The Aleutian Islands
A volcanic arc reaching from Alaska toward Asia
The Aleutian Islands are a great curving arc of volcanic islands that sweep about 1,200 miles southwest from the Alaska Peninsula toward Russia, separating the Bering Sea from the North Pacific. Dozens of islands and many active volcanoes mark the chain, part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where the Pacific Plate dives beneath North America to build a line of steep, treeless, fog-bound cones.
Home for thousands of years to the Unangan (Aleut) people, the islands are among the stormiest, foggiest places on Earth, with almost no trees and fierce winds. They were the only U.S. soil occupied by enemy forces in World War II, when Japan seized Attu and Kiska in 1942. Today most lie within a vast national wildlife refuge, hosting enormous seabird colonies, sea otters, and a small population centered on the fishing port of Unalaska-Dutch Harbor.