Wrangell Island (russian: Остров Врангеля) is an

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

Alexander Archipelago The Alexander Archipelago (russian: Архипелаг Александра) is a long archipelago (group of islands) in North America lying off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, the tops of submerged coastal m ...

in the Alaska Panhandle of southeastern

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., ...

. It is long and wide. It has a land area of , making it the 29th largest island in the United States. Wrangell is separated from the mainland by the narrow Blake Channel. The first

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an to sight the island was James Johnstone, one of George Vancouver’s officers during his 1791-1795 expedition, in 1793. He only charted its east coast, not realizing it was an island. It was occupied in 1834 by the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

ns. It is named after

Ferdinand Wrangel Baron Ferdinand Friedrich Georg Ludwig von Wrangel (russian: Барон Фердина́нд Петро́вич Вра́нгель, tr. ; – ) was a Baltic German explorer and seaman in the Imperial Russian Navy, Honorable Member of the Saint ...

, a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

explorer in Russian service, and government official. From 1867 to 1877 it was a U.S. military post; later it became an outfitting point for hunters and explorers, and for miners using the Stikine River route to the

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

. The island contains the city of

Wrangell, Alaska The City and Borough of Wrangell ( tli, Ḵaachx̱ana.áakʼw, russian: Врангель) is a borough in Alaska, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 2,127, down from 2,369 in 2010. Incorporated as a Unified Home Rule Bor ...

. Wrangell Island is heavily forested and contains an abundance of wildlife. The only other community is Thoms Place on the southwest side, across the

Zimovia Strait Zimovia Strait is a narrow strait in the Alexander Archipelago in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is about 100 km (62 mi) long and bounded by Wrangell Island to the east and Woronkofski Island, Woronkofski and Etolin Islands to the west. Th ...

from

Etolin Island Etolin Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska, United States at . It is between Prince of Wales Island, to its west, and the Alaska mainland, to its east. It is southwest of Wrangell Island. It was first chart ...

. Wrangell Island's total population was 2,401 at the 2000 census. Fishing and mining are pursued in the area. A lumber mill closed in the 1990s. The island and surrounding areas contain many recreational areas. It is at the mouth of the

Stikine River The Stikine River is a major river in northern British Columbia (BC), Canada and southeastern Alaska in the United States. It drains a large, remote upland area known as the Stikine Country east of the Coast Mountains. Flowing west and south f ...

, which provides many recreational opportunities.

References

Wrangell Island: 1002 thru 1017, Block Group 1; Block Groups 2 thru 4; Census Tract 3, Wrangell-Petersburg Census Area, Alaska
United States Census Bureau

External links

Islands of the Alexander Archipelago Islands of Wrangell, Alaska Islands of Alaska {{WrangellAK-geo-stub