An archipelago of more than 300 small volcanic islands forming an island arc in the Northern Pacific Ocean, between Alaska and the Kamchatka Peninsula of Asia. They are part of the United States
A chain of rugged volcanic islands of southwest Alaska curving about 1,931 km (1,200 mi) west from the Alaska Peninsula and separating the Bering Sea from the Pacific Ocean. The islands were explored in 1741 by Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator employed by Russia, and remained under Russian control until Alaska was purchased by the United States in 1867. The islands are the site of U.S. military bases and research stations. a group of islands off the southwest coast of Alaska. Chain of small islands, Alaska, U.S. They form a border of the Bering Sea, extending in an arc about 1,100 mi (1,800 km) west from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula to Attu Island. The major island groups, from east to west, are the Fox Islands (including Unimak and Unalaska), Islands of the Four Mountains, Andreanof Islands (including Adak), and Near Islands (including Attu). The main settlements are on Unalaska and Adak. Originally inhabited by Aleuts, the islands were explored by Russian-sponsored ships in 1741. As Siberian fur hunters moved eastward through the islands, the Russians gained a foothold in North America but nearly caused the extinction of the Aleuts. Russia sold the islands, with the rest of Alaska, to the U.S. in 1867
{i} chain of approximately 200 small volcanic islands that extend over a thousand miles westward from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula