00:00Alcatraz Island is a small island 1.25 miles offshore of San Francisco, California, United
00:13States.
00:15The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military
00:21fortification, and a military prison.
00:23In 1934, the island was converted into a federal prison, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.
00:30The strong currents around the island and cold water temperatures made escape nearly
00:34impossible, and the prison became one of the most notorious in American history.
00:39The prison closed in 1963, and the island is now a major tourist attraction.
00:44Beginning in November 1969, the island was occupied for more than 19 months by a group
00:50of Native Americans, initially primarily from San Francisco, who were later joined
00:55by AIME and other urban Indians from other parts of the country, who were part of a wave
00:59of Native American activists organizing public protests across the U.S. through the 1970s.
01:05In 1972, Alcatraz was transferred to the Department of Interior to become part of Golden Gate
01:11National Recreation Area.
01:13It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
01:18Today, the island's facilities are managed by the National Park Service as part of the
01:22Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
01:26Visitors can reach the island by ferry ride from Pier 33, located between the San Francisco
01:31Ferry Building and Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco.
01:35Hornblower Cruises, operating under the name Alcatraz Cruises, is the official ferry provider
01:41to and from the island.
01:42Alcatraz Island is the site of the abandoned federal prison, the oldest operating lighthouse
01:47on the west coast of the United States.
01:50Early military fortifications, and natural features such as rock pools and a seabird
01:55colony, mostly western gulls, cormorants, and egrets.
01:59According to a 1971 documentary on the history of Alcatraz, the island measures 1,675 feet
02:07by 590 feet and is 135 feet at its highest point during mean tide.
02:13The total area of the island is reported to be 22 acres.
02:17Landmarks on the island include the main cell house, dining hall, lighthouse, the ruins
02:22of the warden's house and social hall, parade grounds, building 64, water tower, new industries
02:28building, model industries building, and the recreation yard.
02:33The first European to document the islands of San Francisco Bay was Spanish naval officer
02:38and explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala during Spanish rule of California.
02:43He charted San Francisco Bay in 1775.
02:47He named today's Yerba Buena Island, La Isla de los Alcatraces.
02:51Which translates as, the island of the Gannets, but is commonly believed to translate as,
02:56the island of the Pelicans, the modern Spanish word for, pelican, is pelicana.
03:01From the archaic Spanish Alcatraz, pelican.
03:04There are no Gannets native to the Pacific coast, making the older Spanish usage more
03:09likely.
03:10Yerba Buena Island was labeled on Ayala's 1775 chart of San Francisco Bay as, Isla de
03:16Alcatraces.
03:17The name was later applied to the rock now known as Alcatraz Island by Captain Frederick
03:22W. Beachy, an English naval officer and explorer.
03:27Over the years, the Spanish version of, Alcatraz, became popular and is now widely used.
03:32In August 1827, for instance, French Captain Auguste Bernard d'Outzilly wrote, Running
03:38past Alcatraz's, pelicans, island, covered with a countless number of these birds.
03:44A gun fired over the feathered legions caused them to fly up in a gray cloud and with a
03:48noise like a hurricane.
03:51The California brown pelican, Pelicanus occidentalis californicus, is not known to nest on the
03:56island today.
03:58The Spanish built several small buildings on the island and other minor structures.
04:03That is all.
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