Akutan Island ( ale, Akutanax̂; russian: Акутан) is an inhabited

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in the Fox Islands group of the eastern

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...

in the

Aleutians East Borough Aleutians East Borough () is a 2nd class List of boroughs and census areas in Alaska, borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census the borough's population was 3,420. The borough seat is Sand Point, Alas ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

Geography

The island is approximately 18 mi (30 km) in length. The land area is 129.01 sq mi (334.13 km²).

Mount Akutan Mount Akutan, officially Akutan Peak, is a stratovolcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Akutan Peak, at , is the highest point on the caldera of the Akutan stratovolcano. Akutan contains a 2 km-wide caldera formed during a major explosiv ...

volcano is located on the island, which had a major lava eruption in 1979. The island's population was 1,027 ( 2010 census). All lived in the city of Akutan, near the island's eastern end. A significant geothermal area is located on the island including the Akutan Hot Springs.

History

Akutan is an

Aleut The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the U ...

name reported by Capt.

Pyotr Krenitsyn Pyotr Kuzmich Krenitsyn (russian: Пётр Кузьмич Креницын) (1728 – July 4, 1770), spelt "Krenitzin" in the United States, was a Russian explorer and Captain/Lieutenant of the Imperial Russian Navy. Following Vitus Bering's 1741 ...

and

Mikhail Levashev Mikhail Dmitrievich Levashov (russian: Михаи́л Дми́триевич Левашо́в; c. 1738–1774-76) was a Russian explorer and Lieutenant of the Imperial Russian Navy. After Vitus Bering's 1741 tragic venture he was, together with Pe ...

in 1768, and spelled Acootan by

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

in 1785. This name may be from the Aleut word "hakuta" which, according to R. H. Geoghegan, means "I made a mistake." The

Akutan Zero The Akutan Zero, also known as Koga's Zero (古賀のゼロ) and the Aleutian Zero, was a type 0 model 21 Mitsubishi A6M Zero Japanese fighter aircraft that crash-landed on Akutan Island, Alaska Territory, during World War II. It was found ...

, a

Japanese Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-based fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was ...

, was named for the island after it crashed there during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and was recovered by the United States military.

Geography

History

See also

References

Further reading