The Fox Islands are a group of island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

s in the eastern Aleutian Islands of the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

. The Fox Islands are the closest to mainland North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 in the Aleutian chain, and just east of Samalga Pass and the Islands of Four Mountains

Islands of Four Mountains

Islands of Four Mountains is an island grouping of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, United States. The chain includes, from west to east, Amukta, Chagulak, Yunaska, Herbert, Carlisle, Chuginadak, Uliaga, and Kagamil Islands. This island chain is located between Amukta Pass and the Andreanof Islands...

 group.

Inhabited by the Aleut for centuries, the islands, along with the rest of the Aleutians, were first visited by Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

ans in 1741, when a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 navigator

Navigator

A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...

 employed by the Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n navy, Vitus Bering

Vitus Bering

Vitus Jonassen Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering (also, less correNavy]], a captain-komandor known among the Russian sailors as Ivan Ivanovich. He is noted for being the first European to discover Alaska and its Aleutian Islands...

, was searching for new sources of fur

Fur

Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...

 for Russian fur trappers.

Fog

Fog

Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...

gy almost all year round, the islands are difficult to navigate due to constantly adverse weather and numerous reef

Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....

s.

The larger Fox Islands are, from west to east, Umnak

Umnak

Umnak is one of the Fox Islands of the Aleutian Islands. With of land area, it is the third largest island in the Aleutian archipelago and the 19th largest island in the United States. The island is home to a large volcanic caldera on Mount Okmok and is separated from Unalaska Island by Umnak Pass...

, Unalaska

Unalaska Island

Unalaska is an island in the Fox Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state of Alaska, at . The island has a land area of . The city of Unalaska, Alaska, covers part of the island and all of neighboring Amaknak Island where the Port of Dutch Harbor is located...

, Amaknak

Amaknak Island

Amaknak Island or Umaknak Island is an islet in Unalaska Bay, northeast of Unalaska Island in the Fox Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. The Dutch Harbor area of Unalaska, Alaska is on Amaknak Island...

, Akutan

Akutan Island

Akutan Island is an island in the Fox Islands group of the eastern Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state of Alaska. The island is approximately 18 mi in length. It contains the Mount Akutan volcano, which had a major lava eruption in 1979...

, Akun

Akun Island

Akun Island is one of the Fox Islands subgroup of the Aleutian Islands in Aleutians East Borough of southwestern Alaska, USA. It lies east of Akutan Island and southwest of Unimak Island across the Unimak Pass. The Krenitzin Islands lie to its south and southeast across the Avatanak Strait...

, Unimak

Unimak Island

Unimak Island is the largest island in the Aleutian Islands chain of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the easternmost island in the Aleutians and, with an area of 1,571.41 mi² , the ninth largest island in the United States and the 134th largest island in the world. It is home to Mount...

 and Sanak. Islands lying west of Akutan are in the Aleutians West Census Area

Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska

Aleutians West Census Area is a census area located in the U.S. state of Alaska. It contains most of the Aleutian Islands, from Attu Island in the west to Unalaska Island in the east, as well as the Pribilof Islands, which lie north of the Aleutians in the Bering Sea. As of 2010, the population is...

. From Akutan eastward they are in the Aleutians East Borough

Aleutians East Borough, Alaska

- See also :*List of airports in the Aleutians East Borough*National Register of Historic Places listings in Aleutians East Borough, Alaska-External links:*-References:...

.

Fox Islands is the English translation of the name given to the islands in the 18th century by Russian explorers and fur traders.

In fiction

The Fox Islands were the setting for the video game Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid

is a videogame by Hideo Kojima. The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first published by Konami in 1998 for the PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Kojimas early MSX2 computer games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake...

and its remake Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is a stealth action video game developed by Silicon Knights and Konami that was published in for the Nintendo GameCube video game console...

, on the fictional Shadow Moses Island in a nuclear facility. In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

is a video game developed by Kojima Productions for the PlayStation 3 console. The game was directed by Hideo Kojima and made its worldwide release on June 12, 2008, ten years after the release of Metal Gear Solid and twenty years after the North American release of Metal Gear.Guns of the Patriots...

, which is set in 2014, it is stated that the Fox Islands will eventually sink below the ocean due to global warming

Global warming

Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...

. Act 4 of Metal Gear Solid 4 also takes place at the fictional Shadow Moses Island.