Bolshoy Shantar Island

Infobox Islands
name = Bolshoy Shantar

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image caption = The Shantar Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk
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Location map|Russia|lat=54.933333|long=137.5
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location = Sea of Okhotsk
coordinates = coord|54|56|N|137|30|E|display=inline
archipelago = Shantar Islands
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area = convert|1766|km2|sqmi
length = convert|72|km|mi
width = convert|49|km|mi
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country = Russia
country admin divisions title = Federal Subject
country admin divisions = Khabarovsk Krai
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Bolshoy Shantar is an island in the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia. It is the main island of the Shantar Islands. Its area is 1766 km².It is about 72 Km in length and 49 Km in width. It has a large brackish lake (Lake Bol'shoe) in its northern end which is connected to the sea through a narrow passage. Smelts (Hypomesus japonicus) and (H. olidus) are found on this lake. [ [http://www.maik.ru/abstract/ichth/5/ichth1_5p28abs.htm Lake Bol'shoe] ]

There are spruce forests on Bolshoy Shantar. [ [http://www.nhbs.com/spruce_woodlands_of_the_shantarskie_islands_tefno_87348.html Taiga in the Shantarskiye Islands] ]

Administratively this island belongs to the Khabarovsk Krai of the Russian Federation.

History

The Shantar Islands were explored by Russian surveyors between 1711 and 1725. [ [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2049402 From the History of the Great Russian Geographical Discoveries in the Arctic and Pacific Oceans in the Seventeenth and First Half of the Eighteenth Centuries. by A. V. Efimov] ]

References

* [http://worldmaps.web.infoseek.co.jp/russia_guide.htm Location]
* [http://www.posters.seindal.dk/c57134_Coastal_Landscapes_Photography_byrank.308.html Picture]
* [http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/08/16/bear.attack.reut/index.html Bear kills camper in Bolshoy Shantar Island]
* [http://www.ngsprints.co.uk/.../c59_134_135_136/p128667/A-woodland-view-on-Bolshoy-Shantar-Island./product_info.html Wood Lily picture]