Big Diomede Island
island in the Bering Strait, Russia
Big Diomede Island or Ratmanov Island (Russian: Остров Ратманова, romanized: ostrov Ratmanova; Chukot: Имэлин; Inupiaq: Imaqłiq) is the western island of the two Diomede Islands in the middle of the Bering Strait. The island is home to a Russian military base, which is located midway along the island's north shore. The island is a part of the Chukotsky District of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia. The border separating Russia and the United States runs north–south through the four-kilometer-wide strait that runs between the two islands.
The island is almost a day ahead of Little Diomede Island because they are separated by the International Date Line; as a result, it is sometimes referred to as Tomorrow Island.
Geography
Big Diomede Island is located about 45 kilometres (28 mi) southeast of Cape Dezhnev on the Chukchi Peninsula and is Russia's easternmost point by direction of travel. It is west of the International Date Line, although in the western hemisphere by longitude. The coordinates are 65°46′52″N 169°03′25″W. The rocky tuya-type island has an area of about 29 km2 (11 sq mi) The International Date Line is about 1.3 kilometres (0.81 mi) east of the island. The highest point of the island is Krysha peak standing 505 metres (1,657 ft) tall. There is a weather station on the north coast at 65°48′50″N 169°02′5″W. There is a helipad at 65°48′36″N 169°01′46″W.
History
The island was originally inhabited by Iñupiat.
The public source identifies “Big Diomede Island” as island in the Bering Strait, Russia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Diomede, Island and island.
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The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q958528. Authority coordinates are 65.781, -169.057. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Big Diomede Island” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.