Sakhalin Oblast
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Image:Sakhalin Oblast Flag.gif Image:RussiaSakhalin2005.png
Sakhalin Oblast (Template:Lang-ru) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It comprises the island of Sakhalin and Kuril Islands.
The region has an area of 87,100 km² and a population of 546,695 (2002 All-Russian Population 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 Kuril archipelago) are claimed by Japan.
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Demographics
Population (2002): 546,695
Ethnic groups: As per the 2002 census, ethnic Russians at 460,778 (84.3%) constitute by far the largest group of the population, followed by Koreans at 29,592 (5.41%), Ukrainians at 21,831 (4%) and a host of smaller groups (all in all, 127 distinct ethnic groups are listed for the oblast).
History
The indigenous people of Sakhalin are the Xianbei and Xiazhe tribes, who had a way of life based on fishing. The Chinese in the Ming dynasty knew the island as Kuyi (Template:Zh-cp), and later as Kuye (Template:Zh-cp). According to the Book of Shengmu (Template:Zh-cp), the Ming sent 400 troops to Sakhalin in 1616, but later withdrew as it was considered there was no threat to Chinese control of the island. A Ming boundary stone still exists on the island.
The Qing Empire also claimed sovereignty over the island and Sakhalin was under formal Chinese rule from the Jin Dynasty onwards. However, as the Chinese governments did not have a military presence on the island, people from both Japan and Russia attempted to colonise the island. The Japanese settlement of Ootomari was established in 1679. Cartographers of the Matsumae clan created a map of the island and called it "Kita-Ezo" (Northern Ezo, Ezo is the old name of Hokkaido). The 1686 Nerchinsk Treaty reaffirmed Sakhalin as Chinese territory. Nevertheless Russia started occupying the island, with an army made up of convicts, from the 18th century onwards.
Sakhalin became known to Europeans from the travels of Ivan Moskvitin and Martin Gerritz de Vries in the 17th century, and still better from those of Jean-François de La Pérouse (1787) and Ivan Krusenstern (1805). Both, however, regarded it as a peninsula, and were unaware of the existence of the Mamiya Strait or Strait of Tartary, which was discovered in 1809 by Mamiya Rinzo.
Japan unilaterally proclaimed sovereignty over the whole island in 1845. However, the Russian navigator Gennady Nevelskoy in 1849 definitively recorded the existence and navigability of this strait and — in defiance of Qing claim — Russian settlers 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 unequal 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, 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 reverting 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, todays Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
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 fightings continued until August 21 and these fightings were petty. 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, Toyohara. Japanese sources claim that 20.000 civilians were killed during the invasion.
Since January 2, 1947, the Sakhalin Region, in its present form, was officially defined and integrated as a part of the Russian Federation. Many South Koreans moved to the island after Japan's defeat. Most Koreans living there now are descendants of these early immigrants, but consider themselves to be Russians.
The status of the Kuril Islands remains disputed. 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. As of 2005, The issue remains a major strain on Japanese-Russian relations. Even now, no official peace treaty has been signed between the two nations.
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.
Law and government
The current governor is Ivan Malakhov.
Districts
External link
ca:Província de Sakhalín de:Oblast Sachalin et:Sahhalini oblast es:Oblast de Sajalín eo:Saĥalena provinco fa:استان ساخالین fr:Oblast de Sakhaline ko:사할린 주 nl:Oblast Sachalin ja:サハリン州 pl:Obwód sachaliński ru:Сахалинская область fi:Sahalinin alue zh:萨哈林州