Aleutian Islands

The Aleutian Islands (possibly from Chukchi aliat, "island") are a chain of more than 300 small volcanic islands forming an island arc situated in the Northern Pacific Ocean, and extending about 1,900 km (1,200 mi) westward from the extremity of the Alaskan peninsula toward the Kamchatka Peninsula. Nearly all of the archipelago is part of the American state of Alaska and usually considered as being in the Alaskan Bush, but the extreme western end is part of Russia. The islands with their 57 volcanoes are located in the northern part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Demographics

The people refer to themselves as Unangan, and have been called "Aleut".

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The Aleut language is related most closely to Inuit languages.

Related Topics:
Aleut language - Inuit

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Because of the location of the islands, stretching like a broken bridge from Asia to America, many anthropologists believe they were a route of the first human occupants of the Americas. The earliest known evidence of human occupation in the Americas is much further south, in New Mexico and Peru; the early human sites in Alaska have probably been submerged by rising waters during the current interglacial period.

Related Topics:
New Mexico - Peru - Interglacial

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In the 2000 census, there was a population of 8,162 on the islands, of which 4,283 were living in the main settlement of Unalaska.

Related Topics:
2000 - Census - Unalaska

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