Sanak Island (Aleut:Sanaĝax[1]) is anisland in theFox Islands group of theAleutian Islands in theU.S. state ofAlaska. It is located at54°25′47″N162°42′32″W / 54.42972°N 162.70889°W /54.42972; -162.70889.
Sanak Island and Caton Island are the largest islands in theSanak Islands subgroup of the Fox Islands.
Travel to the island is currently done by fishing vessel. The trip takes about five hours to cross the roughly 40 mile distance fromKing Cove to Sanak.
Like many of the other Aleutian Islands, Sanak was inhabited by theAleut people for thousands of years. In 1828, the administrators ofRussian America removed the island's population to theAlaska Peninsula in order to maintain access to the sea otter hunting grounds in surrounding waters.[2]
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Two famousshipwrecks, one in 1906 and another in 1943, occurred near Sanak. The U.S. Navy operated a small naval base at Sanak Island duringWorld War II.
Although Sanak is no longer occupied, the island is still owned by its former residents, who visit the island occasionally to harvest the feral cattle that live there.
In 2004, 2006, and 2007 teams ofarcheologists andecologists visited Sanak Island to study the effects of long-term human occupation on the island. Over 100 archeological sites were excavated with the oldest sites dating to 5600 years before present.
Researchers, led by investigators fromIdaho State University studied both the living plants and animals as well as the remains of food animals such as fish, sea mammals, and shellfish preserved in archeological sites.
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