Shumushu

Shumushu is the northernmost inhabited island of the Kuril chain, separated by a narrow strait from the tip of Kamchatka. Ainu villages stood here, with ties extending along the islands and across the water to Kamchatka. In 1711 Russian Cossacks Ivan Kozyrevsky and Danila Antsiferov landed on Shumushu and encountered its people. Russian traders later used the northern islands as a base for movement farther down the chain.