ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, a chain of small islands situated in the Northern Pacific ocean, and extending about ',zoom. westward from the extremity of the Alaskan peninsula toward the peninsula of Kamchatka; they constitute part of the Territory of Alaska, U.S.A. The islands, of which an alternative collective name is the Catherine archipelago, comprise four groups—the Fox, Andreanof, Rat and Near islands. They are all included between 52° and 55° N. and 172° E. and 163° W.
The axis of the archipelago near the mainland of Alaska has a south-west trend, but near the 179th meridian its direction changes to the north-west. This change of direction corresponds to a curve in the line of volcanic fissures which have contributed their prod ucts to the building of the islands. The island chain is really a western continuation of the Aleutian range on the mainland. The great majority of the islands bear evident marks of volcanic origin, and there are numerous volcanic cones on the north side of the chain, some of them active; many of the islands, however, are not wholly volcanic, but contain crystalline or sedimentary rocks, and also amber and beds of lignite. The coasts are rocky and surf-worn and the approaches are exceedingly dangerous, the land rising immediately from the coasts to steep, bold mountains.
The climate of the islands is oceanic, with moderate and fairly uniform temperatures and heavy rainfall. Fogs are almost con stant. The summers are much cooler than on the mainland at Sitka (q.v.), but the winter temperature of the islands and of south-eastern Alaska is very nearly the same. The mean annual temperature for Unalaska, the most important island of the group, is about 38° F. The growing season lasts about 135 days, from early in May till late in September, but agriculture is limited to the raising of a few vegetables. The islands are practically destitute of trees, but are covered with a luxuriant growth of herbage, in cluding grasses, sedges and many flowering plants. Attempts have been made to raise sheep and reindeer on the islands, but the industry is still in its infancy with some uncertainty as to future results. The principal occupations of the natives have always been fishing and hunting, and the women weave basketry of ex quisite fineness. From the end of the 18th century the Russian fur traders had settlements here for the capture of the seal and the sea otter and the blue and the Arctic fox. Under the American regime seal fishing off the Aleutians, save by the natives, has never been legal, but the rapid depletion of animals has threatened the Aleuts (as the natives are commonly called) with starvation. In recent years the raising of foxes, especially of blue fox, has been conducted quite extensively throughout the islands and with a fair measure of success. This industry furnishes employment to many natives. Fish and sea-fowl are extremely abundant.
The natives are rather low in stature, but plump and well shaped, with short necks, swarthy faces, black eyes and long black hair. They are a branch of the Esquimauan family, but differ greatly from the Eskimo of the mainland in language, habits, dis position and mental ability. They were good fighters until they were cowed by the treatment of the Russians, who practically re duced them to slavery. Christianity is recognized in the form of the Greek Orthodox Church.
In dress and mode of life they have adopted outwardly civilized customs.
It is stated that before the advent of the Russians there were 25,000 Aleuts (q.v.) on the archipelago, but that the barbarities of the traders nearly extinguished the native population. The total population of the archipelago in 193o was 1,116. The principal settlements are on the Unalaska Islands. Of these Unalaska, the oldest, settled in 176o-75, has a custom house, a Russian-Greek church, and a Methodist mission and orphanage, and is the head quarters for a considerable fleet of United States coast guard ves sels which patrol the sealing grounds of the Pribilof s adjacent is Dutch Harbor. The Commander Islands group near the Asiatic coast is geographically, but since the acquisition of the Russian possessions in America not politically', a part of the Aleutian system.
In i741 the Russian Government sent out Vitus Bering, a Dane, and Alexei Chirikov, a Russian, in the ships "Saint Peter" and "Saint Paul" on a voyage of discovery in the northern Pacific. After the ships were separated by a storm, Chirikov discovered several eastern islands of the Aleutian group, and Bering discov ered several of the western islands, finally being wrecked and los ing his life on the island of the Commander group that now bears his name. The survivors of Bering's party reached Kamchatka in a boat constructed from the wreckage of their ship, and reported that the islands were rich in fur-bearing animals. Siberian fur hunters at once flocked to the Commander Islands and gradually moved eastward across the Aleutian islands to the mainland. In this manner Russia gained a foothold on the north-western coast of North America. The Aleutian islands consequently belonged to Russia, until that country in 1867 transferred to the United States all its possessions in America.