Kupreanof 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...

 in 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...

. The island is 84 km (52.2 mi) long and 32 km (19.9 mi) wide with a total land area is 2802.84 km² (1,082.2 sq mi), making it the 13th largest island in the United States and the 170th largest island in the world. The Lindenberg Peninsula

Lindenberg Peninsula

The Lindenberg Peninsula is a peninsula on the eastern coast of Kupreanof Island, Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska. It is separated from the main portion of the island by the Duncan Canal....

, on the southeast side of the island is considered part of the island. The peninsula is separated from the rest of the island by a narrow inlet called Duncan Canal

Duncan Canal, Alaska

The Duncan Canal is a naturally occurring inland waterway in the Alexander Archipelago in Alaska, USA. It deeply penetrates Kupreanof Island, separating the Lindenberg Peninsula, on the southeast side of the island from the main island. It was first charted in 1793 by James Johnstone, one of...

. The island's population was 785 at 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...

.

The island was first charted in 1793-94 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...

 and Joseph Whidbey

Joseph Whidbey

Joseph Whidbey was a member of the Royal Navy who served on the Vancouver Expedition 1791–1795, and later achieved renown as a naval engineer. He is notable for having been the first European to discover and chart Admiralty Island in the Alexander Archipelago in 1794.Little is recorded of...

, both part 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 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...

. The island is named after Baron Ivan Antonovich Kupreianov

Ivan Antonovich Kupreianov

Ivan Antonovich Kupreyanov , also spelled in English as Kupreanof, was the head of the Russian-American Company in Russian America from 1835 to 1840. He built the famous residence, library and museum in Sitka called Baranof's Castle by early American settlers, who assumed that it had been built by...

, governor of the Russian American colonies

Russian-American Company

The Russian-American Company was a state-sponsored chartered company formed largely on the basis of the so-called Shelekhov-Golikov Company of Grigory Shelekhov and Ivan Larionovich Golikov The Russian-American Company (officially: Under His Imperial Majesty's Highest Protection (patronage)...

 from 1836 to 1840; the name was published in 1848 on a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n Hydrographic Department chart as "Os(trov) Kupreyanova".

The largest settlement on the island is Kake

Kake, Alaska

Kake is a town in Petersburg Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 710 at the 2000 census. The name comes from the Tlingit word or , which is derived from “dawn, daylight” and “mouth”, i.e. “mouth of dawn” or “opening of daylight”.-Geography:Kake is located at...

, on the northwestern side of the island. The only other city is Kupreanof

Kupreanof, Alaska

Kupreanof is a city at the eastern shore of Kupreanof Island in the Petersburg Census Area, in the U.S. state of Alaska. The population was 23 at the 2000 census, making it the smallest incorporated city in the state.-Geography:...

, on the eastern side, across the Wrangell Narrows

Wrangell Narrows

The Wrangell Narrows is a winding, 35-km-long channel between Mitkof Island and Kupreanof Island in the Alexander Archipelago in Southeast Alaska. The Wrangell Narrows is one of the six Listed narrows in Southeast Alaska. There are about 60 lights and buoys to mark it because of its winding nature...

 from the city of Petersburg

Petersburg, Alaska

Petersburg is a city in Petersburg Census Area, Alaska, in the United States. According to 2009 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 2,824 full time residents.- History :...

 on nearby Mitkof Island

Mitkof Island

Mitkof Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago in southeast Alaska, at . between Kupreanof Island to the west and the Alaska mainland to the east. It is about wide and long with a land area of , making it the 30th largest island in the United States.The island is relatively flat with...

. The island lies within the limits 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...

 (Petersburg Ranger District). The Petersburg Creek-Duncan Salt Chuck Wilderness is a part of the forest that is located on the island.