an archipelago in the North Pacific Ocean, southwest of Alaska, part of the state of Alaska (USA). It consists of 110 islands and numerous cliffs situated in a 1,740-km arc forming the southern boundary of the Bering Sea. The islands have an area of 37,800 sq km and a population of 6,011 (1960), including several hundred native Aleuts. The archipelago consists of four island groups: the Fox, Andreanof, Rat, and Near.
The Aleutian Islands are the summits of an underwater mountain range that rises from the bottom of the Aleutian depression in the Pacific Ocean to more than 10,000 m (measuring from the underwater part). The majority of the islands are actually volcanic cones, many of which are covered with snow. The highest peak is the Shishaldin volcano on Unimak Island, at 2,860 m. There are 25 active volcanoes, many of which have erupted in the 20th century. The larger islands have sections of coastal lowlands and usable bays. The climate is subarctic and oceanic. The winter is warm and wet, with abundant snowfalls and frequent thaws. The average temperature of the coldest month, February, is –1.4°C. The summer is cool, with frequent fogs. The average temperature of the warmest month, August, is 11.9°C. The annual precipitation is about 1,500 mm, with maximum rainfall in the autumn. Storms are frequent. The flora is represented mainly by subarctic meadows of cereal grass and mixed grass species with occasional small willow growths. At elevations of about 100 m, the meadows give way to heaths, which are replaced by an alpine tundra belt at higher elevations. The soils are subarctic, sod, and peat, and mountain tundra. Prior to their discovery by Europeans, the Aleutian Islands and surrounding waters had an abundance of fur-bearing animals and sea mammals. The fox, the sea otter, and the sea lion have been almost completely exterminated. Walruses, seals, cod, halibut, and herring inhabit the coastal waters. There are large bird colonies on the rocks. Blue foxes are raised on all the islands.
The Aleutian Islands were discovered in the middle of the 18th century by the Russian navigators Mikhail Nevod-chikov, Andrean Tolstykh, and Stepan Glotov. Russian expeditions of P. K. Krenitsyn and M. D. Levas ho ν (1768–69), O. E. Kotsebu (1815–18), and F. P. Litke (1826–29) greatly contributed to the study of the islands. The Aleutian Islands belonged to Russia until 1867, when they were sold to the USA with Alaska. Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island is the chief community and a large naval base.
A. V. ANTIPOVA