Ayon Island

Ayon

View of the village on Ayon Island
Ayon Location in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Geography
Location	East Siberian Sea
Coordinates	69°45′N 168°30′E / 69.750°N 168.500°E / 69.750; 168.500Coordinates: 69°45′N 168°30′E / 69.750°N 168.500°E / 69.750; 168.500
Area	2,000 km2 (770 sq mi)
Length	63 km (39.1 mi)
Width	38 km (23.6 mi)
Administration
Russia
Okrug	Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Demographics
Population	440 (2006)
Pop. density	0.22 /km2 (0.57 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups	Chukchi

Ayon Island is an island in the coast of Chukotka in the East Siberian Sea. The island itself consists mainly of low-lying tundra, and is primarily populated by the Chukchi people, who use the tundra as pasture for their reindeer herds.

It is located on the western side of the Chaunskaya Bay, directly off the Nutel'gyrgym Peninsula, at the eastern end of the Kolyma Gulf. The island is 63 km long and 38 km wide. It is generally low and flat and there are many small lakes and swamps. Ayon Island is separated from the mainland by the Malyy Chaunskiy Strait, a shallow channel which is barely 2 km wide in its narrowest spot. The bay to the south and east is Chaunskaya Guba. Administratively and municipally, Ayon Island belongs to Chaunsky District, part of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of the Russian Federation.

There are two small settlements, Elvuney (now abandoned) and Ayon in the northwestern end of the island.

The name of the island is thought to come from one of two sources. Firstly, it is suggested that it comes from the Chukchi word "Ayo", meaning "brain", as the islands shape is somewhat like a brain. The second school of though is that it is derived from Chukchi meaning "coming alive", in reference to the fact that although the island is covered in ice and snow during the winter, in the summer, this melts and the island provides a good pasture for reindeer herds as well as being the home to swarms of midges and gadflies.

Following the rise of communism in the Soviet Union in the first part of the twentieth century, the native herds were collectivised in 1933 into a group called "Enmitagino". Such collectivisation was very successful on the island and in 1950, the collective in Ayon was turned into a formal Kolkhoz that would eventually have around 22,000 reindeer under its control. In addition to reindeer herding, the new collective was also engaged in sea-hunting and the collection of furs.