A report on Kuril Islands and Ainu people
The Ainu are the indigenous people of the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, including Hokkaido Island, Northeast Honshu Island, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula and Khabarovsk Krai, before the arrival of the Yamato Japanese and Russians.
- Ainu peopleThe name Kuril originates from the autonym of the aboriginal Ainu, the islands' original inhabitants: kur, meaning 'man'.
- Kuril Islands9 related topics with Alpha
Sakhalin
7 linksLargest island of Russia.
Largest island of Russia.
In 1875, Japan ceded its claims to Russia in exchange for the northern Kuril Islands.
Smaller minorities were the Ainu, Ukrainians, Tatars, Yakuts and Evenks.
Hokkaido
4 linksJapan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region.
Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region.
Sakhalin lies about 43 kilometers (26 mi) to the north of Hokkaidō, and to the east and northeast are the Kuril Islands, which are administered by Russia, though the four most southerly are claimed by Japan.
Although there were Japanese settlers who ruled the southern tip of the island since the 16th century, Hokkaido was considered foreign territory that was inhabited by the indigenous people of the island, known as the Ainu people.
Sakhalin Oblast
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Sakhalin Oblast is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) comprising the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in the Russian Far East.
Japanese or Ainu: 0.05%
Sea of Okhotsk
3 linksMarginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean.
Marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean.
It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and north.
The Okhotsk people and the later Ainu culture, a coastal fishing and hunter-gatherer people, were located around the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, as well as in northern Japan.
Kuril Islands dispute
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The Kuril Islands dispute, known as the Northern Territories dispute in Japan, is a territorial dispute between Japan and the Russian Federation over the ownership of the four southernmost Kuril Islands.
Some individuals of the Ainu also claim the Kuril Islands, on the basis that their ethnic group inhabited the archipelago and Sakhalin prior to the arrival of Japanese and Russian settlers in the 19th century.
Karafuto Prefecture
2 linksPrefecture of Japan located in Sakhalin from 1907 to 1949.
Prefecture of Japan located in Sakhalin from 1907 to 1949.
In the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875), Japan agreed to give up its claims on Sakhalin in exchange for undisputed ownership of the Kuril Islands.
Most were of Japanese or Korean extraction, though there was also a small White Russian community as well as some Ainu indigenous tribes.
Indigenous peoples
1 linksIndigenous peoples, also referred to as First peoples, First nations, Aboriginal peoples, Native peoples, Indigenous natives, or Autochthonous peoples (these terms are often capitalized when referring to specific indigenous peoples as ethnic groups, nations, and the members of these groups ), are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original peoples.
Indigenous peoples, also referred to as First peoples, First nations, Aboriginal peoples, Native peoples, Indigenous natives, or Autochthonous peoples (these terms are often capitalized when referring to specific indigenous peoples as ethnic groups, nations, and the members of these groups ), are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original peoples.
Ainu people are an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin.
Russian Far East
1 linksRegion in Northeast Asia.
Region in Northeast Asia.
The Soviet Union also occupied and annexed the Kuril Islands and southern Sakhalin.
Isolate: Yukaghirs, Nivkhs, Ainus
Ainu in Russia
1 linksIndigenous people of Siberia located in Sakhalin Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai and Kamchatka Krai.
Indigenous people of Siberia located in Sakhalin Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai and Kamchatka Krai.
The Russian Ainu people (Aine; айны), also called Kurile (курилы, kurily), Kamchatka's Kurile (камчатские курилы, kamchatskiye kurily / камчадальские айны, kamchadalskiye ayny) or Eine (эйны, eyny), can be subdivided into six groups.
The Ainu emphasize that they are the original inhabitants of the Kurile islands and that both the Japanese and Russians were invaders.