Editing Iturup (section)

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

{{anchor|Staten Island}}
===Edo period===
[[File:Staten Island (Jan Janssonius 1652).jpeg|thumb|left|250px|"Staten Eylant" between [[Hokkaido]] ("Eso") and the imaginary continent of "[[Company Land|Companies Land]]" on [[Jan Janssonius]]'s 1654 ''New and Accurate Description of Japan, the Land of Eso, and Adjacent Islands'']]
{{Main|Edo period}}
[[Age of Exploration|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 [[Dutch East India Company|VOC]]) and a large and prosperous [[Staten Island (phantom island)|Staten Island]] (named after the [[States General of the Netherlands|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 island|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]].

===Showa period===
[[File:Japanese-Buddhist-Temple-Iturup-Etorofu.png|thumb|right|250px|Japanese residents of Iturup at a Buddhist temple (before 1939)]]
{{Main|Showa period}}
On 26 November 1941, a Japanese [[Aircraft carrier|carrier]] fleet left [[Hitokappu Bay]] (now called Kasatka Bay<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=yYs5AQAAIAAJ&q=Залив+Касатка+хитокаппу Внешняя политика Японии: сентябрь 1939 г.-декабрь 1941 г] –  1959, page 246 {{in lang|ru}} <!-- quote: "22 ноября закончило сосредоточение в бухте Хитокаппу, на южном побережье острова Итуруп (Курильские острова) 84: Залив Хитокаппу, ныне залив Касатка (известен также как Танкан или Танкапиу); его координаты 44° 58' северной широты и 147° 41' восточной долготы"--></ref>), on the eastern shore of Iturup, and sailed for an [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|attack on the American base of Pearl Harbor]].

[[Shana, Hokkaido|Shana Village]] was located on Iturup (Etorofu) in the [[Shōwa (1926–1989)|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 Airport|Burevestnik]] ([[English language|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, [[Vetrovoye Air Base|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|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> [[Sukhoi Su-35|Su-35]] aircraft landed on a reserve airfield on the island in March 2018<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |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 (magazine)|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=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Report: Fighter jets deployed on Etorofu for trial |url=https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180804_07/ |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]].