Kanakanak is a neighborhood within the city of
Dillingham
Dillingham (), also known as Curyung, is a city in Dillingham Census Area, Alaska, United States. Incorporated in 1963, it is an important commercial fishing port on Nushagak Bay. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,24 ...
in the
Dillingham Census Area in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Alaska
Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
. It is located at , about 10 km (6 mi) southwest of downtown Dillingham. Kanakanak is the location of an
Indian Health Service
The Indian Health Service (IHS) is an operating division (OPDIV) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). IHS is responsible for providing direct medical and public health services to members of federally recognized Native ...
hospital operated by the Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation.
The name has been cited as the longest geographic
palindrome
A palindrome (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpæl.ɪn.droʊm/) is a word, palindromic number, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date "Twosday, 02/02/2020" and th ...
.
It is Yupik in origin and is said to mean "many noses," referring to the orphanage census that was located at the Kanakanak site after the 1918-1919 influenza epidemic.
References
External links
Kanakanak Hospital - Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation website
Populated places in Dillingham Census Area, Alaska
Neighborhoods in Alaska
{{DillinghamAK-geo-stub