Little Diomede Island
| Native name: Inupiaq Iŋaliq | |
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The native Inupiat village of Diomede/Inalik on Little Diomede Island.
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| Geography | |
| Coordinates | 65°45′15″N 168°55′15″W / 65.75417°N 168.92083°WCoordinates: 65°45′15″N 168°55′15″W / 65.75417°N 168.92083°W |
| Area | 2.8 sq mi (7.3 km2) |
| Highest elevation | 494 m (1,621 ft) |
| Administration | |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 110 (2010) |
| Pop. density | 48 /sq mi (18.5 /km2) |
| Ethnic groups | 96% Iŋaliq Iñupiaq Eskimo |
| Additional information | |
| See Also: City of Diomede | |
Little Diomede Island (Inupiat: Iŋaliq, formerly known as Krusenstern Island is an island of Alaska, United States. It is the smaller of the two Diomede Islands located in the middle of the Bering Strait between the Alaska mainland and Siberia.
Little Diomede's neighboring island, Big Diomede, is about 2.33 miles (3.75 kilometers) to the west, but is part of Russia and west of the International Date Line. Unlike its larger Russian neighbor, Little Diomede retains a permanent native population. As of the 2010 census, Little Diomede had a population of 110, down from its recorded peak of 178 in 1990. The entirety of the island is in the City of Diomede (Inupiat: Iŋaliq meaning "the other one" or "the one over there"). The island is not part of any organized borough, so some services are provided 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 USA and the USSR separating Big and Little Diomede became known as the "Ice Curtain". In 1987, however, Lynne Cox swam from Little Diomede to Big Diomede (approx. 2.2 miles (3.5 km)) and was congratulated jointly by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan.
Little Diomede was featured in the first episode of Full Circle with Michael Palin, a BBC documentary series in which the broadcaster Michael Palin traversed many of the countries of the Pacific Rim.
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