Strait of Tartary

The Strait of Tartary connects the Sea of Okhotsk to the Sea of Japan.

Strait of TartaryorGulf of Tartary(Russian:Татарский пролив;Chinese:Thát Đát eo biển;pinyin:Dádá hǎixiá;Japanese:Gian cung eo biển,romanized:Mamiya kaikyō,lit. 'Mamiya Strait';Korean:타타르 해협) is astraitin thePacific Oceandividing theRussianisland ofSakhalinfrom mainlandAsia(South-EastRussia), connecting theSea of Okhotsk(Nevelskoy Strait) on the north with theSea of Japanon the south. It is 632 kilometres (393 mi) long, 7–342 kilometres (4.3–212.5 mi) wide, and less than 210 m (690 ft) deep at its deepest point.

History

The coasts of the "Channel ofTartary"were charted byLa Pérousein 1787. The land adjacent to it from the west was referred to at the time as the "Chinese Tartary"

Yuan dynasty

During theYuan dynasty,the Yuan armies crossed the strait in theMongol invasions of Sakhalin.Alleged remnants of a Chinese fort dating back to the Mongol Yuan era can be found in Sakhalin today.

"Tartary"is an older name used by Europeans to refer to a vast region coveringInner Asia,Central AsiaandNorth Asia.The toponym is derived from the Medieval ethnonymTartars,which was applied to variousTurkicandMongolsemi-nomadic empires,including the Yuan dynasty that ruled over China and the straits of Northeast Asia.

Qing dynasty

During thedestruction of the Ming dynasty and rise of the Qing dynastyin 1644, the name "Tartars" became applied to theManchusas well,and Manchuria (and Mongolia) became known to the Europeans as the "Chinese Tartary".Accordingly, whenLa Pérousecharted most of the strait between Sakhalin and the mainland "Chinese Tartary" in 1787, the body of water received the name of the Strait (or Channel, or Gulf) of Tartary.

InJapan,the strait is named afterMamiya Rinzō,who traveled to the strait in 1808whereof the name was introduced byPhilipp Franz von Sieboldin his bookNippon: Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan(1832–54).

Early 18 c. French map depicting theVries Straitand the Strait of Tartary.

On Russian maps, the short narrowest section of the strait (south of the mouth of the Amur) is calledNevelskoy Strait,after AdmiralGennady Nevelskoy,who explored the area in 1848; the body of water north of there, into which the Amur River flows, is theAmur Liman;and the name of "Strait of Tartary" is reserved for the largest section of the body of water, south ofNevelskoy Strait.

The Tartar Strait was a puzzle to European explorers since, when approached from the south, it becomes increasingly shallow and looks like the head of a bay. In 1787La Perousedecided not to risk it and turned south even though locals had told him that Sakhalin was an island. In 1797William Broughtonalso decided that the Gulf of Tartary was a bay and turned south. In 1805Adam Johann von Krusensternfailed to penetrate the strait from the north.Mamiya Rinzō's journey of 1808 was little known to Europeans.Gennady Nevelskoypassed the strait from the north in 1848. The Russians kept this a secret andused it to evadea British fleet during the Crimean War.

Recent history

S-117was aSovietShchuka class submarinethat was lost on or about December 15, 1952, due to unknown causes in the Strait of Tartary in theSea of Japan.The boat may have collided with asurface shipor struck amine.All forty-seven crewmen died in the incident.

The southeastern part of the Strait of Tartary was the site of one of the tensest incidents of the Cold War, when on September 1, 1983,Korean Air Lines Flight 007,carrying 269 people including a sitting U.S. congressman,Larry McDonald,strayed into the Soviet air space and was attacked by a SovietSu-15 interceptorjust west ofSakhalin Island.The plane came down on the waters off the strait's only land mass,Moneron Island.An intensive naval search by the U.S. with assistance of Japanese and Korean vesselswas carried on in a 225 square miles (580 km²) area of the strait just north of Moneron Island.

1956 causeway proposal

In 1956 the Soviet government proposed that acausewaybe built at the Tartar Strait to block cold water from flowing into the Sea of Japan therefore raising the temperature in areas around the Sea of Japan. The Russians claimed it would raise the temperature of the Sea of Japan by an average of 35 °F (19.5 °C).

Transportation

Vanino, here in early May 2008, is an important port on the Strait of Tartary

Map including the Tatar Strait

Since 1973,Vanino-Kholmsk train ferryoperates across the strait, connecting the port ofVanino, Khabarovsk Kraion the mainland withKholmskon Sakhalin Island.

Looking at the map, one could think that the Strait of Tartary would provide a convenient connection for boats sailing from theSea of Japanto theSea of Okhotsk,e.g. fromVaninotoMagadan.However, according to theSASCOthat operates that shipping line, their ships rarely travel that way. The usual winter route from Vanino to Magadan is viaTsugaru Strait,and aroundHokkaido;the usual summer route, is viaLa Pérouse Straitand aroundSakhalin.Only when coming back from Magadan to Vanino with a low load and in good weather would the ships travel along the shortest route, i.e., via theAmur Liman,Nevelskoy Strait,and the Strait of Tartary proper (which SASCO calls the "Strait of Sakhalin" –Sakhalinsky Proliv).

Atunnelunder the strait, to provide a road and/or rail connection between Sakhalin and the mainland, was begun underJoseph Stalin,but abandoned incomplete after his death.Renewed calls for either a tunnel or a bridge have been made by politicians in recent years.

See also

• Korean Air Lines Flight 007

External links

• Parusa.narod.ru: Tatar Strait—Strait of Tartary—(in Russian)