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Attu () is the westernmost and largest island in the Near Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and the westernmost point of land relative to Alaska, the United States, North America and the Americas. The island became uninhabited in 2010. The island was the site of the only World War II land battle fought on an incorporated territory of the United States (the Battle of Attu), and its battlefield area is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Attu Station, a former Coast Guard LORAN station, is located at , making it one of the westernmost points of the United States relative to the rest of the country. However, since it is in the Eastern Hemisphere, being on the opposite side of the 180° longitude line as the contiguous 48 states, it can also be considered one of the ''easternmost'' points of the country (a second Aleutian Island, Semisopochnoi Island at 179°46′E, is the easternmost location in the United States by this definition). In the chain of the Aleuts the next Island to the west of Attu are the Russian Commander Islands just away. Attu is nearly from the Alaskan mainland and northeast of the northernmost of the Kurile Islands of Russia, and it is from the capital city, Washington, D.C.. Attu is about in size with a land area of , making it #23 on the list of largest islands in the United States. The population in the 2010 census was 20 people, all at the Attu Station, though all inhabitants left the island later in the year when the station closed. , the only significant trees on the island were those planted by American soldiers at a chapel constructed after the 1943 battle when the Japanese occupation was over.〔 Although Attu Island is the westernmost body of land east of the International Date Line its time zone is UTC-10, which means that locations to the south-southeast (such as the uninhabited Baker Island and Howland Island in UTC −12 and Niue, Midway Atoll and (formerly) American Samoa in UTC −11) have earlier clocks. ==History== The name ''Attu'' is a transliteration of the Aleut name of the island. It was called ''Saint Theodore'' by the explorer Aleksei Chirikov in 1742. Attu, being the nearest to Kamchatka, was the first of the Aleutian Islands exploited by Russian traders. The first population estimate by the Russians put at most 175 Aleuts on Attu. However, the large number and size of archeological sites on Attu have led to estimates of 2,000–5,000 inhabitants during the centuries preceding European contact.〔D.G. Corbett, D. Causey, M. Clemente, P.L. Koch, A. Doroff, C. Lefavre, D. West (2008) "Aleut Hunters, Sea Otters, and Sea Cows", in Torben C. Rick, Jon M. Erlandson (eds.) ''Human Impacts on Ancient Marine Ecosystems'', University of California Press, ISBN 0520253434〕 Russians would stay multiple years on the island hunting sea otters, often clashing with the local Aleut population. After the initial wave of traders, Attu was largely overlooked by ships heading further east. Once a Russian trader was left on Attu and had to wait seven years for another ship to retrieve him. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Attu Island」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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