) above sea level. The chain includes about 100 volcanoes, about 40 of which still show signs of volcanic activity. Many otters and seals once lived on the Kurils, but they have become scarce because of hunting. Bears, wolves, and some smaller animals still live in the mountains. Products of the Kurils include fish, furs, timber, iodine, sulfur, and agar (a substance from seaweed used as an additive in food and drugs).
In 1643, the Dutch became the first Europeans to reach the Kurils. At that time, the islands were inhabited by a people called the Ainu. Russia established a colony on the Kurils in 1795. In 1821, Russia claimed control of the northern and central islands. The Kurils came under Japanese rule in 1875, when Japan traded the southern half of Sakhalin Island to Russia for the Kurils. The Soviet Union—formed under Russia’s leadership in 1922—took control of the Kurils in 1945, at the end of World War II. When the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, Russia gained control of the islands. But Japan still claims several islands in the southern part of the chain. The dispute over ownership has strained relations between Japan and Russia since 1945.
