Commander Islands in the context of "Aleutian Islands"

The Kamchatka Peninsula (Russian: полуостров Камчатка, romanized: poluostrov Kamchatka, pronounced [pəlʊˈostrəf kɐmˈt͡ɕætkə]) is a 1,250-kilometre-long (777 mi) peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about 270,000 km (100,000 sq mi). The Sea of Okhotsk bounds the peninsula's western coastline, immediately offshore of the peninsula and below the Bering Sea runs the 9,600-metre-deep (31,496 ft) Kuril–Kamchatka Trench. Its eastern coastline is the Bering Sea, part of the Pacific Ocean.

The Kamchatka Peninsula, the Commander Islands, and Karaginsky Island constitute Kamchatka Krai of the Russian Federation. The majority of the 322,079 inhabitants are ethnic Russians, with about 13,000 being Koryaks (2014). More than half of the population lives in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (179,526 in 2010) and nearby Yelizovo (38,980). The Kamchatka Peninsula contains the volcanoes of Kamchatka, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, that form part of the Ring of Fire.

The Kuril–Kamchatka Trench or Kuril Trench (Russian: Курило-Камчатский жёлоб, Kurilo-Kamchatskii Zhyolob) is an oceanic trench in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It lies off the southeast coast of Kamchatka and parallels the Kuril Island chain to meet the Japan Trench east of Hokkaido. It extends from a triple junction with the Ulakhan Fault and the Aleutian Trench near the Commander Islands, Russia, in the northeast, to the intersection with the Japan Trench in the southwest.

The trench formed as a result of the subduction zone, which formed in the late Cretaceous, that created the Kuril island arc as well as the Kamchatka volcanic arc. The Pacific plate is being subducted beneath the Okhotsk plate along the trench, resulting in intense volcanism.

Aleut (/ˈæliuːt/ AL-ee-oot) or Unangam Tunuu is the language spoken by the Aleut living in the Aleutian Islands, Pribilof Islands, Commander Islands, and the Alaska Peninsula (in Aleut Alaxsxa, the origin of the state name Alaska). Aleut is the sole language in the Aleut branch of the Eskimo–Aleut language family. The Aleut language consists of three dialects, including Unalaska (Eastern Aleut), Atka/Atkan (Atka Aleut), and Attu/Attuan (Western Aleut, now extinct).

Various sources estimate there are fewer than 100 to 150 remaining active Aleut speakers. Because of this, Eastern and Atkan Aleut are classified as "critically endangered and extinct" and have an Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS) rating of 7. The task of revitalizing Aleut has largely been left to local government and community organizations. The overwhelming majority of schools in the historically Aleut-speaking regions lack any language/culture courses in their curriculum, and those that do fail to produce fluent or even proficient speakers.

The Great Northern Expedition (Russian: Великая Северная экспедиция) or Second Kamchatka Expedition (Russian: Вторая Камчатская экспедиция) was a major Russian Arctic expedition between roughly 1733 and 1743, which mapped most of the Arctic coast of Siberia and much of the Arctic coast of North America, greatly reducing "white areas" on maps. It was conceived by Russian emperor Peter the Great, and took place under empresses Anna and Elizabeth. Peter hoped for the 18th-century Russian Navy to map a Northern Sea Route from Europe to the Pacific. The endeavour was sponsored by the Admiralty College in Saint Petersburg. The main organiser and leader of the expedition was Vitus Bering, who had been commissioned by Peter to lead the earlier First Kamchatka Expedition (1725 to 1731). With over 3,000 people directly or indirectly involved, it was one of the largest expeditions in history.

The expedition's primary objective was reaching the eastern reaches of Siberia, and from there the western shores of North America. The expedition included the European discovery of Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, the Commander Islands, and Bering Island—as well as a detailed cartographic assessment of the northern and north-eastern coast of Russia and the Kuril Islands. Any large landmass in the North Pacific, as well as any economically viable Northeast Passage sought since the 16th century, were both proven not to exist. Other findings included ethnographic, historic, and scientific research into Siberia and Kamchatka. Its cost was an estimated 1.5 million rubles, financed entirely by the Russian state, equal to roughly one-sixth of state income in 1724.

54°42′23.52″N 167°43′2.23″E / 54.7065333°N 167.7172861°E / 54.7065333; 167.7172861

Medny Island (Russian: о́стров Ме́дный), also spelled Mednyy or Mednyi, sometimes called Copper Island in English (literally translated from Russian), is the smaller (after Bering Island) of the two main islands in the Commander Islands in the North Pacific Ocean, east of Kamchatka, Russia. (The other fifteen are better described as islets and rocks.) These islands belong to the Kamchatka Krai of the Russian Federation.

Kamen Ariy (Russian: Камень Арий), or Ary Rock, is an uninhabited islet of the Commander Islands in the North Pacific Ocean, east of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Eastern Russia. These islands belong to the Kamchatka Krai of the Russian Federation. Described as "craggy" by Encyclopædia Britannica, Kamen Ariy is about 8 kilometres (5 miles) west of Tufted Puffin Rock and consists of two rocks. The northern rock is pointed and reaches a height of 45 m (150 ft). The southern rock is much flatter and only reaches a height of 2.1 metres (6 feet 11 inches).

The islands were first named as Novy Island (Новый) by naval officer Otto von Kotzebue in 1824. Three years later, the islet was visited by explorer Friedrich Benjamin von Lütke and was named Sivuchy (Сивучьим). It was finally named Ariy in 1848 due to the amount of macaws (Russian: ара) that took rest on the islet. Since 1883, the rock was designated as such on maps according to the Toponymic Dictionary of the North-East of the USSR [ru]. As part of the Commander Islands, its temperature averages 10 °C (50 °F) in August and −4 °C (25 °F) in February. The islet's precipitation averages about 500 centimetres (200 inches) each year.

Nikolskoye (Russian: Нико́льское; Aleut: Никоольскиӽ, romanized: Nikoolskix̂) is a rural locality (a selo) and the administrative center of Aleutsky District of Kamchatka Krai, Russia, located on Bering Island in the Commander Islands chain. Population: 676 (2010 census); 808 (2002 census); 1,356 (1989 Soviet census). It is the only remaining inhabited locality in the district.