Iturup

{{Short description|Largest of the Kuril Islands}} {{More citations needed|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox islands | disputed = yes | name = Iturup | native_name = {{nobold|{{native name list |tag1=ru |name1=Итуру́п |tag2=ja |name2=択捉島}}}} | other_names = {{csv|Etuworop|Etorofu|Etrof}} | image_name = Iturup sentinel-2.jpg | image_size = 300px | image_caption = Sentinel-2 image of Iturup (May 2023) | pushpin_map = Russia#Japan | pushpin_map_relief = 1 | image_map = IturupMap.png | location = Sea of Okhotsk | coordinates = {{coord|45|02|N|147|37|E|scale:2500000|display=inline,title}} | archipelago = Kuril Islands | area_km2 = 3139 | length_km = 200 | width_km = 27 | elevation_m = 1634 | highest_mount = Stokap | country = Russia | country_admin_divisions_title_1 = Federal subject | country_admin_divisions_1 = Sakhalin Oblast | country_admin_divisions_title_2 = District | country_admin_divisions_2 = Kurilsky | country1 = Japan | country1_admin_divisions_title_1 = Prefecture | country1_admin_divisions_1 = Hokkaido | country1_admin_divisions_title_2 = Subprefecture | country1_admin_divisions_2 = Nemuro | population = 7,500 | population_as_of = 2003 | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 07 }}

'''Iturup''' ({{langx|ru|Итуру́п|Iturúp}}), known in Japan as {{Nihongo|'''Etorofu'''|択捉島|Etorofu-tō|lead=yes}},<ref>{{cite web |title=An Overview of the Northern Territories |url=https://www.hoppou.go.jp/en/problem-info/know/islands-outline.html |website=www.hoppou.go.jp |publisher=Northern Territories Issue Association |access-date=18 February 2026 |language=en}}</ref> is the largest of the Kuril Islands separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. The town of Kurilsk, administrative center of Kurilsky District, is located roughly midway along its western shore. Iturup is the largest and northernmost of the southern Kurils, ownership of which is disputed between Russia and Japan. It is located between Kunashiri {{convert|19|km|mi|sp=us|abbr=on}} to its southwest and Urup {{convert|37|km|mi|sp=us|abbr=on}} to its northeast. The Vries Strait between Iturup and Urup forms the Miyabe Line dividing the predominant plants of the Kurils.

The native inhabitants of the islands since at least the 14th century were the Ainu. Various European explorers passed the area over the years but settlement varied between Russian and Japanese. The island was formally claimed as Japanese territory in 1855. Near the end of the Second World War in 1945, the Soviet Union occupied the southern Kurils and forcibly removed its Japanese residents. Japan continues to claim the islands and considers the northern edge of the island to be its own northernmost point.

==Names{{anchor|Etymology|Toponymy|Name}}== The modern English name ''Iturup'' and earlier ''Yetorup'' are romanizations of the Russian name {{transliteration|ru|Iturúp}} ({{lang|ru|Итуру́п}}).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geographic.org/geographic_names/name.php?uni=-4084546&fid=5567&c=russia |title=Ostrov Iturup: Russia |work=Geographical Names |access-date=2014-02-24}}</ref> It was previously known in English as ''Etrof''<ref>{{Cite book|title=Contemporary Japan, Volume 24|publisher=Foreign Affairs Association of Japan|year=1956|pages=520}}</ref> from the Japanese name ''Etorofu-tō'' ({{lang|ja|択捉島}}).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geographic.org/geographic_names/name.php?uni=-4068800&fid=5567&c=russia |title=Etorofu-tō: Russia |work=Geographical Names |access-date=2014-02-24}}</ref> Both the Russian and Japanese names come from the Ainu language, but the exact words are uncertain. Two possibilities have been proposed: {{lang|ain-Latn|etu-oro-o-p}} ({{lang|ain|エトゥオロオㇷ゚}}), which means "place with a cape"; and {{lang|ain-Latn|etu-or-o-p}} ({{lang|ain|エトゥオㇿオㇷ゚}}, sometimes erroneously as {{lang|ain|エトゥオロㇷ゚}}), which means "runny nose" and may be a reference to a rock on the island that looks like a man with a runny nose.<ref>{{cite web|script-title=ja:アイヌ語地名リストイチャ〜エリ|trans-title=List of Ainu place names: ic- to er-|url=https://www.pref.hokkaido.lg.jp/fs/5/5/7/2/6/8/6/_/2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3~%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AA%20P11-20.pdf|page=19|website=hokkaido.lg.jp|publisher=Hokkaido Government|access-date=25 February 2026|language=ja}}</ref>

==Geography== Iturup consists of volcanic massifs and mountain ridges. A series of a dozen calc-alkaline volcanoes running NE to SW form the backbone of the island, the highest being Stokap (1,634 m) in the central part of Iturup. The shores of the island are high and abrupt. The vegetation mostly consists of spruce, larch, pine, fir, and mixed deciduous forests with alder, lianas and Kuril bamboo underbrush. The mountains are covered with birch and Siberian Dwarf Pine scrub, herbaceous flowers (including ''Fragaria iturupensis'', the Iturup strawberry) or bare rocks.{{citation needed|date=February 2026}}

The island also contains some high waterfalls, such as the Ilya Muromets.{{citation needed|date=February 2026}}

Rheniite, a rhenium sulfide mineral (ReS<sub>2</sub>), was discovered in active hot fumaroles on Kudriavy volcano and first described in 2004. In the field it was originally mistaken for molybdenite.<ref>{{cite journal |last1 = Korzhinsky |first1 = M.A. |last2=Tkachenko |first2=S. I.|last3=Shmulovich|first3=K. I. |last4=Taran|first4=Y. A. |last5=Steinberg|first5=G. S. |date = 5 May 2004 |title = Discovery of a pure rhenium mineral at Kudriavy volcano |journal = Nature | volume = 369 |pages = 51–52 |doi = 10.1038/369051a0 |issue=6475 |bibcode = 1994Natur.369...51K |s2cid = 4344624 }}</ref>

==History== ===Prehistory=== {{Main|Ainu people}} The native inhabitants of all the Kuril islands are the Ainu. They have lived there since at least the 14th century.

{{anchor|Staten Island}} ===Edo period=== [[File:Staten Island (Jan Janssonius 1652).jpeg|thumb|right|250px|"Staten Eylant" between Hokkaido ("Eso") and the imaginary continent of "Companies Land" on Jan Janssonius's 1654 ''New and Accurate Description of Japan, the Land of Eso, and Adjacent Islands'']] {{Main|Edo period}} Europeans are first recorded visiting this part of the Kurils in 1643<ref name="hackysakh">{{Cite web |title=The 17th and 18th Centuries |url=http://www.sakhalin.ru/Engl/Region/book/17th_18th.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080325002911/http://www.sakhalin.ru/Engl/Region/book/17th_18th.htm |archive-date=2008-03-25 |access-date=2008-03-25}}</ref> when the {{lang|nl|Castricum}} under Maarten Gerritsz Vries was exploring Hokkaido and the surrounding area for the Dutch East India Company (VOC).<ref name=frenchy>{{harvp|De Saint-Martin et al.|1895|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wiDuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA444 444–445]}}.</ref> As with neighboring Urup, Iturup is sometimes said to have been the particular island intended in his account,<ref name="Heawood1912">{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924032379764 | title=A history of geographical discovery in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries | publisher=Cambridge University Press | author=Heawood, Edward | year=1912 | location=Cambridge | pages=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924032379764/page/n104 87]}}</ref> but in fact his description of an enormous continental Company Land (named after the VOC) and a large and prosperous Staten Island (named after the States General) bear no relation to anything in the area,<ref>{{citation |editor-last=De Saint-Martin |editor-first=Vivien |editor2=Louis Rousselet |display-editors=1 |ref={{sfnref|De Saint-Martin et al.|1895}} |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wiDuAAAAMAAJ |title=Nouveau Dictionnaire de Géographie Universelle |volume=7 |location=Paris |publisher=Librairie Hachette & Co. |date=1895 |lang=fr |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wiDuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA441 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wiDuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA441 441–445] |contribution=Yèso }}.</ref> a fact established by Vitus Bering's lieutenant Martin Spanberg in a series of voyages in 1738, 1739, and 1742.<ref name=wroth>{{citation |last=Wroth |first=Lawrence C. |contribution-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24301919 |contribution=The Early Cartography of the Pacific |title=The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |volume=38 |issue=2 |date=1944 |pages=87–231 & 233–268 |jstor=24301919 }}.</ref> The phantom Staten Island ({{lang|nl|Staten Eyland}}; {{langx|fr|Isle des États}}) still continued to appear on European maps for decades afterward, however,<ref name=wroth/> and is now sometimes specifically conflated with Iturup despite its placement on most maps more closely matching Kunashiri.

The Japanese are first recorded reaching Iturup in 1661, when Shichirobei and his company drifted there by accident. Following Bering and Spanberg's voyages under the Russian flag, a settlement was established in the late 18th century, prompting the Japanese to establish a garrison around 1800 at the site of present-day Kurilsk. Japanese rule over Iturup was formally recognized in the 1855 Treaty of Shimoda.

===Meiji and Showa periods=== thumb|right|250px|Japanese residents of Iturup at a Buddhist temple (before 1939) {{Main|Showa period}} In the early 20th century Etorofu had a cannery and fishing operations. Its only school was an elementary school. The people did not swim on the beach at all due to the temperatures.<ref name=Altp23>{{cite book|last=Alt|first=Matt|title=Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World|publisher=Crown Publishing|date=2021|isbn=978-1-9848-2671-8|page=23}}</ref>

On 26 November 1941, a Japanese carrier fleet left Hitokappu Bay (now called Kasatka Bay<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=yYs5AQAAIAAJ&q=Залив+Касатка+хитокапп�� Внешняя политика Японии: сентябрь 1939 г.-декабрь 1941 г] – 1959, page 246 {{in lang|ru}} </ref>), on the eastern shore of Iturup, and sailed for an attack on the American base of Pearl Harbor.

Shana Village was located on Iturup (Etorofu) in the Showa era, before 1945. It was the administrative capital of the Kuril islands. There was a village hospital, an Etorofu Fisheries factory, a radio tower of the post office with a radio receiving antenna. The receiver was battery-powered.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sana, the administrative capital – 行政の首都紗那（しゃな） |url=http://kitanotakarajima.la.coocan.jp/etrf_shana.html |access-date=20 January 2020 |work=Chishima People's Magazine Study Group (千島庶民誌研究会) |date=6 October 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110114429/http://kitanotakarajima.la.coocan.jp/etrf_shana.html |archive-date=10 November 2017 }}</ref>

===Post-World War II=== In 1945, according to decisions of the Yalta Conference, Iturup was occupied by the Soviet Union after Japan's defeat in World War II. The Japanese inhabitants were expelled to mainland Japan.<ref>[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2007/09/22/reference/special-presentations/nemuro-raid-survivor-longs-for-homeland/#.VwzAu3mIqUk Takahara, "Nemuro raid survivor"]</ref> In 1956, the two countries agreed to restore diplomatic relations, but a peace treaty, {{As of|2024|lc=y}}, has not been concluded due to the disputed status of Iturup and some other nearby islands.

A Soviet Anti-Air Defense (PVO) airfield, Burevestnik (English: storm-petrel), is located on the island and was until 1993 home to a number of Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 fighter jets.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Austin |first1=Greg |last2=Muraviev |first2=Alexey D. |title=The Armed Forces of Russia in Asia |date=2000 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |location=London |isbn=9781860644856 |page=244 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AFUiZB3Z60gC&pg=PA244 |access-date=16 June 2018}}</ref> In 1968, Seaboard World Airlines Flight 253A was intercepted over the Kurils and forced to land at Burevestnik with 214 American troops bound for Vietnam. An older airfield, Vetrovoe, exists on the eastern part of the island and may have been used primarily by Japanese forces during World War II.

===Contemporary period=== A new international airport, Iturup Airport, was opened in 2014, {{convert|7|km|mi|frac=2|abbr=off}} east of Kurilsk. It was the first airport built from scratch in Russia's post-Soviet history. It has a {{convert|2.3|km|ft|adj=mid|-long}}, {{convert|42|m|ft|adj=mid|-wide}} runway and can receive Antonov An-74-200 aircraft. It also has a military use. The Burevestnik military airfield {{convert|60|km|mi|abbr=on}} to the south, in the past received civilian aircraft as well, but was often closed because of fog. Burevestnik is now a reserve airfield for the new airport.<ref>{{cite news |title=New airport on Kuril Iturup Island receives first flight |url=https://www.rbth.com/news/2014/09/22/new_airport_on_kuril_iturup_island_receives_first_flight_39991.html |access-date=16 June 2018 |work=Russia Beyond |agency=Interfax |date=22 September 2014}}</ref> On February 2, 2018, PBS NewsHour reported that Russia announced it was sending fighter planes to Iturup.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/pbs-newshour-full-episode-february-2-2018|title=PBS NewsHour full episode February 2, 2018 (Time Index 8:37)|access-date=26 October 2014}}</ref> Su-35 aircraft landed on a reserve airfield on the island in March 2018<ref>{{cite news |author= |title=Russian fighter jets land on disputed island |url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-03/26/c_137067150.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805172622/http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-03/26/c_137067150.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 5, 2018 |work=Xinhua News Agency |date=March 26, 2018 |access-date=August 5, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Gady |first=Franz-Stefan |date=August 1, 2018 |title=Japan Asks Russia to Reduce Militarization of Disputed Kuril Islands |url=https://thediplomat.com/2018/08/japan-asks-russia-to-reduce-militarization-of-disputed-kuril-islands/ |work=The Diplomat |access-date=August 5, 2018 }}</ref> and Su-35s were then deployed to Iturup airport on a trial basis in August 2018.<ref>{{cite news |author= |title=Report: Fighter jets deployed on Etorofu for trial |url=https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180804_07/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805203118/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180804_07/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 5, 2018 |work=NHK |date=August 4, 2018 |access-date=August 5, 2018 }}</ref>

Administratively, the island belongs to the Sakhalin Oblast of the Russian Federation. Japan claims Iturup as part of Nemuro Subprefecture.

==Gallery== <gallery mode = "packed"> File:Остров Итуруп. Вулкан Баранского.jpg|Volcanoes of Iturup File:Итуруп10.jpg|Kurilsk, 1981 File:Итуруп7.jpg|Iturup, 1981 File:Итуруп8.jpg|Trees showing effect of prevailing wind, 1981 File:Shana_Village_in_Etorofu_Island.JPG|Shana Village in Etorofu (Shōwa period). There is a village hospital in the front, a factory in the left back with a fishery and a central radio tower (before 1945). File:Rheniite-34295.jpg|Rheniite crystals on a base of hardened lava, from Kudriavy Volcano </gallery>

==See also== *Kuril Islands dispute

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{cite web |last=Takahara |first=Kanako |date=September 22, 2007 |url=https://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070922w1.html |title=Nemuro raid survivor longs for homeland |format=Newspaper article |publisher=Japan Times |access-date=2008-02-01}} *[https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=45.132319049014264,147.93411098090277&spn=1.0123577351814326,1.795166015625&t=k&hl=en Google Maps] *{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223043232/http://www.oceandots.com/pacific/kuril/iturup.php |date=December 23, 2010 |title=Ocean Dots.com }} *[https://land.worldcitydb.com/sakhalinskaya_ã¢â€â™_in_russian_federation_state.html Sakhalin Oblast]{{Dead link|date=February 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}

Category:Iturup Category:Islands of the Kuril Islands Category:Southern Kuriles Category:Islands of the Sea of Okhotsk Category:Islands of the Russian Far East Category:Islands of Hokkaido Category:Disputed islands of Asia Category:Japan–Soviet Union relations Category:Nemuro Subprefecture