Alexander Archipelago

Alexander Archipelago, group of about 1,100 islands, south-eastern Alaska, in the Pacific Ocean. The islands and the mainland coast form the Alaskan Panhandle. The principal islands include Admiralty, Baranof, Chichagof, Etolin, Kuiu, Kupreanof, Prince of Wales (the largest in the archipelago), and Revillagigedo. The largest city in the archipelago is Sitka, on Baranof Island, which is named after the Russian fur trader Aleksandr Andreyevich Baranov, who took possession of the island in 1799 for Russia. The second-largest city, Ketchikan, is on Revillagigedo. Native Americans indigenous to the archipelago include the Tlingit, whose ancestral home was on Baranof Island. The islands, which are a submerged mountain system, form the sheltered channels that are part of the maritime tourist route between Seattle, Washington, and Alaska. The archipelago is a part of Alaska’s Tongass National Park and is generally heavily forested and largely unsettled. Industries include canning, fishing, fur-trapping, timber production, and uranium-mining.