Karafuto Prefecture
| Karafuto 樺太 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Former subdivision of the Empire of Japan | |||||||||||
| 1905–1945 | |||||||||||
Green: Karafuto within Japan in 1942 Light green: Other constituents of the Empire of Japan | |||||||||||
| Anthem | |||||||||||
| Karafuto tōka | |||||||||||
| Capital | Ōtomari (1907–1908) Toyohara (1908–1945) | ||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||
• December 1941 | 36,090.3 km2 (13,934.5 sq mi) | ||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||
• December 1941 | 406,557 | ||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||
| Emperor of Japan | |||||||||||
• 1905–1912 | Emperor Meiji | ||||||||||
• 1912–1926 | Emperor Taishō | ||||||||||
• 1926–1945 | Emperor Shōwa | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| 5 September 1905 | |||||||||||
• Administered by Karafuto Civil Administration | 28 August 1905–31 March 1907 | ||||||||||
• Karafuto Prefecture established | 1 April 1907 | ||||||||||
• Incorporated into inner land | 1 April 1943 | ||||||||||
| 11–25 August 1945 | |||||||||||
• Karafuto Prefecture abolished by Japan | 1 June 1949 | ||||||||||
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Karafuto Prefecture (樺太庁, Karafuto-chō; Japanese pronunciation: [ka.ɾa.ɸɯ̥.to]), was established by the Empire of Japan in 1907 to govern the southern part of Sakhalin. This territory became part of the Empire of Japan in 1905 after the Russo-Japanese War, when the portion of Sakhalin south of 50°N was ceded by the Russian Empire under the Treaty of Portsmouth.
Karafuto Prefecture was established in 1907 to govern Karafuto, which was part of Japan's External Land (Gaichi), until it was incorporated into an Inner Land (Naichi) of the Japanese metropole in 1943. Ōtomari (Korsakov) was the capital of Karafuto from 1905 to 1908 and Toyohara (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) from 1908 to 1945.
In August 1945, the Japanese administration ceased to function following the invasion of South Sakhalin by the Soviet Union. Karafuto Prefecture was annexed to the Soviet Union, although it continued to exist under Japanese law until it was formally abolished by Japan in June 1949.