Tartar Strait

The Strait of Tartary separates Sakhalin from the Asian mainland, linking the Sea of Japan with the waters approaching the Amur estuary. Its northern end narrows into a shallow passage, where currents and seasonal ice complicate navigation. The strait was long crossed by Indigenous traders carrying goods between Sakhalin and the lower Amur. In 1808–1809 the Japanese explorers Mamiya Rinzo and Matsuda Denjuro surveyed the island's coast, drawing on local knowledge of these waterways.