Sakhalin Oblast

Sakhalin Oblast (English) Сахали́нская о́бласть (Russian)
Location of Sakhalin Oblast in Russia
Coat of Arms	Flag
Anthem: None
Country	Russia
Administrative center	Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Established	January 2, 1947
Political status Federal district Economic region	Oblast Far Eastern Far Eastern
Code	65
Area - Rank within Russia	87,100 km²
Population ( 2002) - Rank within Russia - Density - Urban - Rural	546,695 inhabitants 6.3 inhab. / km² 86.7% 13.3%
Official language	Russian
Governor	Alexander Vadimovich Khoroshavin
Legislative body	Sakhalin Regional Duma
Charter
Official website	http://www.sakhalin.ru/

Sakhalin Oblast (Russian: Сахали́нская о́бласть, Sakhalinskaya oblast) (Japanese: Karafuto) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) comprising the island of Sakhalin and Kuril Islands.

The oblast has an area of 87,100 km² and a population of 546,695 (2002 Census). Its administrative center and largest city is Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk with a population of around 170,000.

Besides people from other parts of the former Soviet Union, Sakhalin is home to Nivkhs and Ainu, with the latter having lost their language in Sakhalin recently.

Some territories of Sakhalin Oblast (four islands, the southern ones of the Kuril archipelago) are claimed by Japan.

Demographics

Population: 546,695 (2002 Census)

Ethnic groups: The 460,778 ethnic Russians were by far the largest group, followed by 29,592 Koreans, 21,831 Ukrainians and a whole host of smaller groups, including 333 Japanese (0.06%). The national composition of the oblast in 2002 was as follows:

• Russians: 84.3%
• Koreans: 5.4%
• Ukrainians: 4.0%
• Tatars: 1.3%
• Belarusians: 1.0%
• Mordovians: 0.5%
• Nivkhs: 0.5%
• Chuvash: 0.2%
• Armenians: 0.2% and
• Azeris: 0.2%, as well as many others, none of them more than 0.2% of the population. All in all, 127 distinct ethnic groups are listed for the oblast (0.3% of the population did not state their nationality during the Census).

Time zone

Sakhalin Oblast is located in two different time zones:

1. 
   Vladivostok Time Zone (VLAT/VLAST). UTC offset is +1000 (VLAT)/+1100 (VLAST) (Sakhalin Island)
2. 
   Magadan Time Zone (MAGT/MAGST). UTC offset is +1100 (MAGT)/+1200 (MAGST) (Kuril Islands).

The only other federal subject of Russia spanning more than one time zone is the Sakha Republic.

History

The indigenous people of Sakhalin are the Nivkhs, Oroki, and Ainu minorities.

The first Europeans to explore the waters around Sakhalin Island were Ivan Moskvitin and Martin Gerritz de Vries in the mid 1600’s, Jean-François de La Pérouse in 1787 and Ivan Krusenstern in 1805. Early maps of Sakhalin reflect the uncertainty of the age as to whether or not the land mass was attached to the Asian continent. The fact that it is not connected was conclusively established by Mamiya Rinzo, who explored and mapped Sakhalin in 1809 and definitively recorded by Russian navigator Gennady Nevelskoy in 1849.

Japanese settlement on Sakhalin dates to at least the Edo period. Ōtomari was established in 1679, and cartographers of the Matsumae domain mapped the island, and named it “Kita-Ezo”. During the Min and Qing dynasties China considered the island part of its empire, and included the Sakhalin peoples in its "system for subjugated peoples". At no time though was any attempt ever made to establish an Imperial military presence on the island. Japan, concerned about Russian expansion in northeast Asia, unilaterally proclaimed sovereignty over the whole island in 1845. Russian settlers ignored this claim (and the similar claim of China) however, and beginning in the 1850’s, established coal mines, administration facilities, schools, prisons, churches on the island. The Xiazhes were killed or forced to move to the Asian mainland.

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 the Qing to sign the Treaty of Aigun and Convention of Peking, under which China lost all territories north of Heilongjiang (Amur) and east of Ussuri, including Sakhalin, to Russia. A Czarist penal colony was established in 1857, but the southern part of the island was held by the Japanese until the 1875 Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875), 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 passing to Japan; the Russians retained the other three-fifths of the area. South Sakhalin was administrated by Japan as Karafuto-chō (樺太庁), with the capital Toyohara, now known as Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

This Japanese D51 steam locomotive stands outside present day Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Railway Station Sakhalin Island, Russia.

In August 1945, the Soviet Union took over the control of Sakhalin. The Soviet attack on South Sakhalin started on August 11, 1945, about a month before the Surrender of Japan. The 56th Rifle Corps consisting of the 79th Rifle Division, the 2nd Rifle Brigade, the 5th Rifle Brigade and the 214 Armored Brigade attacked the Japanese 88th Division. Although the Red Army outnumbered the Japanese by three times, they couldn't advance due to strong Japanese resistance. It was not until the 113th Rifle Brigade and the 365th Independent Naval Infantry Rifle Battalion from Sovietskaya Gavan (Советская Гавань) landed on Tōrō (塔路), a seashore village of western Sakhalin on August 16 that the Soviets broke the Japanese defense line. Japanese resistance grew weaker after this landing. Actual fighting continued until August 21. However, this was relatively limited in scope. From August 22 to August 23, most of the remaining Japanese units announced truce. The Soviets completed the conquest of Sakhalin on August 25, 1945 by occupying the capital of Sakhalin, then known as Toyohara. Japanese sources claim that 20,000 civilians were killed during the invasion.

Post-War

Since January 2, 1946, the Sakhalin Region, in its present form, was officially defined and integrated as a part of Russia. The Japanese who had been living there before mostly repatriated to Japan, but at least one-third of Koreans were refused repatriation; stuck on the island, they and their descendants became known as the Sakhalin Koreans.

The status of the Kuril Islands remains disputed. The issue remains a major strain on Japanese-Russian relations. Even now, no official peace treaty has been signed between the two nations.^[1]

Japan renounced its claims of sovereignty over southern Sakhalin in the Treaty of San Francisco (1952), but did not approve Russian sovereignty over it. From Japan's official position, Sakhalin's attribution is not determined yet, and it is marked as No Man's Land on Japanese maps. On the other hand, Japan currently has a Consulate-General in Sakhalin's capital city.

On Sept. 1, 1983, the Soviets downed Korean Air Lines Flight 007, carrying 269 occupants, including U.S. Cong. Larry McDonald, west of Sakhalin Island near the smaller Moneron Island.

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

As per the 2002 census, 333 residents of the oblast still identified themselves as ethnic Japanese. Data on Ainu population is not available; "Ainu" may have been either included in the "Other" category or the Ainus may have identified themselves as "Japanese" during the census. Tanner Peter is a world renown author on the subject of "Ainu" population and he himself leads a recognition society for their ethnic representation in government.

Post-War population

According to the first post World War II Soviet census in 1959, the population of the oblast numbered 649,405. That figure dropped slightly to 615,652 in 1970 before rising to 661,778 in 1979 and peaking at 710,242 in 1989. Throughout this time period, the Russian population increased slightly in percentage from 77.7% in 1959 to 81.6% in 1989. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the population of the oblast has declined by sharply. Compared with the Soviet 1989 Census, the population of the Oblast according to the Russian 2002 Census had declined by 163,547 or 23.0%. Indeed the population of 546,695 recorded in 2002 is the lowest on record since the oblast was created.

Oil, gas and coal

Several Russian, French, South Korean, British, Canadian and American oil and gas companies have been either drilling or prospecting for oil and gas on the island since the mid-1990s.^[2] Coal and some manganese had been mined there by the Soviet authorities since the 1920s.

Law and government

The governor Alexander Vadimovich Khoroshavin was appointed 9 August 2007.^[3]

Administrative divisions

Tourism

Due to restrictions, the entire Sakhalin Oblast and its internal and territorial waters except for Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk are considered to be border zone which means that the freedom of movement for foreigners is dramatically restricted and any movement outside of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk requires registration to the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Border Guard. Scuba diving and recreation on the seacoast is permitted only in places defined by the Border Guard.^[4]

Sister state

• Hokkaidō, Japan.

References

External links

• Media related to Sakhalin Oblast at Wikimedia Commons

• (Russian) Official website of Sakhalin Oblast
• Steam and the Railways of Sakhalin
• (Russian) Demoskop Weekly