St. Lawrence Island: description, coordinates, photos

St. Lawrence Island is a territory that belongs to Alaska (USA) and is located in the Bering Strait. He is named in honor of the saint, the Eskimos originally called him Sivukak.

Geographical position

St. Lawrence Island is located in the North Pacific. What makes it interesting is that it is located between the Old and New Worlds, between the continents of Eurasia and North America.

In addition, the island was at the junction of two oceans -Pacific and Arctic, in the Bering Sea, which is the marginal sea of ​​the Pacific Ocean. It has coordinates 170 ° W. d. and 63 ° s. sh. St. Lawrence Island is located 231 km southwest of Nome (USA, Alaska). And it is located 74 km northeast of Chukotka (Russia, Chukotka Peninsula). The island is 140 km long and 35 km wide.

Nature

The landscape is devoid of variety, represented by a plainwith low hills and isolated elevations. The highest point here is Mount Atuk - more than 670 m high. It is necessary to mention a natural phenomenon - a constant polynya. This polynya is located south of the island. It is formed by the prevailing east and north winds, driving ice away from the coast into the ocean. The climate here is marine subarctic, therefore the island has very severe weather conditions.

Photos of these places show that the flora is extremelyscarce. The vegetation characteristic of the tundra zone is stunted shrubs, mainly arctic willow. In contrast to the flora there is a very diverse fauna. This is due to the proximity of strong currents, bringing large volumes of plankton, with which fish moves. Abundant food attracts mammalian coloniesand birds creating bird markets here. Every year about 3 million seabirds fly here. To eat here love Chistik, dead end, kaira, three-fingered gull and loon.

History

The interesting location is not surprising becausethat this island is a remnant of an isthmus between two continents. Otherwise, we can say the "fragment" of the land bridge. This suggests that here there used to be earthly land, on which prehistoric travelers passed part of their route during the time of the settlement of America.

The island was discovered by a Russian expedition underthe leadership of a Dane by descent, officer of the fleet of Russia Vitus Bering. This event occurred in August 1728, the day when the feast of St. Lawrence was.

Population

Interesting moment of settlement of the island.People here appeared about 2 thousand years ago. These were Eskimos from Alaska and Chukotka. Now the people are called yutami - by the name of the language, similar to the Chukchi. And this is not by chance. In their language and culture can be traced a clear similarity with the languages ​​of the peoples of Chukotka. The settlement of the island by man in the prehistoric and early historical stages was temporary. Periods of settlement and leaving the island succeeded each other, depending on weather conditions and the availability of resources for survival. Studies of human bones and teeth found on the island indicate a constant hunger. The island was more used as a hunting ground, all the more so in the calm weather you can reach the mainland without obstacles.

They lived in round houses divided into twoparts. The warm part of the house is residential. The cold part of the house was the place where most of the business was done. People were fascinated by bone carving of a mined beast. The carvings covered all household items. In particular, hunting gear, weapons.

Yuity believed that carved images of animalsbring good luck on the hunt. Relations with animals here are characteristic of the shamanic worldview. Animals were used as symbols for amulets (most often they were crows, walrus, dogs). And the relationship with the animals lined up special. So, only the person whomchose the spirit of this beast. He was treated with care as a guest. When it was always someone present, the animal appeased with music and food. All this is because uity believed that the whale would return later.

Wolves and killer whales in myths and fairy tales were considered one animal. In the summer - the killer whale, in the winter - the wolf. In her winter guise she helped the hunters kill the deer.

Population

Численность постоянного населения составляла 4000 people until the end of the 18th century. Then it fell sharply to 1,000 people and remains at this level to this day. 40% of residents are young people under the age of 20 years. The appearance of Russians and Americans there is not associated with a decrease in the island’s population.

This is the fault of hunger, because of which two thirdsthe Eskimos were forced to leave the island. Photos, however, illustrate that there are settlements. Now there are two towns: Gambell and Savoonga. They are mostly inhabited by the Eskimos.

US Islands

In the strait, located between Eurasia and North America, there passes the state border between two countries - Russia and the United States. Therefore, one part of the islands is Russian, the other is American.

St. Lawrence Island is located in the northparts of the Bering Sea, the southern part of the Bering Strait, south-east of the Chukotka Peninsula and west of Alaska. Near the shores of Russia is the island of St. Lawrence. Whose is he? This question can be answered like this: now it is part of the state of Alaska. Over time, political changes influenced the Bering Strait, its islands were transferred from one country to another, so now, looking at the map, it is easy to get confused about what state they belong to.

Historically, this islandbelongs to the United States, although it is located closer to Chukotka. In the Bering Strait there are also Diomede Islands, which received their name also in honor of the saint. On the day of his worship, they were discovered by V. Bering, as well as the island of St. Lawrence. The second name of the Diomede Islands is the Gvozdyovs Islands, in honor of the brothers who first mapped them. Ratmanov Island, located to the west, belongs to Russia. Krusenstern Island, located to the east, belongs to the United States. Thus, between these two islands is the border of the states. Back in the Bering Strait is about. Fairway (southeast of Diomede Islands), owned by the United States.

Administrative submission

Administratively, the island is included in the census area.population of Nome, which, in turn, is included in another territorial unit - unorganized boro. This is a specific administrative unit that exists in Alaska. It is created in places where the population is small, self-government cannot be organized, but a census is necessary. For convenience, the unorganized boro in Alaska is divided into 11 zones, one of which is the mentioned zone Nome. Residents are almost equally distributed between the two towns - Gambell and Savoonga. The town got its name Gambell in honor of the first teacher on the island, who died with the whole family in a terrible storm on the ship "Jane Gray" in 1898. There are no other settlements here. Although there is no competition between towns for supremacy, the city of Gambell until the tragedy of 1898 was called the Eskimos of Sivukak, like the whole island, which nevertheless gives it particular importance.

Activities of the inhabitants of the island

The inhabitants of the island are engaged in fishing, whaling,bone carving. The bone carving is no longer imbued with such protective meaning as before. Now it is souvenirs for sale. Also, residents collect berries and eggs of wild seabirds. Reindeer breeding is present, but this occupation appeared relatively recently, after the import of deer to the island. Greenland whales are harvested here in such quantities that the village of Savunga is also called the “whale capital of the world”. In addition, there is an annual whale festival.

Sometimes tourists visit the island, attracted by a cemetery of abandoned ships. The picturesque views of the dead bodies among the harsh cold shores are depicted in the photo.

Island and USA

In the period from 1952 to 1972, part of the island’s land belonged to the American military.

The people of the island participated in the Second World War- served in the territorial protection of Alaska (ATG). In 1947, this unit was dissolved. And in 1952, the islanders continued to participate in the defense of the island in the Alaska National Guard created. At the same time, an air force radar station was built, which had a closed status.

In the period of escalation of the conflict between the USSR and the USA inBering Strait incident occurred. 06/22/1955 Two Soviet fighters shot down an American espionage modification aircraft. The crew consisted of eleven people. Three of them were injured during the shelling, and another four during the fall. Diplomatic documents have been preserved, of which it is known that the government of the USSR reacted peacefully to the incident, but the whole truth was not told.

Although the plane was in the USSR and wasa shootout, the Russian military executed an order not to take action outside the country. And the readiness of the Soviet government to compensate for half of the losses of the United States was an expression of peaceful mood. Moreover, there was a clarification that a skirmish occurred in cloudy weather, when everyone could be mistaken due to low visibility. The incident was settled.

Radar station at the other endIsland, was the object of the US Air Force and carried out aerocontrol and warning, was a monitoring station. Some Eskimo families have traditionally located in this area for centuries. Some time after the closure of the station, the population was observed deteriorating health. Cancer and other diseases in people who grew up in the area, occurred more often. This continues to this day, despite the fact that the United States had an expensive clean-up program for the destruction of the station. Neighborhood poisoned by PCBs. Monitoring continues.

After the withdrawal of the military population receivedexcavate bones for carving, which in two “bone pits” has accumulated a huge number of centuries of relief. As well as the population was given the right to catch fish and sea animals in these places. The acquisition of these rights was promoted by the public.