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Karafuto Prefecture

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Karafuto (樺太)
Image:Karafuto map.png
CapitalToyohara
Area

 - Total
 - % water

76,400 km²
6.4%

Population

 - Total (Jan 1, 2003)
 - Density

600,000
8.4 / km²

</div> Karafuto Prefecture (樺太庁 -chō?) was the Japanese government in Karafuto, at times the southern part of the island of Sakhalin or the entire island of Sakhalin. Through the Treaty of Portsmouth, Karafuto became a prefecture of Japan in 1907, with its capital at Toyohara. Unlike present-day prefectures, the name of the governmental office was not to, dō, fu, or ken but rather chō, so the usage of the word prefecture differs from the modern sense.

In 1945, with the defeat of Japan in World War II, the Japanese administration in Karafuto ceased to function, and in 1951, at the Treaty of San Francisco, Japan renounced its rights to Karafuto. Since that time, the southern part of Sakhalin has been a part of Russia (which was in 1952 and for four more decades part of the Soviet Union). It is still in question whether Japan does claim Karafuto as part of Japan or not. Regardless, it has been part of Japan and some Japanese political parties are still officially claiming it as part of Japan. On Japanese maps, Karafuto is considered to be no man's land.

Contents

[edit] History

Sakhalin was inhabited in the Neolithic Stone Age. Flint implements, like those found in Siberia, have been found at Dui and Kusunai in great numbers, as well as polished stone hatchets, like European examples, primitive pottery with decorations like those of the Olonets, and stone weights for nets. Afterwards a population to whom bronze was known left traces in earthen walls and kitchen-middens on the Aniva Bay. The indigenous people of Sakhalin are the Xianbei and Xiazhe tribes, who had a way of life based on fishing.

[edit] Under Chinese control

The Chinese in the Ming dynasty knew the island as Kuyi (Chinese: 苦夷; pinyin: Kǔyí), and later as Kuye (Chinese: 庫頁; pinyin: Kùyè). According to the Book of Shengmu (Chinese: 聖武記; pinyin: Shèngwǔjì), the Ming sent 400 troops to Sakhalin in 1616, but later withdrew as there was considered be 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.

[edit] Russian-Japanese conflict

Japan unilaterally proclaimed sovereignty over the whole island in 1845. However, the Russian navigator Gennady Nevelskoy definitively recorded the existence and navigability of this strait in 1849 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, today's Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Up to the end of World War II, as many as 400,000 Japanese subjects (including a large proportion of Koreans, who would become known as the Sakhalin Koreans) immigrated to the island.

There were claims after the war in a German newspaper that at least one BV 222 from Norway flew via the pole to Karafuto, then part of Japanese territory prior to April 1944 whilst wearing Deutsche Lufthansa markings. Also during wartime, one German family who lived in the area was mentioned in an official census of the province.

[edit] Incorporation into the Soviet Union

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 to one, 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 fighting continued until August 21 and this combat was petty. From August 22 to August 23, most of the remaining Japanese units announced a truce. The Soviets completed the conquest of Sakhalin on August 25 1945 by occupying the capital of Sakhalin, Toyohara. According to Japanese sources, thousands of civilians were killed in Karafuto (see Evacuation of Karafuto and Kuriles for details).

Since January 2, 1947, the Sakhalin Region, in its present form, was officially defined and integrated as a part of Russia.

[edit] Modern disposition

No final peace treaty has been signed, and the status of the neighbouring Kuril Islands remain 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.

Currently, the Japanese government run by Liberal Democratic Party does not have an official claim on Karafuto. However, socialist parties and other parties have claimed its territories to be Japanese. Its status is still vague since Japan officially does not recognize Russian occupation of Karafuto. Japan insists on bringing this issue to international court, but Russia so far has refused.

[edit] Geography

The prefecture of Karafuto incorporated several smaller islands, including Kaihyo Island, Hinode Bana Rock in Aniwa Gulf, Totomi-Shiri or Kaiba Island, and Kiken Island.

[edit] Mountains

Karafuto is a very mountainous area. Its highest mountain is Mount Shikuka 敷香岳(1,375 m). Then come the following:

[edit] Lakes

[edit] Rivers

[edit] Bays and gulfs

[edit] Capes and peninsulas

[edit] Plains

[edit] Isthmuses

[edit] Straits

[edit] Important ports

See also: List of cities in Karafuto

[edit] Climate

Owing to the influence of the raw, foggy Sea of Okhotsk, the climate is very cold. At Dui the average yearly temperature is only 0.5° C (January -15.9°; July 16.1°), 1.7° at Kushunkotan and 3.1° at Aniwa (January, -12.5°; July, 15.7°). At Mamiya near Dui the annual range is from 27° in July to -39° in January, while at Rutaka in the interior the minimum is -45° C. The rainfall averages 570 mm. Thick clouds for the most part shut out the sun; while the cold current from the Sea of Okhotsk, aided by northeast winds, brings immense ice floes to the east coast in summer.

During the winter, the Sea of Okhotsk turns to ice, rendering the northern coast impassable to marine traffic, and halting the lucrative fisheries there until the thaw.

[edit] Major cities

Karafuto's largest city was Toyohara. Other major cities included Esutoru in the North Central and Maoka in the south central region. In the north, there was a city called Ako (Alexandovsk in north Sakhalin) penal colony by the Russians.

Karafuto, like Hokkaido, was divided into sub-prefectures:

cities
- Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Toyohara) (豊原)
- Ochiai (Dolinsk) (落合)
- Rutaka (留多加)

cities
- Honto (本斗)
- Naihoro (内幌)
- Maoka (Kholmsk) (真岡)
- Noda (野田)

cities
- Chinnai (珍内)
- Esutoru (恵須取)
- Toro (塔路)
- Nayoshi (名好)

cities -Shirutoru (知取) -Shikuka (敷香)

[edit] Economy

[edit] Name

The Japanese name consists of two kanji, the former (樺) meaning "birch" and the latter (太) meaning "fat." It was formerly known as Kita Ezo. In the Ainu language, the name can be rendered Karaputo, Karaftu, or Kraftu.

  • German: Sachalin or Karafuto
  • French: Tarrakai (ancient French), Karafouto, or Sakhaline
  • Spanish: Karafuto, Sakalin, or Sajalin
  • English: Karafuto or Sakhalin
  • Russian: Sakhalin or Saghalien
  • Manchu: Saghalien
  • Korean: 사할린 Sahallin
  • Chinese: 庫頁島 Kùyè-dǎo

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

  • -Karafuto Maps:

ko:가라후토 청 ja:樺太庁

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