group of c. 1,100 islands in Alas., off the SE coast
Origin:
after Alexander II, czar at the time Alas. was sold to the U.S.
See Alexander Archipelago in American Heritage Dictionary 4
A group of more than 1,000 islands off southeast Alaska. The rugged, heavily forested islands are the exposed tops of submerged coastal mountains that rise steeply from the Pacific Ocean.