Near Islands
Native name: Sasignan tanangin | |
|---|---|
  Location within Alaska | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Pacific Ocean |
| Coordinates | 52°48′02″N 173°07′54″E / 52.80056°N 173.13167°E |
| Total islands | 15 |
| Major islands | Attu, Agattu |
| Area | 441.618 sq mi (1,143.79 km2) |
| Length | 25 mi (40 km) |
| Administration | |
United States | |
| State | Alaska |
| Demographics | |
| Population | >47 (2000) |
| Ethnic groups | Aleut |
The Near Islands or the Sasignan Islands (Aleut: Sasignan tanangin,[1] Russian: Ближние острова) are a group of volcanic islands in the Aleutian Islands in southwestern Alaska, between the Russian Commander Islands to the west and Buldir Island and the Rat Islands to the east.
Geography
The largest of the Near Islands are Attu and Agattu, which shelter a few rocks in the channel between them. The other important islands are the Semichi Islands to their northeast, notable among which are Alaid, Nizki, and Shemya.
About 20 miles (30 km) to the east-southeast from Shemya are small rocky reefs known as the Ingenstrem Rocks.[2]
The total land area of all of the Near Islands is 1,143.785 km2 (441.618 sq mi), and their total population was 47 persons as of the 2000 census. The only populated island is Shemya; the U.S. Coast Guard station on Attu was decommissioned on August 27, 2010[3] and the last 20 inhabitants left the island.[4]
On July 17, 2017, a major earthquake with a moment magnitude scale of 7.7 struck the Aleutian arc, with an epicenter west of Attu. The earthquake produced a measurable tsunami that was detected at tide gauges across the Pacific ocean; a tide gauge located at Shemya, Alaska measured a tsunami height of 10 cm (3.9 in).[5]
History
The name “Near Islands” was already in use by the late eighteenth century. William Coxe (1787), drawing on earlier Russian sources, referred to the group as the “Nearest Aleütian Islands”. The name is generally understood to derive from the Russian designation Blizhnie Ostrova (“Near Islands”), referring to the westernmost group of the Aleutian chain. However, no surviving primary source has been identified that explicitly states who coined the name or explains the reasoning behind it.[6]
By World War II, the native Aleut population had declined across the Aleutian Islands, and their population on the Near Islands was concentrated on a settlement on Attu Island. Agattu was previously inhabited prior to Russia's discovery of the Aleutian Islands, with an estimated peak population of around 500 to 1,000. However, by the 1760s all Near Islanders had moved to Attu. During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army occupied Attu in 1942, being the first foreign military to occupy American soil since the War of 1812. 41 of Attu's native Aleut inhabitants were taken to a Japanese internment camp near Otaru, Hokkaido, with 16 dying to tuberculosis and starvation.[7][8][9] A white woman on the island named Etta Jones was also taken to Yokohama, Japan, along with captured Australian nurses from Rabaul.[10] American forces retook Attu during the Aleutian Islands campaign in 1943.
Flora and fauna
Bald Eagles, which are common in the eastern and central Aleutian Islands, are much rarer in this part of the chain. The Near Islands and the Rat Islands represent their westernmost natural habitat, and their only extension into the Eastern Hemisphere, since these two islands groups run past the 180th meridian.[11] Pairs have been observed on Agattu in 1937 and 1963 and also on neighboring Buldir Island. Prior to the 21st Century, there is only a single record on Shemya (one of the westernmost islands), which occurred on May 3, 1987.[11]
Gallery
Topographic map sheet
Attu Island in 2008
United States troops hauling supplies on Attu Island in May 1943.
References
- ↑ Bergsland, K. (1994). Aleut Dictionary. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.
- ↑ "Nautical Charts Online - View details of Chart 16421, Ingenstrem Rocks to Attu Island". www.nauticalchartsonline.com. Retrieved 2025-09-15.
- ↑ "Loran Station Attu Decommissioning Ceremony". DVIDS. Retrieved 2025-09-15.
- ↑ "Alaska Coast Guard says goodbye to its last LORAN station". archive.kucb.org. Retrieved 2025-09-15.
- ↑ "Tsunami of 17 July, 2017 (Western Aleutians)". NOAA/NWS. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ↑ "The Project Gutenberg eBook of 'Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and America,' by William Coxe, A. M." www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2026-07-15.
- ↑ Poyer, L. (2022). War at the Margins: Indigenous Experiences in World War II, page 105. United States: University of Hawaii Press.
- ↑ Civil Liberties Act of 1985 and the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands Restitution Act: hearings before the Subcommittee on Administrative Law and Governmental Relations of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, second session, on H.R. 442 and H.R. 2415 ... April 28 and July 23, 1986. (1987). (n.p.): U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ↑ Golodoff, N. (2012). Attu Boy. United States: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Alaska Regional Office.
- ↑ Miller, R. (2022). Lost Women of Rabaul. United States: Big Sky Publishing.
- 1 2 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2025-04-08.
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