Wrangell Island
| Wrangell Island | ||
|---|---|---|
| Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
| Archipelago | Alexander Archipelago | |
| Geographical location | 56 ° 27 ′ N , 132 ° 23 ′ W | |
|
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| length | 48 km | |
| width | 23 km | |
| surface | 544 km² | |
| Residents | 2401 (2000) 4.4 inhabitants / km² |
|
| main place | Wrangell, AK | |
Wrangell Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle . The island is about 48 km long and between 8 and 23 km wide. Their land area is 544 km². It is only separated from the mainland by a narrow channel, the Blake Channel .
history
The island is named after the Russian explorer and later governor of Russian America , Ferdinand von Wrangel . In 1834 he founded a warehouse on the island 20 km north of the large Tlingit settlement Kotzlitzna , on the site of today's Wrangell , the only town on the island. The island is thus home to one of the oldest settlements in Alaska that was not founded by indigenous people .
geography
Wrangell Island is located exactly at the mouth of the Stikine River and offers many recreational opportunities. It is heavily forested and has not lost any of its original wilderness. Besides the only city (Wrangell) there is only the small settlement Thoms Place on the island. The population is 2401 (as of 2000).