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== History == The current location of the city is believed by some archaeologists to have been inhabited for at least 3,000 years.<ref name="usgennet.org">{{citation|url=http://www.alaskaweb.org/cmtys/diomede.html |website= alaskaweb.org | publisher= The American Local History Network| title=Diomede|year=2005}}</ref> It was originally a spring hunting campsite and the early explorers from the west found the [[Iñupiat]] (Inuit) at Diomede had an advanced culture, including elaborate [[whale hunting]] ceremonies.<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.turtletrack.org/Links/NANations/CO_NANationLinks_AB.htm | first= Paul C. | last= Barry | year= 2001 |title= Native American nations and languages |access-date=March 5, 2008 | website= turtletrack.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414043350/http://www.turtletrack.org/Links/NANations/CO_NANationLinks_AB.htm |archive-date=April 14, 2018 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> Trade occurred with both continents.<ref name= "dcced">{{cite web |title=Bering Strait CEDS 2019-2024 |url= https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/4/pub/ARDORs/2020%20report/Bering%20Strait%20CEDS.PDF |website= commerce.alaska.gov |publisher=Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development |access-date=June 23, 2021 |ref=Pg. 12}}</ref> === 1648–1867 === The first European to reach the Diomede Islands was Russian explorer [[Semyon Dezhnev]], in 1648; the next was Danish-born Russian navigator and explorer [[Vitus Bering]], who re-discovered the islands on August 16, 1728, and named the islands after martyr [[St. Diomede]], who was celebrated in the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] on that date.<ref name="AP">{{cite web |last1=Patowary |first1= Kaushik |title=Diomede Islands: Two Islands Split by the US-Russian Border and the International Date Line |url= https://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/02/diomede-islands-two-islands-split-by-us.html |website= amusingplanet.com |publisher= Amusing Planet |access-date=June 23, 2021}}</ref> The United States [[Alaska purchase|purchased Alaska]] from Russia in 1867, including Little Diomede. A new boundary was drawn between the two Diomede Islands, and the [[Big Diomede]] was left to Russia.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/02/diomede-islands-two-islands-split-by-us.html | title = Diomede Islands: Two Islands Split by the US-Russian Border and the International Date Line |website= amusingplanet.com| publisher = Amusing Planet | first = Kaushik | last = Patowary | date = February 28, 2014 | access-date = April 5, 2021 | url-status = live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140304093743/http://www.amusingplanet.com:80/2014/02/diomede-islands-two-islands-split-by-us.html |archive-date= March 4, 2014 }}</ref> === 1880s–1920s === In the town's census of 1880, 40 residents of the island were recorded.<ref>[blob:https://kawerak.org/d0fa8fbf-3abf-436e-b719-7d5655ac3991 Diomede Local Economic Development Plan] Kawerac. By Simon Ellanna Strickling et al. January 10, 2013. Submitted May 27, 2024.</ref> According to naturalist [[John Muir]], who visited the Diomede Islands in the 1880s, natives were eager to trade away everything they had. The village was perched on the steep rocky slope of the mountain, which has sheer drops into deep water. Huts were mostly built of stone with skin roofs.<ref>{{cite book| url= http://www.yosemite.ca.us/john_muir_writings/the_cruise_of_the_corwin/chapter_3.html | first=John | last= Muir | year= 1881 | title=The cruise of the Corwin| chapter= Chapter 3: Siberian Adventures| via= yosemite.ca.us| accessdate=}}</ref> During the [[Nome, Alaska|Nome]] [[gold rush]] at the turn of the 20th century, Diomede villagers traveled to Nome along with the gold seekers, even though Nome was not a native village. People from Diomede arrived in [[umiak]]s and stayed in Nome for the summer, trading and gathering items before they returned to their isolated village.<ref name="state1">{{cite web | url= http://www.dced.state.ak.us/dca/AEIS/Nome/Tourism/Nome_Tourism_Narrative.htm | publisher=State of Alaska | title= Nome census area tourism |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20040916081116/http://www.dced.state.ak.us/dca/AEIS/Nome/Tourism/Nome_Tourism_Narrative.htm | archivedate=September 16, 2004 | accessdate=}}</ref> === 1940s === According to Arthur Ahkinga, who lived on Little Diomede island at the turn of the 1940s, the Iñupiat on the island made their living by hunting and carving [[ivory]] that they traded or sold. They caught fish such as [[Cottidae|bullhead]]s, [[tomcod]]s and [[cod|blue cods]]. Whaling was still a major practice.<ref name="kawerak" /> During the winter, they used fur [[Anorak|parkas]] and skin [[mukluk]]s made out of hunted animals to protect themselves from the cold and wind. Recreational activities included [[Ice skating|skating]], [[Snowshoe#Competition|snowshoeing]], [[handball]], [[Association football|soccer]] and [[Inuit]] dancing. After dark, people spent the rest of the evening telling jokes and stories. In summer time, they traveled with skin boats equipped with outboard motors to [[Siberia]] or [[Wales, Alaska]]. Winter travel was limited to neighboring Big Diomede due to weather conditions. Between July and October, half of the population went to Nome to sell their carvings and skins and trade for supplies.<ref name= "ReferenceA">{{cite book| first=Arthur | last=Ahkinga | title= Alaska Villages 1939–1941| year= | publisher= | isbn= | pages=}}</ref> Despite being separated by the new border after the [[Alaska purchase]] in 1867, [[Big Diomede]] had been home to families now living on Little Diomede, and the people living on the American side of the border were close relatives to those living on the Russian side. The communities on both islands were separated by politics but connected by family kinships. Despite being officially forbidden, the Inuit from both islands occasionally visited their neighbors, sometimes under the cover of fog, to meet their relatives and exchange small gifts. The local schoolteachers on Little Diomede counted 178 people from Big Diomede and the Siberian mainland who visited the island within six months, between January and July in 1944.<ref name="usgennet.org" /> At the beginning of the [[Cold War]] in the late 1940s, Big Diomede became a USSR (Soviet Union) [[military base]], and all its native residents were removed to mainland Russia.<ref name= "usgennet.org" /> When people from Little Diomede went too close to the Russian side or tried to visit their relatives on the neighboring island during World War II, they were arrested. According to one of the survivors, Oscar Ahkinga, after 52 days of internment and interrogation, the Iñupiat were banished and told not to come back.<ref>{{cite book | first= Peter A. | last=Iseman | year= 1988 | title= Lifting the Ice Curtain| publisher=| isbn=| pages=}}</ref> === 1950s === The school year 1953–1954 on Little Diomede Island was adapted to better serve the local needs. Teaching took place throughout the holidays and also on some weekends in order to complete the 180 days of schooling before the [[walrus]] migration started in Spring. The annual walrus hunt was a major source of supplies and income and required the help of all inhabitants. The primary language at the time was [[Inupiat language|Inupiat]], and students were also taught English. The only means of communicating with the outside world was by so-called "Bush Phone," provided through the Alaska Communication System station in Nome.<ref name="latimes">{{cite web |last1=Berliner |first1=Jeff |title=Remote Alaska Island Dials the Right Number |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-12-15-vw-330-story.html |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date= December 15, 1988 |access-date=June 3, 2021}}</ref> Previously non-existent [[health care]] was improved with basic [[medication]] knowledge provided by seasonal teachers.<ref name="usgennet.org" /> === 1970s === During the seventies, the village on Little Diomede was gradually inhabited as a permanent [[Human settlement|settlement]] and the entire island was incorporated into the city of Diomede in 1970.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.rootsweb.com/~aknome/diomede.html | first= Everette | last= Carr | title= Diomede | publisher= American Local History Network | year= 2005| via= rootsweb.com| accessdate=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.kawerak.org/tribalHomePages/diomede/index.html | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061014202837/http://www.kawerak.org/tribalHomePages/diomede/index.html | archive-date = October 14, 2006 | access-date = April 9, 2021 | website = Kawerak, Inc. | publisher = Native Village of Diomede IRA Council | title = The Native Village of Diomede - History}}</ref> === 1980s === On August 7, 1987 the American swimmer [[Lynne Cox]] swam between American [[Little Diomede Island]] and then Soviet [[Big Diomede Island]]. Cox performed the swim as a peace gesture, hoping to help improve American-Soviet relations during the final years of the [[Cold War]]. Later that year the Soviet [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Secretary General Gorbachev]] travelled to Washington to sign [[Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty|a nuclear weapons treaty]] with American [[Ronald Reagan|President Reagan]]. After the signing ceremony Gorbachev raised his glass and proposed a toast to Lynne Cox, the swimmer. He said, "She proved by her courage how close to each other our peoples live."<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/people/lynne-cox.htm Lynne Cox: The Swim That Lifted the Iron Curtain] National Park Service. September 4, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2024.</ref> === 1990s === Little Diomede, though a whaling community prior to this, was not included in the formation of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and its needs were not taken into account in determining the bowhead quota for [[Iñupiat|Inupiat]] and [[Yupik peoples|Yupik]] because of its remote location. In 1992, Little Diomede was formally recognized as a whaling community, per the AEWC.<ref name="aewc">{{cite web |title=Our Whaling Villages |url= http://www.aewc-alaska.org/whaling-villages.html |website= aewc-alaska.org |access-date=June 24, 2021}}</ref> After the Cold War ended in December 1991, interest in reuniting with families across the Bering Strait grew. In 1994, the people of Little Diomede island collected cash and groceries while local dancers practiced almost every night as the islanders prepared for a visit of more than one hundred friends and relatives from [[Siberia]] for which they wanted to be hospitable and generous hosts.<ref name="usgennet.org"/>
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