Chenega Island is an island in

Prince William Sound Prince William Sound ( Sugpiaq: ''Suungaaciq'') is a sound off the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. It is the traditional home to the community of Chenega, though much of its population eventually migrated to

Chenega Bay Chenega (; Alutiiq: ) is a census-designated place (CDP) on Evans Island in the Chugach Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located in Prince William Sound, the CDP consists of the Chugach Alutiiq village of Chenega Bay, which was establish ...

on nearby

Evans Island Evans Island is an island in the Prince William Sound of southern Alaska. It lies just east of Bainbridge Island across the Prince of Wales Passage. Elrington Island lies to its south, Latouche Island to its southeast, and Knight Island to its ...

after the 1964

Good Friday earthquake The 1964 Alaska earthquake, also known as the Great Alaska earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PM AKST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964.

and accompanying

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

. Chenega Island and its surrounding habitat were also heavily impacted by the 1989

Exxon Valdez oil spill The ''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill was a major environmental disaster that occurred in Alaska's Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989. The spill occurred when ''Exxon Valdez'', an oil supertanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company, bound for Long Be ...

. The island has a land area of 57.084 km² (22.04 sq mi) and, after the mass emigration, was unpopulated as of the 2000 census.

Demographics

The original settlement of Chenega on Chenega Island first appeared on the 1880 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. It did not appear on the 1890 census, but was separately returned in 1900. It did not appear again until 1930 and 1940 when it was erroneously called "Chanega." It was returned again in 1950 and 1960 as Chenega. With the destruction of the village in 1964 and departure of most of its remaining residents, it ceased to appear on the census as a separate village. The present (new) Chenega, a census-designated place (CDP), is located on Evans Island.

References

Chenega Island: Block 1051, Census Tract 3, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska
United States Census Bureau Islands of Alaska Islands of Chugach Census Area, Alaska Islands of Unorganized Borough, Alaska Uninhabited islands of Alaska {{ChugachAK-geo-stub