The first European to sight the island was James Johnstone, one of George Vancouver’s officers during his 1791-1795 expedition, in 1793.

He was appointed chief manager of the Russian-American Company in 1829, effectively the first married governor of its settlements in North America (present day Alaska).

[2] Wrangel cultivated potatoes on the island, started mines, laid out roads, built bridges and government buildings and recorded geographical and ethnographical observations in a report to the navy, in his years as governor, 1829 to 1835.

Later, it became an outfitting point for hunters and explorers, and for miners using the Stikine River route to the Yukon.

The only other community is Thoms Place on the southwest side, across the Zimovia Strait from Etolin Island.