Sanak Island is an island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 in the Fox Islands

Fox Islands (Alaska)

The Fox Islands are a group of islands in the eastern Aleutian Islands of the U.S. state of Alaska. The Fox Islands are the closest to mainland North America in the Aleutian chain, and just east of Samalga Pass and the Islands of Four Mountains group....

 group of the Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of 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...

, located at 54°25′47"N 162°42′32"W. Two famous shipwreck

Shipwreck

A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....

s, one in 1906 and another in 1943, occurred near Sanak. Like many of the other Aleutian Islands, Sanak was inhabited by the Aleut people for thousands of years. In 1828, the administrators of Russian America removed the island's population to the Alaska Peninsula

Alaska Peninsula

The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea....

 in order to preserve the sea otter hunting grounds in surrounding waters. The island was never resettled.

Although Sanak is now no longer occupied, the island is still owned by its former residents who visit the island occasionally to harvest the feral cattle that live on the island. Travel to the island is currently done by fishing vessel. The trip takes about five hours to cross the roughly 40 mile distance from King Cove to Sanak.

The U.S. Navy operated a small Naval base at Sanak Island during World War II.

In 2004, 2006, and 2007 teams of archeologists and ecologists visited Sanak Island to study the effects of long-term human occupation on the island. Researchers, led by investigators from Idaho State University

Idaho State University

Idaho State University is a public university located in Pocatello, Idaho. It has outreach programs in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Falls, Boise, and Twin Falls....

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. Over 100 archeological sites were excavated with the oldest sites dating to 5600 years before present.