It has been suggested that this article be merged with Diomede, Alaska. (Discuss) Proposed since September 2024. |
Native name: Iŋaliq (Inupiaq) | |
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Geography | |
Location | Bering Strait |
Coordinates | 65°45′15″N 168°55′15″W / 65.75417°N 168.92083°W |
Archipelago | Diomede Islands |
Area | 2.43 sq mi (6.3 km2) |
Highest elevation | 1,621 ft (494.1 m) |
Administration | |
Demographics | |
Population | 77[1] (2023) |
Pop. density | 33.72/sq mi (13.019/km2) |
Ethnic groups | 96% Iŋaliq Iñupiaq[2] |
Additional information | |
Time zone |
Little Diomede Island or Yesterday Island (Inupiaq: Iŋaliq, formerly known as Krusenstern Island,[a][3] Russian: остров Крузенштерна, romanized: ostrov Kruzenshterna) is an inhabited island of Alaska. It is the smaller of the two Diomede Islands located in the Bering Strait between the Alaskan mainland and Siberia. The island has one town, also called Diomede.
Big Diomede Island, located 2.33 miles (3.75 kilometers) west of Little Diomede Island, is part of Russia. Thus the two islands are separated by an international boundary. The International Date Line also runs between the two islands.
As of 2021, the town of Diomede had a population of 82, down from its recorded peak of 208 in 1998.[1][4] All the land on Little Diomede Island is officially within the town of Diomede (which, like the island as a whole, is also called Iŋaliq).[2] The island is not part of any organized borough, so some services that are normally provided to Alaskan towns by boroughs are instead provided to it directly by the state. For census purposes, it is included in the Nome Census Area.
During the Cold War, the section of the border between the U.S. and the USSR that separates Big and Little Diomede became known as the "Ice Curtain". Despite this nickname implying chilly relations, when Lynne Cox swam from Little Diomede to Big Diomede (approx. 2.2 miles (3.5 km)) in August 1987, she was congratulated jointly by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan.[5]
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