Nagai Island
Nagai Island is one of the largest of the Shumagin Islands in the Gulf of Alaska, south of the Alaska Peninsula considered a part of the NE Aleutian Range. It is located at 55°05′N 160°01′W, is 31 miles long. According to the log of Vitus Bering's ship St. Peter, a sailor by the name of Nikita Shumagin died of scurvy and was buried here August 31, 1741; the Shumagin Islands were named after him. Donald J. Orth. Dictionary of Alaska Place Names. Glacier House Publications. ISBN 0-94478-002-4. Corey Ford. Where the Sea Breaks Its Back
Alaska
Alaska is a U. S. state in the northwest extremity of North America, just across the Bering Strait from Asia. The Canadian province of British Columbia and territory of Yukon border the state to the east and southeast, its most extreme western part is Attu Island, it has a maritime border with Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort seas—southern parts of the Arctic Ocean; the Pacific Ocean lies to southwest. It is the largest U. S. state by the seventh largest subnational division in the world. In addition, it is the most sparsely populated of the 50 United States. Half of Alaska's residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaska's economy is dominated by the fishing, natural gas, oil industries, resources which it has in abundance. Military bases and tourism are a significant part of the economy; the United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for 7.2 million U. S. dollars at two cents per acre. The area went through several administrative changes before becoming organized as a territory on May 11, 1912.
It was admitted as the 49th state of the U. S. on January 3, 1959. The name "Alaska" was introduced in the Russian colonial period when it was used to refer to the Alaska Peninsula, it was derived from an Aleut-language idiom. It means object to which the action of the sea is directed. Alaska is the northernmost and westernmost state in the United States and has the most easterly longitude in the United States because the Aleutian Islands extend into the Eastern Hemisphere. Alaska is the only non-contiguous U. S. state on continental North America. It is technically part of the continental U. S. but is sometimes not included in colloquial use. S. called "the Lower 48". The capital city, Juneau, is situated on the mainland of the North American continent but is not connected by road to the rest of the North American highway system; the state is bordered by Yukon and British Columbia in Canada, to the east, the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south and southwest, the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea to the west and the Arctic Ocean to the north.
Alaska's territorial waters touch Russia's territorial waters in the Bering Strait, as the Russian Big Diomede Island and Alaskan Little Diomede Island are only 3 miles apart. Alaska has a longer coastline than all the other U. S. states combined. Alaska is the largest state in the United States by total area at 663,268 square miles, over twice the size of Texas, the next largest state. Alaska is larger than all but 18 sovereign countries. Counting territorial waters, Alaska is larger than the combined area of the next three largest states: Texas and Montana, it is larger than the combined area of the 22 smallest U. S. states. There are no defined borders demarcating the various regions of Alaska, but there are six accepted regions: The most populous region of Alaska, containing Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and the Kenai Peninsula. Rural unpopulated areas south of the Alaska Range and west of the Wrangell Mountains fall within the definition of South Central, as do the Prince William Sound area and the communities of Cordova and Valdez.
Referred to as the Panhandle or Inside Passage, this is the region of Alaska closest to the rest of the United States. As such, this was where most of the initial non-indigenous settlement occurred in the years following the Alaska Purchase; the region is dominated by the Alexander Archipelago as well as the Tongass National Forest, the largest national forest in the United States. It contains the state capital Juneau, the former capital Sitka, Ketchikan, at one time Alaska's largest city; the Alaska Marine Highway provides a vital surface transportation link throughout the area, as only three communities enjoy direct connections to the contiguous North American road system. Designated in 1963; the Interior is the largest region of Alaska. Fairbanks is the only large city in the region. Denali National Park and Preserve is located here. Denali is the highest mountain in North America. Southwest Alaska is a sparsely inhabited region stretching some 500 miles inland from the Bering Sea. Most of the population lives along the coast.
Kodiak Island is located in Southwest. The massive Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, one of the largest river deltas in the world, is here. Portions of the Alaska Peninsula are considered part of Southwest, with the remaining portions included with the Aleutian Islands; the North Slope is tundra peppered with small villages. The area is known for its massive reserves of crude oil, contains both the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska and the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field; the city of Utqiagvik known as Barrow, is the northernmost city in the United States and is located here. The Northwest Arctic area, anchored by Kotzebue and containing the Kobuk River valley, is regarded as being part of this region. However, the respective Inupiat of the No
Vitus Bering
Vitus Jonassen Bering known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering, was a Danish cartographer and explorer in Russian service, an officer in the Russian Navy. He is known as a leader of two Russian expeditions, namely the First Kamchatka Expedition and the Great Northern Expedition, exploring the north-eastern coast of the Asian continent and from there the western coast on the North American continent; the Bering Strait, the Bering Sea, Bering Island, the Bering Glacier and the Bering Land Bridge were all named in his honor. Taking to the seas at the age of 18, Bering travelled extensively over the next eight years, as well as taking naval training in Amsterdam. In 1704, he enrolled with the expanding Russian navy of Tsar Peter I. After serving with the navy in significant but non-combat roles during the Great Northern War, Bering resigned in 1724 to avoid the continuing embarrassment of his low rank to Anna, his wife of eleven years. Bering was permitted to keep the rank as he rejoined the Russian navy the same year.
He was selected by the Tsar to captain the First Kamchatka Expedition, an expedition set to sail north from Russian outposts on the Kamchatka peninsula, with the charge to map the new areas visited and to establish whether Asia and America shared a land border. Bering departed from St. Petersburg in February 1725 as the head of a 34-man expedition, aided by the expertise of Lieutenants Martin Spangberg and Aleksei Chirikov; the party took on men as it headed towards Okhotsk, encountering many difficulties before arriving at the settlement. From there, the men sailed to the Kamchatka peninsula, sailing north. In August 1728, Bering decided that they had sufficient evidence that there was clear sea between Asia and America, which he did not sight during the trip. For the first expedition, Bering was rewarded with money, a promotion to the noble rank of Captain Commander, he started preparations for a second trip. Having returned to Okhotsk with a much larger, better prepared, much more ambitious expedition, Bering set off for an expedition towards North America in 1741.
While doing so, the expedition spotted Mount Saint Elias, sailed past Kodiak Island. A storm separated the ships, but Bering sighted the southern coast of Alaska, a landing was made at Kayak Island or in the vicinity. Adverse conditions forced Bering to return, but he documented some of the Aleutian Islands on his way back. One of the sailors died and was buried on one of these islands, Bering named the island group Shumagin Islands after him. Bering himself became too ill to command his ship, at last driven to seek refuge on an uninhabited island in the Commander Islands group in the southwest Bering Sea. On 19 December 1741 Vitus Bering died on the island, given the name Bering Island after him, near the Kamchatka Peninsula from scurvy, along with 28 men of his company. Vitus Bering was born in the port town of Horsens in Denmark to Anne Pedderdatter and her husband Jonas Svendsen and was baptized in the Lutheran church there on 5 August 1681, he was named after a maternal great-uncle, Vitus Pedersen Bering, a chronicler in the royal court, was not long deceased at the time of Vitus Jonassen Bering's birth.
The family enjoyed reasonable financial security, with two of Vitus' elder half-brothers both attending the University of Copenhagen. Vitus however instead signed on at age 15 as a ship's boy. Between 1696 and 1704, Bering travelled the seas, reaching India and the Dutch East Indies while finding time to complete naval officer training in Amsterdam, he would claim to have served on Danish whalers in the North Atlantic, visiting European colonies in the Caribbean and on the eastern seaboard of North America. It was in Amsterdam, that in 1704 and under the guidance of Norwegian-born Russian admiral Cornelius Cruys, Bering enlisted with the Russian navy, taking the rank of sub-lieutenant, he would be promoted in Peter the Great's evolving navy, reaching the rank of second captain by 1720. In that time, it appears he was not involved in any sea battles, but commanded several vessels in dangerous missions, including the transport of a ship from the Azov Sea on Russia's southern coast to the Baltic on her northern coast.
His work in the latter stages of the Great Northern War, for example, was dominated by lightering duties. On 8 October 1713, Bering married Anna Christina Pülse. Over the next 18 years, they had nine children. During his time with the Russian navy – as part of the Great Northern War – he was unable to spend much time with Anna, eleven years Bering's junior and the daughter of a Swedish merchant. At the war's conclusion in 1721, Bering was not promoted like many of his contemporaries; the omission proved embarrassing when, in 1724, Anna's younger sister Eufemia upstaged her by marrying Thomas Saunders a rear-admiral despite a much shorter period of service. In order to save face, the 42-year-old Bering decided to retire from the navy, securing two months' pay and a notional promotion to first captain. Shortly after, the family – Bering, his wife Anna, two young sons – moved out of St. Petersburg to live with Anna's family
Popof Island
Popof Island is an island in the Shumagin Islands south of mainland Alaska. The largest community in the area, Sand Point, is located on the northwest coast. Popof Island is 10 miles long, 5 miles wide and the peak elevation is 1,550 feet, it is located at 55°18′49″N 160°22′29″W. It has a total population of 952 persons at the 2000 census. Pirate Cove on the island was developed as a major codfish fishing station. A herd of introduced bison is on the uninhabited side of the island and numbers about 120. Popof Island first appeared as a separate political entity on the 1890 U. S. Census with a population of 146. Of these, 135 were White, 7 were Creole, 3 were Asian and 1 was Native; this included 3 settlements on the island: Pirate Cove, which had appeared on the 1880 census separately with 7 residents, located on the northeast side of the island. Census enumerators counted all the ships that were docked at Pirate Cove and those at Sand Point. Beginning in 1900, Popof Island villages reported separately.
Red Cove was abandoned. Pirate Cove appeared once more on the 1920 census. Sand Point became the dominant village on the island, growing from 16 residents in 1900 to 976 by 2010, it incorporated as a city in 1966 and became important enough to be made the equivalent of county seat for the Aleutians East in 1987. As of 2000, all residents of Popof Island reside within the city limits of Sand Point. Popof Island: Blocks 3003 thru 3019, Census Tract 1, Aleutians East Borough, Alaska United States Census Bureau
United States
The United States of America known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U. S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D. C. and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico; the State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean; the U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The diverse geography and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century; the United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776; the war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties; the United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848. During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery.
By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power; the United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Sweeping civil rights legislation, notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, outlawed discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U. S. Moon landing; the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world's sole superpower. The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation, it is a representative democracy.
The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, other international organizations. The United States is a developed country, with the world's largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for a quarter of global GDP; the U. S. economy is post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world's largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U. S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country. Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, worker productivity.
The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, is a leading political and scientific force internationally. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America in honor of the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci; the first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylan, Esq. to George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master General of the Continental Army, Lt. Col. Joseph Reed. Moylan expressed his wish to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the revolutionary war effort; the first known publication of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776. The second draft of the Articles of Confederation, prepared by John Dickinson and completed by June 17, 1776, at the latest, declared "The name of this Confederation shall be the'United States of America'".
The final version of the Articles sent to the states for ratification in late 1777 contains the sentence "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be'The United States of America'". In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence; this draft of the document did not surface unti
Aleutians East Borough, Alaska
Aleutians East Borough is a 2nd class borough in the U. S. state of Alaska. As of the 2010 census the borough's population was 3,141; the borough seat is Sand Point. According to archaeological evidence, the area has been inhabited by the Unanga since the last ice age. Early contact was with Russian fur traders. Whaling and cannery operations brought an influx of Scandinavian and European fishermen in the early 1900s. During World War II, the area was a strategic military site for the Aleutian Campaign, many locals were evacuated to Ketchikan. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 15,010 square miles, of which 6,982 square miles is land and 8,028 square miles is water. Aleutians East Borough is located at 162 ° west longitude, it comprises the westernmost portion of the Alaska Peninsula, a small number of the Aleutian Islands, from which the borough name derives. Included are the Shumagin Islands, as well as the Pavlof Islands and the Sanak Islands. In all, about 63.9 percent of its land area comprises land on the Alaska Peninsula, while 36.1 percent is on the numerous islands.
There are five incorporated two unincorporated villages within the borough. Temperatures range from -9 to 76 degrees Fahrenheit. Annual precipitation is 33 inches and annual snowfall is 52 inches. Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Aleutian Islands Wilderness Simeonof Wilderness Unimak Wilderness Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge Izembek National Wildlife Refuge Izembek Wilderness Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska to the east Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska to the west As of the census of 2000, there were 2,697 people, 526 households, 344 families residing in the borough; the population density was 0.386 people per square mile. There were 724 housing units at an average density of 0 per square mile; the racial makeup of the borough was 23.95% White, 1.67% Black or African American, 37.26% Native American, 26.51% Asian, 0.30% Pacific Islander, 7.38% from other races, 2.93% from two or more races. 12.57% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 22.25% reported speaking Tagalog at home, while 13.03% speak Spanish, 2.00% speak Ilokano, 1.20% Aleut.
There were 526 households out of which 39.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.10% were married couples living together, 14.40% had a female householder with no husband present, 34.60% were non-families. 27.40% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.40% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69 and the average family size was 3.30. In the borough the population was spread out with 16.80% under the age of 18, 10.20% from 18 to 24, 42.30% from 25 to 44, 28.10% from 45 to 64, 2.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 184.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 207.70 males. A 2014 analysis by The Atlantic found Aleutians East Borough to be the 2nd most racially diverse county-equivalent in the United States, behind the Aleutians West Census Area; this information is available on a community basis. Communities located within the borough include: Akutan, Cold Bay, False Pass, King Cove, Nelson Lagoon, Pauloff Harbor, Sand Point, Unga.
There are 7 schools located in the borough, attended by 273 students. The Sand Point Clinic is managed by Eastern Aleutian Tribes, Inc. and inhabited a new facility in 2006. The clinic is staffed by Community Health Aide/Practitioners or CHAs; the CHA role is unique to Native Health Care. The borough's economy is cash-based. Commercial fishing and fish processing dominate and occur year-round. 222 borough residents hold commercial fishing permits. Sand Point is home to the largest fishing fleet in the Aleutian Chain. Salmon and pacific cod processing occur at Peter Pan Seafoods, Trident Seafoods, Bering Pacific; the Peter Pan cannery in King Cove is one of the largest operations under one roof in Alaska. Transportation and other services provide year-round employment. Several airports are accessible in the Borough, float planes can land in many communities. Marine cargo vessels provide transportation; the State Ferry operates during the summer. Local transportation is by fishing boats or skiffs, since there are no roads.
Akutan Cold Bay False Pass King Cove Sand Point Nelson Lagoon Belkofski Pauloff Harbor Unga List of airports in the Aleutians East Borough National Register of Historic Places listings in Aleutians East Borough, Alaska Official site Aleutians East Borough at the Community Database Online from the Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs Maps from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development: 2010
Sand Point, Alaska
Sand Point known as Qagun Tayagungin, is a city in Aleutians East Borough, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 976, up from 952 in 2000, it is on one of the Shumagin Islands, off the Alaska Peninsula. It is the borough seat of Aleutians East Borough, is near the entrance to the Bering Sea; the Aleutians East Borough School District is in Southwestern Alaska along the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Chain The District was formed in 1988 from smaller districts that consolidated and formed a Borough with taxing authority. The Borough and District boundaries are the same, stretch over 15,000 square miles of roadless treeless tundra, from the middle of the Alaska Peninsula to the north and east, going southwest out to Akutan just east of Dutch Harbor. Sand Point was founded by a San Francisco fishing company in 1898 as a cod fishing station and trading post. Aleuts and Scandinavians were among the early residents. Gold mining was a part of the economy during the early 1900s. Fishing remains an important industry, as Sand Point is home to one of the largest fishing fleets in the Aleutian Chain.
Half the inhabitants are of Aleut descent - from the Qagan Tayagungin tribe, support themselves by fishing and fish processing. There is a cold storage and fish-processing plant owned and operated by Trident Seafoods and Peter Pan has a support facility. There is an airport with a 5,200 feet paved runway and daily flights to Anchorage, 575 nautical miles to the northeast; the town is above the treeline, there is a small herd of 120 bison which provides some meat for the island's inhabitants. It is notorious for the high winds caused by the meeting of cold air flows from the Bering Sea with the warm air over the Japan Current, it has a maritime climate, with temperature averages ranging from −9 to 76 °F, an average snowfall of 52 inches and an average rainfall of 33 inches. The Russian Orthodox St. Nicholas Chapel was built in Sand Point in 1933. Sand Point first appeared on the 1890 U. S. did not report a separate figure. It first reported a separate figure in 1900 as Sand Point, it returned in 1920 and in every successive census.
It formally incorporated in 1966 and with the formation of the Aleutians East Borough in 1987, became the seat of government. As of the census of 2000, there were 952 people, 229 households, 155 families residing in the city; the population density was 122.1 people per square mile. There were 282 housing units at an average density of 36.2 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 27.73% White, 1.47% Black or African American, 42.33% Native American, 23.21% Asian, 0.32% Pacific Islander, 2.21% from other races, 2.73% from two or more races. 13.55% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 229 households out of which 39.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.4% were married couples living together, 15.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 31.9% were non-families. 25.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.9% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.17.
In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 20.4% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 41.5% from 25 to 44, 26.3% from 45 to 64, 3.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 165.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 181.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $55,417, the median income for a family was $58,000. Males had a median income of $20,000 versus $22,500 for females; the per capita income for the city was $21,954. About 10.3% of families and 16.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.4% of those under age 18 and 32.1% of those age 65 or over. Like all of Southwest Alaska, Sand Point has a subpolar oceanic climate, though compared to most parts of the region it is a little less rainy and has fewer wet days - 145 as compared to over 220 throughout the Aleutian Islands and in most of Southeast Alaska. Sand Point is a mixed Native and non-Native community.
More than 50 % of the permanent residents in Sand Point are known as Unangan. Every July the town hosts a Culture Camp in which Aleut traditions such as dance, sewing Aleut dresses, playing drums, building kayaks, knot tying, weaving are taught. Culture Camp has an Aleut language component built into the program. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 28.9 square miles, of which, 7.8 square miles of it is land and 21.1 square miles of it is water. There is the Sand Point School, operated by the Aleutians East Borough School District. There are one hundred students in the Sand Point School. In addition to classroom space, the school houses a library media center, weight room, indoor pool and shop; the Sand Point School is part of the Aleutians East Borough School District. The superintendent of the AEBSD is Dr. Doug Conboy and the principal of the Sand Point School is Ralph Lindquist. Circa 1978 the school a part of the Aleutian Region School District, had a 13 teachers, 136 students.
Peninsula Airways offers expensive flights from Anchorage to Sand Point. It is difficult to obtain a plane ticket off of the island with costs reaching $1200 for a round-trip ticket. Car
