Unalaska Island

Etymology

Unalaska is the Aleut name for the island. Several theories about its origin exist; the most likely is that the name derives from the Russian word Ounalashka, an adaptation of the Aleut word for near the mainland, nawan Alaskax.

History

Native Unalaskans, called Unangan or Aleuts, to non-Unangan, have lived on the island for at least 10,000 years. The island was first seen by westerners in 1741 by Vitus Bering. By 1759, at least 3,000 Aleuts lived on Unalaska island. A Russian settlement was constructed in 1759, but four years later it was destroyed by the Aleuts, together with four merchant ships. The attacks claimed the lives of 162 Russian settlers. The survivors managed to hold their own until 1764, when they were rescued by the Russians. This event triggered bloody reprisals against the natives which took the lives of about 5,000 Aleuts. By 1787, many Aleut seal hunters were enslaved by the Russian American Company and forced to harvest seal fur. By 1840, only 200 to 400 Aleuts still lived on the island.

In October 1778, English explorer James Cook visited the island for three weeks on his third voyage, and spelled it Oonalashka in his journal.

The 1788 expedition of Esteban José Martínez and Gonzalo López de Haro explored the coast of Alaska as far as Unalaska Island, marking the farthest west the Spanish ever explored in the region.

The Russian ship Rurik led by Otto von Kotzebue visited Unalaska twice, in 1815 and 1816. During the second visit, the French-German naturalist Adelbert von Chamisso collaborated with natives to create three-dimensional models of different whale species, in order to transfer and conserve indigenous knowledge about whales. He published drawings along with Aleut species names of the painted driftwood models, which are preserved in Berlin.

In Moscow on May 31, 1988, President Ronald Reagan mentioned the meeting of Americans and Russians on this island in the 19th century as an example of early US-Russian friendship.

On December 8, 2004, the Malaysian cargo ship Selendang Ayu ran aground off Unalaska Island, causing a large oil spill.

On October 25, 1977, an extremely intense extratropical system struck the area. A pressure of 926 millibars was recorded at Dutch Harbor, which is the lowest non-tropical pressure ever recorded in the United States until December 31, 2020 when another system struck the islands with a pressure of 924.8 millibars.

File:UnalaskaAlaska.jpg|The City of Unalaska, Alaska File:Unalaska 1.jpg|Unalaska Island in 1972 File:Line5140 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library.jpg|Selendang Ayu ran aground off Unalaska in 2004, spilling approximately 350,000 gallons of oil.

References

References

1. Bergsland, K.. (1994). "Aleut Dictionary". Alaska Native Language Center.
2. [http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/nsd/coastpilot/files/cp9/CP9-27ed-Ch07_9.pdf US Coast Pilot 9, Chapter 7, Aleutian Islands]
3. "Unalaska".
4. (26 July 2018). "Unalaska: The US Island Once Ruled by Russia".
5. "Unalaska |".
6. Encyclopædia Britannica Third Edition, 1797 Volume 13 article Oonalashka, and Volume 5 article Cook, James.
7. Hayes, Derek. (1999). "Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of exploration and Discovery". Sasquatch Books.
8. von Chamisso, Adelbert. (1824). "Cetaceorum maris Kamtschatici imagines, ab Aleutis e ligno fictas". Nova Acta Physico-Medica Academiae Naturae Curiosorum.
9. Marie-Theres Federhofer. (2012). "Chamisso und die Wale". Kulturstiftung Sibirien.
10. Glaubrecht, Matthias. (2022-05-05). "Dichter, Naturkundler, Welterforscher: Adelbert von Chamisso und die Suche nach der Nordostpassage". Galiani Berlin, Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch.
11. Michael Bienert. (2012-08-08). "Chamisso-Forum: Walkunde".
12. Korosec, Marko. (2021-01-03). "All-time pressure records set at the end of 2020: North Pacific extratropical storm peaks at 921 mbar, extreme cold in Mongolia sets new world record with 1094 mbar".