Diomede Islands

Etymology

The islands are named for the Greek Saint Diomedes; Danish-born Russian navigator Vitus Bering sighted the Diomede Islands on 16 August (O.S., 27 August N.S.) 1728, the day on which the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of the saint.

Location

The islands are separated by an international border, which also defines the International Date Line in that area, about 2 km from each island, at 168°58'37"W. The two islands are about 3.8 km apart at their closest points.

Big Diomede Island is the easternmost point of Russia.

The Diomede Islands are often mentioned as likely intermediate stops for the hypothetical bridge or tunnel (Bering Strait crossing) spanning the Bering Strait.

An ice bridge usually spans the distance between the two islands in winter.

History

The islands were once mountaintops in the central portion of the land mass known as the Bering land bridge.

The first European to reach the Bering Strait was the Russian explorer Semyon Dezhnev in 1648. He reported two islands whose natives had bone lip ornaments, but it is not certain that these were the Diomedes. Danish navigator Vitus Bering discovered the Diomede Islands while leading a Russian expedition on 16 August (O.S., 26 August N.S.) 1728, the day when the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of the martyr St. Diomede (hence, the name of the islands). In 1732, a Russian geodesist, Mikhail Gvozdev, determined the longitude and latitude of the two islands.

The text of the 1867 treaty between the United States and Russia, which finalized the Alaska Purchase, uses the islands to designate the boundary between the two nations: the border separates "equidistantly Krusenstern Island, or Ignaluk, from Ratmanov Island, or Nunarbuk, and heads northward infinitely until it disappears completely in the Arctic Ocean".

During the Cold War, that gap constituted the border between the United States and the Soviet Union, and became known as the "Ice Curtain". In 1987, however, Lynne Cox swam from one island to the other and was congratulated by both Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan for her feat.

In the summer of 1995, British television actor and documentary presenter Michael Palin started his counterclockwise circumnavigation of the Pacific Rim, encompassing 18 countries, on Little Diomede Island, as part of the BBC series Full Circle. He intended to set foot on it again at the end of his eight-month trek but could not because of rough seas.

After establishing a military base there in 1948, the Soviet government relocated the indigenous population of Big Diomede Island to mainland Russia. The island is now inhabited only by military units. Little Diomede had an Inupiat population of 170, which had declined to 115 at the 2010 census, entirely in the village site of Diomede, Alaska on the west side of the island, though the island as a whole comprises the city of Diomede. This village has a school, a post office, and a store. Some residents are famous for their ivory carving. When weather permits, commercial air contact is maintained with the island as part of the US Essential Air Service.

References

References

1. (8 June 2023). "The Diomede Islands – Tomorrow & Yesterday Isle".
2. (18 November 2017). "Two of the world's largest countries, Russia and the United States, at their closest points are separated by 2.4 miles, but are 21 hours apart! Find out how ... {{!}} ePaper {{!}} DAWN.COM".
3. "Russia.com".
4. (2018-01-27). "Yesterday and Tomorrow Islands".
5. "Diomede Islands, Bering Straight".
6. (21 October 2011). "Could a Russia–US rail tunnel be built?". BBC News.
7. (20 January 2023). "The Diomede Islands".
8. (1996). "Life and times of the Bering land bridge". [[Nature (journal).
9. (1781). "Map of the New Discoveries in the Eastern Ocean". [[World Digital Library]].
10. Smith, Martin. January 31, 1988. "The transcendent power of the solo athlete." ''[[Orange County Register]],'' p. J1.
11. (2017-08-09). "Profile: After 70 Years, A Diomede Family Reunion".
12. Tuchman, Gary. (30 September 2008). "You CAN see Russia from here!". [[CNN]].
13. (29 October 2009). "Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Navigation Improvements and Airport, Little Diomede Island, AK". [[U.S. Environmental Protection Agency]].