The Aleutian Islands are a chain of 14 large volcanic islands and 55 smaller ones belonging to both the United States and Russia. They extend 1,200 miles from Alaska in North America to Kamchatka in East Asia, and they are located between the Bering Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. Along with Hawaii, the Aleutian Islands suffered one of only two attacks on US territory during World War II during the 1942-1943 Battle of the Aleutians, during which the Japanese occupied the islands before being forced back by the Americans. In 2000, the islands had a population of 8,163 people, almost all of them being native Aleuts.