 The only populated island is Shemya; the U.S. Coast Guard station on Attu closed in 2010 and all inhabitants left the island later that year.The islands were named "Near Islands" by Russian explorers in the 18th century because they were the nearest of the Aleutian Islands to Russia (that is, if one excludes the Commander Islands).During the Second World War, the Imperial Japanese Army occupied the Near Islands in 1942, being the first foreign military to occupy American soil since the War of 1812.