Kuril Islands

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Kuril Islands

Disputed islands Native name: Курильские острова (Russian) 千島列島 (Japanese)
A coastline along one of the Kuril Islands
Location of the Kuril Islands in the Western Pacific between Japan and the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	47°00′N 152°06′E / 47.0°N 152.1°E / 47.0; 152.1
Total islands	56
Area	10,503.2 km2 (4,055.3 sq mi)
Length	1,150 km (715 mi)
Highest elevation	2,339 m (7674 ft)
Highest point	Alaid
Administration
Russia
Federal subject	Sakhalin Oblast
Districts	Severo-Kurilsky, Kurilsky, Yuzhno-Kurilsky
Claimed by
Japan (partial claim, southernmost islands)
Prefecture	Hokkaido
Subprefecture	Nemuro
Demographics
Population	21,501 (2021)
Ethnic groups	majority Russians

The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands^[a] are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East.^[1] The islands stretch approximately 1,300 km (810 mi) northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the north Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands and many minor islets. The Kuril Islands consist of the Greater Kuril Chain and, at the southwest end, the parallel Lesser Kuril Chain.^[2] The group termed the 'South Kurils' consists of those of the Lesser Kuril Chain together with Kunashir and Iturup in the Greater Kuril Chain. The Vries Strait between Iturup and Urup forms the Miyabe Line dividing the North and South Kurils. The Kuril Islands cover an area of around 10,503.2 square kilometres (4,055.3 sq mi),^[3] with a population of roughly 20,000.^[4]

The islands have been under Russian administration since their 1945 invasion by the Soviet Union near the end of World War II. Japan claims the four southernmost islands, including two of the three largest (Iturup and Kunashir), as part of its territory, as well as Shikotan and the unpopulated Habomai islets, which has led to the ongoing Kuril Islands dispute. The disputed islands are known in Japan as the country's "Northern Territories".^[5]

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