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Rocky, barren and frozen, the island has a weather station and a single permanent settlement. The island is a breeding ground for polar bears, seals and lemmings. During the summer it is visited by many types of birds.

The island is named for Baron Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel who, after hearing of stories of an island at Wrangel Island's coordinates from some Chukchi, set off on an expedition ( 1820Events January 1 Constitutionalist military insurrection at Cadiz leads to summoning of Spanish parliament ( March 7) and restoration of 1812 Constitution ( March 8) by king Ferdinand VII. January 29 George the Prince Regent becomes king George IV of the- 1824Events January 22 Ashantis crush British forces in the Gold Coast Cimetiere du Montparnasse established The Dutch sign the Masang Agreement temporarily ending hostilities in the Padri War March 17 signing of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. March 11 The Un) to discover the island, with no success.

Thomas Long, an American whalingAlbert I of Monaco) pose while flensing a catch Whaling is the hunting and killing of whales. Historically, poor conservation management by many nations led to far more whales being killed than could be sustained and to near extinction of several species. captain, finally discovered it and named it after Baron Wrangel.

In 19111911 is a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). Events January-June January 1 Northern Territory is separated from South Australia January 3 In London, a shootout between Russian anarchists and the Scots Guard January 10 Major Jimmi, a group of Russians made a landing on the island, and in 1921Events January 2 The first religious radio broadcast ( KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) January 2 Spanish liner Santa Isabel sinks off Villa Garcia 244 dead January 2 DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens. January 20 Republic of Turke Vilhjalmur StefanssonVilhjalmur Stefansson ( 1879 1962) was an Icelandic Arctic explorer and ethnologist. Stefansson was an extremely well-known explorer in his lifetime. There are many good articles about his life on the Internet. They generally fail to mention that, through sent a small party of InuitInuit (, singular Inuk or Inuq / ) is a general term for a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples of the Arctic who descended from the Thule. The Inuit Circumpolar Conference defines its constitutency to include Canadian Inuit and Inuvialuit, Gree settlers in a speculative attempt to claim the island for Canada. In 1926 the Soviet Union ejected the survivors of Stefansson's Inuit squatters and established the settlement that survives to this day on the island.

The Soviet government also used the island for a gulag labour camp.

During the last ice age, it is thought that large numbers of mammoths lived on Wrangel Island. It has been shown that mammoths survived on Wrangel Island until 1700 B.C. However, due to limited food supply, they were much smaller than the typical mammoth.

Wrangel Island lies across the 180° meridian. The International date line is displaced eastwards at this latitude to avoid the island as well as Chukotka on the Russian mainland.