Etolin Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago

Alexander Archipelago

The Alexander Archipelago is a long archipelago, or group of islands, of North America off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, which are the tops of the submerged coastal mountains that rise steeply from the Pacific Ocean. Deep channels and fjords separate the...

 of southeastern Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, USA, at 56°05′52"N 132°21′37"W. It is between Prince of Wales Island, to its west, and the Alaska mainland, to its east. It is southwest of Wrangell Island

Wrangell Island

Wrangell Island is in the Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle of southeastern Alaska. It is long and 8–23 km wide. It has a land area of , making it the 29th largest island in the United States...

. It was first charted in 1793 by James Johnstone

James Johnstone (explorer)

James Johnstone was a British naval officer and explorer. He is noted for having served as sailing master of the armed tender HMS Chatham and later acting lieutenant during George Vancouver’s 1791-95 expedition to the Pacific Northwest...

, one of George Vancouver

George Vancouver

Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...

's officers during his 1791-95 expedition

Vancouver Expedition

The Vancouver Expedition was a four-and-a-half-year voyage of exploration and diplomacy, commanded by Captain George Vancouver. The expedition circumnavigated the globe, touched five continents and changed the course of history for the indigenous nations and several European empires and their...

. He only charted its southwest and east coasts, not realizing it was an island. It was originally named Duke of York Island but was renamed by the United States after the Alaska Purchase

Alaska purchase

The Alaska Purchase was the acquisition of the Alaska territory by the United States from Russia in 1867 by a treaty ratified by the Senate. The purchase, made at the initiative of United States Secretary of State William H. Seward, gained of new United States territory...

. It is named after Adolf Etolin

Adolf Etolin

Adolf Karlovich Etolin, lso Arvid Adolf Etholén, Russian: Адольф Карлович Этолин was a naval officer, explorer and administrator who was employed by the Russian-American Company. He was a Swedish-speaking Finn who was born in Helsinki, Finland...

, governor of the Russian American

Russian colonization of the Americas

The Russian colonization of the Americas covers the period, from 1732 to 1867, when the Tsarist Imperial Russian Empire laid claim to northern Pacific Coast territories in the Americas...

 colonies from 1840 to 1845.

The island is 48 km (29.8 mi) long and 16–35 km (10–22 miles) wide, with a land area of 878.08 km² (339 sq mi), making it the 24th largest island in the United States. As of the 2000 census

United States Census, 2000

The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

, Etolin had a population of 15 persons.

It contains a population of introduced elk. The entire island lies within the boundaries of Tongass National Forest

Tongass National Forest

The Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska is the largest national forest in the United States at 17 million acres . Most of its area is part of the temperate rain forest WWF ecoregion, itself part of the larger Pacific temperate rain forest WWF ecoregion, and is remote enough to be home...

. The southern part of the island has been officially designated

National Wilderness Preservation System

The National Wilderness Preservation System of the United States protects federally managed land areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. It was established by the Wilderness Act upon the signature of President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 3, 1964...

 the South Etolin Wilderness.