Shikotan, also known as Shpanberg or Spanberg, is an island in the Kurils administered by the Russian Federation as part of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast. It is claimed by Japan as the titular Shikotan District (色丹郡, Shikotan-gun), organized as part of Nemuro Subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture. The island's primary economic activities are fisheries and fishing, with the principal marine products being cod, crab, and kelp.
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👉 Shikotan in the context of Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. 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. 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), with a population of roughly 20,000.
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".
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Shikotan in the context of Lesser Kuril Chain
The Lesser Kuril Chain (Russian: Малая Курильская гряда, Japanese: 小千島列島, Shō Chishima Rettō; Japanese pronunciation: [ɕo̞ː t͡ɕiɕima̠ ɾe̞t̚to̞ː]), is an island chain in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The islands are administered as part of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, and many sources consider the chain to be geographically part of the Kuril Islands. However, the Japanese government claims that these islands are not part of the Kuril Islands and are instead minor islands of Hokkaido.
The Lesser Kuril Chain lies northeast of the Nemuro Peninsula in Hokkaido, near the southwestern end of the Greater Kuril Chain, from which it is separated by the South Kuril Strait. It consists of Shikotan, the Habomai Islands and several small islands lying close to the Shikotan. The chain parallels, but is much shorter than, the Greater Kuril Chain, from which the Lesser Kurils lie to the south-east.
Shikotan in the context of Habomai
The Habomai Islands (Japanese: 歯舞群島, romanized: Habomai guntō; Russian: Хабомаи, romanized: Khabomai) are a group of uninhabited islets (but for the Russian guards stationed there) in the southernmost Kuril Islands.
The islands have been under Soviet/Russian administration since the 1945 invasion by the Soviet Union near the end of World War II. But together with Iturup (Etorofu), Kunashir (Kunashiri), and Shikotan, the islands are claimed by Japan.
Shikotan in the context of South Kuril District
Yuzhno-Kurilsky District (Russian: Ю́жно-Кури́льский райо́н) is an administrative district (raion) of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia; one of the seventeen in the oblast. Municipally, it is incorporated as Yuzhno-Kurilsky Urban Okrug. It is located on the southern Kuril Islands southeast of the Island of Sakhalin, comprising the islands of Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai. The area of the district is 1,856.1 square kilometers (716.6 sq mi). Its administrative center is the urban locality (an urban-type settlement) of Yuzhno-Kurilsk, located on Kunashir Island. Population: 9,501 (2010 census); 9,727 (2002 census); 13,597 (1989 Soviet census). The population of Yuzhno-Kurilsk accounts for 61.4% of the district's total population.
Shikotan in the context of Offshore islets of Shikotan
The Offshore islets of Shikotan include several tiny islets and rocks scattered around the coast of Shikotan island, which in turn is a part of Lesser Kuril Chain in Sakhalin Oblast of Russia. The islets are claimed by Japan together with Shikotan as parts of the nominal Shikotan District (色丹郡, Shikotan-gun).