The Kodiak archipelago is home to the famous Kodiak brown bear, salmon, deer, elk, sea otters, sea lions, foxes, mountain goats, eagles, puffins, and numerous other sea birds. Alaska's Emerald Isle is varied-with ragged mountains, rolling tundra, rocky shoreline, and stretches of green spruce forests. The legacy of the seafaring Alutiiq people, the islands' first inhabitants, dates back nearly 8,000 years. Kodiak became Alaska's first permanent Russian settlement in 1792 and served for many years as Russian America's capital.
Russian influence is still strong in many island communities.
Relics of a World War II command center, effects of the devastating 1964 tidal wave, a replica of America's first Russian Orthodox chapel, the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, and the Baranov Museum are part of Kodiak's fascination.