Annette Island

Annette Island or Taak'w Aan (Tlingit) is an island in the Gravina Islands of the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific Ocean on the southeastern coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is at 55°08′06″N 131°27′21″W / 55.13500°N 131.45583°W / 55.13500; -131.45583. It is about 18 km (11 mi) long and about 18 km (11 mi) wide. The land area is 332.573 km² (128.407 sq mi). Annette Island is located west across the Revillagigedo Channel from the Alaska mainland and south of Revillagigedo Island. The Island was named in 1879 by William Healey Dall, an American naturalist and explorer in Alaska, in honor of his wife Annette Whitney Dall.^[1]

The meaning of the Tlingit name for the island is Winter Town. Since the late 19th century, it has been the base of the Annette Island Reserve of the Metlakatla Alaska Native Community, composed mostly of Tsimshian people. This is the only Indian reservation in Alaska as Metlakatla voted to opt out of giving up their lands under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of the 1970s. In 2016 they elected Audrey Hudson as their first Tribal Chairwoman.^[2]