Paramushir

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Paramushir" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Paramushir

Ainu: パラムシㇼ Russian: Парамушир Japanese: 幌筵島
Map of Paramushir Island
Paramushir
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	50°20′N 155°45′E / 50.333°N 155.750°E / 50.333; 155.750
Archipelago	Kuril Island
Area	2,053 km2 (793 sq mi)
Length	100 km (60 mi)
Width	20 km (12 mi)
Highest elevation	1,816 m (5958 ft)
Highest point	Chikurachki
Administration
Russia
Oblast	Sakhalin Oblast
District	Severo-Kurilsky
Largest settlement	Severo-Kurilsk (pop. 2592)

Paramushir (Russian: Парамушир, romanized: Paramushir, Japanese: 幌筵島, romanized: Paramushiru-tō, Ainu: パラムシㇼ, romanized: Para=mu=sir) is a volcanic island in the northern portion of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It is separated from Shumshu by the very narrow Second Kuril Strait in the northeast 2.5 km (1.6 mi), from Antsiferov by the Luzhin Strait (15 km (9.3 mi)) to the southwest, from Atlasov in the northwest by 20 km (12 mi), and from Onekotan in the south by the 40 km (25 mi) wide Fourth Kuril Strait. Its northern tip is 39 km (24 mi) from Cape Lopatka at the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Its name is derived from the Ainu language, from “broad island” or “populous island”. Severo-Kurilsk, the administrative center of the Severo-Kurilsky district, is the only permanently populated settlement on Paramushir island.