Kuril Islands

The Kuril Islands are a volcanic island chain in the northwestern Pacific, stretching from Japan’s Hokkaido to Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.

Kuril–Kamchatka Trench: A deep ocean trench where the Pacific Plate descends beneath the Okhotsk microplate. This subduction zone drives the volcanism and earthquakes along the island arc.
Kuril Islands dispute: A territorial dispute between Japan and Russia over several southern Kuril Islands. The dispute determines competing claims to the southern end of the chain.
Sea of Okhotsk: A marginal sea of the northwestern Pacific, bordered by Russia, Japan, and the Kuril Islands. The Kurils enclose its southeastern edge and shape its exchange with the Pacific.
Northern Territories: Japan’s name for the southern Kuril islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai group. The term frames Japan’s claim to islands Russia administers as part of the Kurils.
Pacific Ring of Fire: A belt of frequent earthquakes and volcanoes bordering much of the Pacific Ocean. The Kurils form one segment of this wider tectonic belt.
Treaty of Shimoda: A 1855 agreement that established the first formal boundary between Japan and Russia in the Kurils. It placed the islands south of Urup under Japanese control and shaped later claims.
Kuril Islands#Biodiversity: The distinctive plant and animal communities found across the Kuril Islands. Isolation and varied climates give the chain habitats for marine and terrestrial wildlife.
Chishima Islands: The Japanese name for the Kuril Islands, commonly rendered as the Thousand Islands. This naming differs from Russian usage and from Japan’s narrower term Northern Territories.
Kuril Islands#Volcanoes: The active and dormant volcanoes distributed across the Kuril island arc. Volcanoes built much of the chain and remain among its most visible hazards.
Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875): An 1875 agreement in which Japan ceded Sakhalin to Russia in exchange for the Kuril Islands. It transferred the entire Kuril chain to Japan before the islands changed hands again.

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