Golovnino
Головнино | |
|---|---|
| Other transcription(s) | |
| • Japanese | 泊村 (Tomari-mura) |
| • Ainu | トマリ (Tomari) |
 Interactive map of Golovnino | |
  Golovnino Location of Golovnino Show map of Russia Golovnino Golovnino (Sakhalin Oblast) Show map of Sakhalin Oblast | |
| Coordinates: 43°44′16″N 145°31′9″E / 43.73778°N 145.51917°E / 43.73778; 145.51917 | |
| Country | Russia |
| Federal subject | Sakhalin Oblast |
| Administrative district | Yuzhno-Kurilsky District |
| Government | |
| • Body | Golovninskiy Rural Council[1] |
| Area | |
• Total | 538.56 km2 (207.94 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• Total | 102 |
| 153 (+50%) | |
| • Density | 0.189/km2 (0.491/sq mi) |
| • Urban okrug | Yuzhno-Kurilsky Urban Okrug |
| Time zone | UTC+11 (MSK+8  [4]) |
| Postal code[5] | 694502 |
| Dialing code | +7 42455 |
| OKTMO ID | 64756000131 |
Golovnino (Russian: Головнино) is a village on the southern tip of Kunashir, the southernmost island in the Kuril Island chain. Administratively, it is classified as a rural locality (a selo) and is part of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District, one of the seventeen districts of Russia's Sakhalin Oblast.
During Japanese rule it was known as Tomari (Japanese: 泊村, Hepburn: Tomari-mura; Ainu: トマリ) and was the administrative seat of Kunashiri District. Following Japan's defeat in World War II, the Soviet Union occupied the Kuril Islands and expelled the Japanese population. Japan still claims sovereignty over the village and the rest of Kunashir as part of Nemuro Subprefecture of Hokkaido.
Etymology
The village was originally named Tomari, meaning "bay" in the language of the indigenous Ainu people.[6] On 15 October 1947, following the Soviets' occupation of the Kuril Islands, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR renamed the village Golovnino in honour of Russian vice admiral Vasily Golovnin.[7] Golovnin was an explorer of the Russian Far East who had been captured and held captive by the Japanese from June 1811 to October 1813 after he landed on Kunashir, in what became known as the Golovnin Incident.[8]
Administration
Golovnino has been part of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District in Sakhalin Oblast since June 2006.[1] The Golovninskiy Rural Council is the governing body of a dozen settlements in southern Kunashir, with Golovnino as the principal settlement.[1]
Japan does not recognize Russian sovereignty over Kunashir and claims Golovnino as the village of Tomari, in Kunashiri District, Nemuro Subprefecture, Hokkaido. The claimed boundaries of Tomari encompass the southern half of Kunashir and include the much larger settlement of Yuzhno-Kurilsk, previously a smaller Japanese village named Furukamappu (古釜布).[9]
Demographics
In 1945, before the Soviets expelled the Japanese population, Tomari had 4,864 residents living in 894 households.[9]
The 2010 Russian census recorded a population of 102 in Golovnino.[2] This figure rose to 153 in 2021.[3] The Russian government has given abandoned houses and land to citizens willing to move to Golovnino on a permanent or semi-permanent basis.[10]
Economy
Golovnino is primarily a fishing village, with the waters surrounding it attracting pearl hunters as well. A state-owned farm named Dalniy (the Russian name for Dalian, China) operated near Golovnino. In 1956 the farm had 235 hectares of arable land; this grew to 415 hectares by 1990.[1] The farm was destroyed beyond repair by the 1994 Kuril Islands earthquake.[11]
Transportation
Golovnino is connected to Yuzhno-Kurilsk by a 62-kilometre unpaved road.[1]
References
- "Local history". kurilskiy.ru. Kurilsky Nature Reserve. Retrieved 26 March 2026.
- Russian Federal State Statistics Service (2011). Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года. Том 1 [2010 All-Russian Population Census, vol. 1]. Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года [2010 All-Russia Population Census] (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service.
- Russian Federal State Statistics Service. Всероссийская перепись населения 2020 года. Том 1 [2020 All-Russian Population Census, vol. 1] (XLS) (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service.
- "Об исчислении времени". Официальный интернет-портал правовой информации (in Russian). 3 June 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- Почта России. Информационно-вычислительный центр ОАСУ РПО. (Russian Post). Поиск объектов почтовой связи (Postal Objects Search) (in Russian)
- 概要 [Overview]. Tomari Village Official Website (in Japanese). Retrieved 26 March 2026.
- Braslavets, K. M. (1983). История в названиях на карте Сахалинской области [History of place names in Sakhalin Oblast] (in Russian). Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: Far Eastern Book Publishing House. p. 31.
- Shmagin, Viktor (Winter 2022). "The Imperial Peace of 1813: The Golovnin Incident and Tokugawa Authority in Ezo". The Journal of Japanese Studies. 48 (1): 64. doi:10.1353/jjs.2022.0003. Retrieved 26 March 2026.
- 国後島（くなしりとう）について [About Kunashiri] (in Japanese). Hokkaido Government. Retrieved 26 March 2026.
- Azar, Ilya; Artemyeva, Anna (17 April 2019). "Хоть камни в море! Почему Кунашир не хочет присоединяться к Японии" [Even if it's rocks in the sea! Why Kunashir doesn't want to join Japan.]. Novaya Gazeta (in Russian). Retrieved 13 March 2026.
- Chernolutskaya, Elena Nikolaevna (2020). КУРИЛЫ В 1990‑е гг.: РЫНОЧНЫЕ РЕФОРМЫ И «ПОГРАНИЧНЫЙ ВОПРОС» [The Kuril Islands in the 1990s: Market Reforms and the "Border Question"]. Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 27 (2): 173. doi:10.24411/2658-5960-2020-10027.