In ancient times, there was a distant and unknown country - Tartaria. Unknown tribes lived in it, Tartars, threatening Christianity (in the European sense) and leading their origin from Tartarus itself - the kingdom of horror, the deepest regions of Hell.
So almost until the beginning of the 19th century, Western Europe perceived all the peoples living in the territory located between the Caspian, China and the Pacific Ocean.
Name history
Why is the Tatar Strait called the Tatar? Indeed, from Sakhalin, the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk, which it connects to the place where the Tatars live, several thousand kilometers ... The fact is that Europeans learned about the Tatars in the time of Genghis Khan. Not particularly versed in the languages and culture of the Turkic and Mongolian peoples, Europeans called them all Tatars. Over time, the word "Tatars" transformed into "Tartars." An important role in this change was played by the phenomenon, which is called contamination in linguistics: the sound of the word strongly resembled "Tartarus" - the deepest areas of hell.
Over time, people living in an unknown distant territory began to ascribe all the traits characteristic of the inhabitants of hell. The words "Tatars" and "Tartars" were so mixed up that the strait connecting Tartaria with the rest of the territory was called Tatar. However, it is not surprising that the Tatar Strait was associated by many with something terrible, almost otherworldly. Even in its southernmost part, 40-80 days a year, the strait is covered with ice. In the northern part, the “ice” period can last up to 170 days. The ice situation in the Tatar Strait so complicated its study that cartographers argued for a long time whether this geographical feature is a bay or a strait.
Features and geographical location
Laperuz in 1787, Kruzenshtern in 1805, Brauton in 1796 entered the Tatar Strait, but, fearing the numerous shallows that are exposed during low tides, could not pass it to the end. They were sure that Sakhalin was a peninsula, and this place, respectively, was a gulf. In 1846, the traveler Gavrilov confirmed their version and made sure that neither the Strait, nor Sakhalin, nor Amur had any practical significance for Russia. He did not know that a few decades before him, a Japanese surveyor passed the strait from beginning to end, made sure that Sakhalin is an island, the Tatar Strait noted on the map.
However, except for the Japanese, until 1849 this information was not known to anyone. Only Nevelsky was able to prove that the passage is passable for ships. But this only happened in 1849. What is the strait today? It separates the island of Sakhalin from Asia. The system, consisting of the Tatar Strait, the Amur Estuary and the Sakhalin Gulf, connects the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan. The map of the Tatar Strait clearly shows how its width varies in different places. In the narrowest
Nevelsky Strait, it does not even reach 8 kilometers, in the North it is 40 km, and in the south the shores are 324 km apart.
Miracle of nature - Tatar Strait
Not only the quaint shores of the bay are surprising, but also its enormous depth. One of its most “shallow” places is located between the Imperial Harbor and De Castries. Here the depth gauge shows 32-37 meters, and it is only two miles from the coast. Near the Sakhalin coast, off the island of Monneron, near Cape Lesseps, the depth varies from 50 to 100 meters. But between the capes of Lazarev and Pogibi, where, according to rumors, there is an underground passage from the island to the mainland, the depth is only 10 meters. Almost all cities located along the shores of the strait are equated with areas of the Far North.
High humidity, low temperatures greatly complicate the lives of people, but do not affect the life of marine life. In the waters of the strait there are pink salmon and chinook salmon, perch and sockeye salmon. Surprisingly, coastal residents periodically catch two-meter sharks. For a long time it remained a mystery how a fish that does not tolerate cold gets into the networks of local fishermen. Today everyone is blamed on the extreme curiosity and mobility of this predator. "Zaletnaya" - so locally jokingly and seriously call the caught sharks. In the Tatar Strait, herring, smelt, rasp are hunted.
Ports of the Tatar Strait
Today, every student knows where the Tatar Strait is located. They study at the school and the cities located along its banks. There are few of them. At a distance of 663 km (this is the length of the strait), 8 cities are located. Sovetskaya Gavan became known as the end point of BAM, although its history begins in August 1953. This port in the Tatar Strait today is connected by a railway with Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a highway with Vanino and Lidoga, and from Mai-Gatka Airport you can get to any point of the earth. At 32 kilometers from Sovetskaya Gavan there is a foggy port of Vanino. This is the largest port in the Khabarovsk Territory.
The movement of ships here does not stop even in winter: icebreakers constantly clear the water area from ice cover. Vanino piers stretch for 3 km, and 22 berths operate around the clock.
Aleksandrovsk, Nevelsk, Kholmsk
Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky administratively belongs to the Sakhalin Oblast, and is located on the west bank. 75 km away is the small Zonalnoe airport. With other settlements, the urban-type village is connected by a gravel road. This city is equivalent to the Far North in terms of climate. Life here is harsh and literally cold.
Nevelsk also belongs to the Sakhalin region. This port in the Tatar Strait is known as the most avalanche-hazardous region of Russia. This is probably due to the fact that three rivers flow there: Kazachka, Lovetskaya and Nevelskaya. In 2007, an earthquake almost completely destroyed the city. Despite the fact that restoration work has long been completed, people are gradually leaving the city.
Kholmsk is the only and largest port center in Sakhalin with non-freezing water. Two modern terminals, 3 railway stations, a huge transport hub are connected into a single system. Kholmsk is a center of culture, fishing, and economics. Until 1946, he bore the Japanese name Mauka (Maoka).
De-Castries, Shakhtersk, Uglegorsk
A tiny village with a population of less than 4 thousand people is valuable in that it has many natural shelters for ships. De Castries bears the name of the Marquis who sponsored the Laperouse expedition. A small but militarily valuable port belongs to the Khabarovsk Territory. Located near the center of Sakhalin, Shakhtersk also belongs to the Tatar Strait. It is the only airport connecting the area with Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and other cities of the island. Only YAK040 and AN-24 can land here. The city’s economy is gradually declining: out of several mines today, only the “Udarnovskaya” and partially Solntsevsky coal opencasts operate. The port of Uglegorsk is known for its canal, which locals call the "Tukhlyanka River." He dumps the waste of the pulp mill into the Tatar Strait, and more precisely into the Sea of Japan. The city has a timber industry and food enterprises. The average annual temperature is -1.7 ° C. Until 1946, coal was mined here, but today mining is carried out in other places.
The mystery of the Tatar Strait
At the end of the 19th century, the idea of building an underground tunnel leading to Sakhalin was put forward. An attractive idea remained unrealized: there was no money for its implementation. The question was raised in 1929, but only Stalin made the final decision. The tunnel under the Tatar Strait began to be built by the prisoners of the Gulag. It began on Cape Pogibi, and was supposed to end on the mainland, on Cape Lazarev. It is hardly worth talking about how hard the work of prisoners was in the Far North. But with the death of Stalin, all work stopped. It happened in one day: billions of investments, tons of building materials remained unused. Tunneling did not even begin. However, many legends still go about this construction site. According to one version, the construction is almost completed, but it is extremely classified. According to another, thousands of prisoners were flooded in a tunnel. One thing is certain. Today, there are three options for connecting Sakhalin to the mainland: a bulk dam, a tunnel and a bridge. The timing of their implementation is not yet known, but goes far beyond 2015. True, sometimes information appears in the press that if Japan takes part in the construction, it will be completed as soon as possible.
What will be the dam?
Scientists have calculated that if you wash the dam in the narrowest place (where the banks are only 7 km away from each other), then in a year you can build a reliable dam with just one dredge. On the finished dam, you can install a power plant, which, pumping water, will produce, and not waste energy. According to the designers, the dam-power plant will affect the climate of the Tatar Strait. The most daring dreamers claim that with the help of this technical device it will be possible to turn the harsh climate of the strait into a warm and comfortable resort region.