The Chukchi Peninsula (also Chukotka Peninsula or Chukotski Peninsula; russian: Чуко́тский полуо́стров, ''Chukotskiy poluostrov'', short form russian: Чуко́тка, ''Chukotka''), at about 66° N 172° W, is the easternmost peninsula of
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
. Its eastern end is at
Cape Dezhnev
Cape Dezhnyov or Cape Dezhnev (; ), formerly known as East Cape or Cape Vostochny, is a cape that forms the easternmost mainland point of Asia. It is located on the Chukchi Peninsula in the very sparsely populated Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of ...
near the village of
Uelen
Uelen (russian: Уэлéн; Chukchi: , ''Uvèlèn''; Siberian Yupik: Улыӄ, ''Ulyḳ''; Naukan Yupik: Олыӄ, ''Oleq''; also known as Whalen in older English-language sources and Ugelen on USCGS charts) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') ...
. The
Chukotka Mountains
The Chukotka Mountains ( rus, Чукотское нагорье) or Chukotka Upland ''(Чукотская горная страна)'' is a mountainous area in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia.[Chukchi Sea
Chukchi Sea ( rus, Чуко́тское мо́ре, r=Chukotskoye more, p=tɕʊˈkotskəjə ˈmorʲɪ), sometimes referred to as the Chuuk Sea, Chukotsk Sea or the Sea of Chukotsk, is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west b ...]
to the north, the
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...
to the south, and the
Bering Strait to the east, where at its easternmost point it is only about from
Seward Peninsula
The Seward Peninsula is a large peninsula on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska whose westernmost point is Cape Prince of Wales. The peninsula projects about into the Bering Sea between Norton Sound, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi S ...
in
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
; this is the smallest distance between the land masses of Eurasia and
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
. The peninsula is part of
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Chukotka (russian: Чуко́тка), officially the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug,, ''Čukotkakèn avtonomnykèn okrug'', is the easternmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia. It is an autonomous okrug situated in the Russian ...
of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
.
"Chukchi Peninsula"
Encyclopedia.com
Accessed September 2010.
The peninsula is traditionally the home of tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...
s of the indigenous peoples of Siberia
Siberia, including the Russian Far East, is a vast region spanning the northern part of the Asian continent, and forming the Asiatic portion of Russia. As a result of the Russian conquest of Siberia (17th to 19th centuries) and of the subseque ...
as well as some Russian settlers. It lies along the Northern Sea Route
The Northern Sea Route (NSR) (russian: Се́верный морско́й путь, ''Severnyy morskoy put'', shortened to Севморпуть, ''Sevmorput'') is a shipping route officially defined by Russian legislation as lying east of No ...
, or Northeast Passage
The Northeast Passage (abbreviated as NEP) is the shipping route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Russia. The western route through the islands of Canada is accordingly called the Northwest Passage (N ...
. Industries on the peninsula are mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
(tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
, lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
, zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
, gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
, and coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
), hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
and trapping
Animal trapping, or simply trapping or gin, is the use of a device to remotely catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, the fur trade, hunting, pest control, and wildlife management.
History
Neolithic ...
, reindeer
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
raising, and fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
.
In the Bering Strait about halfway between the peninsula and the Seward Peninsula are the fairly small Diomede Islands
The Diomede Islands (; russian: острова́ Диоми́да, translit=ostrová Diomída), also known in Russia as Gvozdev Islands (russian: острова́ Гво́здева, translit=ostrová Gvozdjeva), consist of two rocky, mesa-like i ...
; the western one is Big Diomede
, image_name = Bigdiomecropped.jpg
, image_caption = Big Diomede seen from its nearest neighbor, Little Diomede
, map_caption =
, locator_map_size =
, nickname =
, location = Bering Strait
, coordinates =
, archipelago =Diomede Isl ...
, Russia and the eastern one is Little Diomede Island
Little Diomede Island or “Yesterday Isle” ( ik, Iŋaliq, formerly known as Krusenstern Island, , Alaska. The much larger St. Lawrence Island
St. Lawrence Island ( ess, Sivuqaq, russian: Остров Святого Лаврентия, Ostrov Svyatogo Lavrentiya) is located west of mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea, just south of the Bering Strait. The village of Gambell, located on t ...
, Alaska is about southeast of the peninsula's southernmost point.
See also
* Arctic Alaska-Chukotka terrane
The Arctic Alaska-Chukotka terrane (AAC) is a microcontinent that today encompasses the North Slope, Brooks Range, and Seward Peninsula of northern Alaska; the Chukotka Peninsula, New Siberia Islands, and Wrangel Island in eastern Siberia; and ...
* Providence Bay
Providence Bay (russian: Бу́хта Провиде́ния, ''Bukhta Provideniya'') is a fjord in the southern coast of the Chukchi Peninsula of northeastern Siberia. It was a popular rendezvous, wintering spot, and provisioning spot for whaler ...
* Chukotka sled-dog
References
Further reading
* Aĭnana, L., and Richard L. Bland. ''Umiak the traditional skin boat of the coast dwellers of the Chukchi Peninsula : compiled in the communities of Provideniya and Sireniki, Chukotka Autonomous Region, Russia 1997-2000''. Anchorage: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Park Service, 2003.
* Dinesman, Lev Georgievich. ''Secular dynamics of coastal zone ecosystems of the northeastern Chukchi Peninsula Chukotka : cultural layers and natural depositions from the last millennia''. Tübingen ermany Mo Vince, 1999.
* Dikov, Nikolaĭ Nikolaevich. ''Asia at the Juncture with America in Antiquity The Stone Age of the Chukchi Peninsula''. St. Petersburg: "Nauka", 1993.
* Frazier, Ian, ''Travels in Siberia,'' Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2010. Travelogue in Siberia.
* Portenko, L. A., and Douglas Siegel-Causey. ''Birds of the Chukchi Peninsula and Wrangel Island = Ptitsy Chukotskogo Poluostrova I Ostrova Vrangelya''. New Delhi: Published for the Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C., by Amerind, 1981.
Peninsulas of Russia
Landforms of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Landforms of the Chukchi Sea
Peninsulas of Asia
Beringia
{{ChukotkaAutonomousOkrug-geo-stub