Hawadax Island (Aleut: Hawadax;[1]) is an island in the Rat Islands archipelago of the western Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state of Alaska. The island was formerly known as Rat Island until May 2012 when it was renamed Hawadax Island, which is an Aleut name meaning "entry" and "welcome".[2][3] The island has a land area of 10.3126 sq mi (26.7095 km²) and no permanent population. It is within the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. It is 9.3 miles (15 km) in length and 3.1 miles (5 km) in width.
The former name is the English translation of the name given to the islands by Captain Fyodor Petrovich Litke in 1827 when he visited the Aleutian Islands on a voyage around the world.
The Rat Islands are very earthquake-prone as they are on the boundary of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. In 1965, there was a major earthquake with the magnitude 8.7 in the Rat Islands.
- ^ Bergsland, K. (1994). Aleut Dictionary. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.
- ^ "Feature Detail Report for: Hawadax Island". US Geological Survey Board on Geographic Names. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
- ^ "It's Official!". Island Conservation. May 31, 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2020.