Sakhalin Region is the only island region in Russia - (59 islands with a total area of 87 thousand square kilometers). This is more than the territory of Austria, three times the area of Belgium.
For the first 200 years after its discovery, it was believed that Sakhalin was not an island, but a peninsula.
The ancestors of modern people settled Sakhalin about 20 thousand years ago, probably, having crossed to the island in winter along the ice of a frozen strait.
Sakhalin is home to about 380 species of birds and 44 species of mammals, including bears, reindeer, sables, musk deer, raccoon dogs, sea lions and other animal species.
One of the most famous Sakhalin convicts was Sonya Zolotaya Ruchka. She kept in touch with the underworld, even while in hard labor. Therefore, there is a legend that a treasure was hidden in the area of the city of Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky, which Sonya could not, after her release, take to the mainland.
A new breed of dog was bred on Sakhalin - the Sakhalin Husky. In 1958, a Japanese expedition to Antarctica used 15 dogs of this breed. Due to an unforeseen situation, the animals had to be left on the icy continent with a minimum supply of food. Only a year later, people returned here. To their surprise, two dogs survived - three-year-old males Taro and Jiro. In Japan, dogs became heroes, and a memorial was erected in memory of the dead animals.
Red caviar is one of the symbols of Sakhalin. And even at the end of the 19th century, the indigenous inhabitants of the island threw it out along with the fish offal, since they considered this delicacy inedible.
Sakhalin is multinational. Here, for 500 thousand of the population, we honor one hundred nationalities, of which 4000 people are small peoples of Russia (Nivkhs, Oroks, Ulta).
There are more than 17 thousand lakes in the Sakhalin region. There are even more rivers - more than 65 thousand.
On these rivers there is a miracle of nature, extraordinary beauty - waterfalls, which turn into icefalls in winter. There are more than 200 of them on Sakhalin, more than 200 on the Kuriles. (Maximum height 30-35 meters)
Volcanoes! There are 68 surface volcanoes on the Kuril Islands. Among them there are 37 active (active) and potentially active ones. There are about 100 more underwater volcanoes in the water area of the Kuril Islands.