The Komandorski Islands or Commander Islands, (in Russian, Komandorskiye Ostrova) are a group of treeless islands east of the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, in the Bering Sea. The islands consist of Bering Island, Mednyi Island, and two small islets. The inhabitants, Russians and Aleuts, fish and hunt whales and other marine mammals. The largest village is Nikolskoye on Bering Island.
Aleuts (Unangan) people came to the Komandorski Islands early in the 19th century from the Aleutian Islands. Most of the Aleuts inhabiting Bering Island came from Atka Island and those who lived on Mednyi Island came from Attu Island. Today the population of the islands is about 2/3 Russian and 1/3 Aleut.
The great majority of the islands bear evident marks of volcanic origin, and there are numerous volcanic cones on the north side of the chain, some of them active; many of the islands, however, are not wholly volcanic, but contain crystalline or sedimentary rocks, and also amber and beds of lignite.
The climate of the islands is oceanic, with moderate and fairly uniform temperatures and heavy rainfall.
After the ships were separated by a storm, Chirikov discovered several eastern islands of the Aleutian group, and Bering discovered several of the western islands, finally being wrecked and losing his life on the island of the Komandorski Islands (CommanderIslands) that now bears his name (Bering Island).
The Bering Island stretches from northwest to southeast for 75 km.
The Commanderisland was named after the leader of two Kamchatka expeditions of the 18 century, a brave navigator captain-commander Vitus Bering, who had been living there together with the crew of the ship "St. Peter" for 9 months and died of scurvy.
Rivers of the Bering and Medny Islands are spawning grounds for the Pacific salmon.
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