King Island (Alaska)

Location in Alaska

King Island (Inupiaq: Ugiuvak) (King's Island in early US sources) is an island in the Bering Sea, west of Alaska. It is about 40 miles (64 km) west of Cape Douglas and is south of Wales, Alaska.

King Island, Alaska. The large boulders on the top of the island are barely visible through the fog.

Abandoned stilt village Ukivok, photographed 1978. The large white building near the bottom of the slope is the former BIA school.

Ukivok about 1892. Walrus-hide summer houses and stone winter houses are visible.

King Island residents in kayaks, about 1892. The kayaks are the characteristic King Island style, several carry more than one person or items on deck, and the paddlers are using single-blade paddles. Two-blade paddles were also used.

The island is about 1 mile (1.6 km) wide. It was once the winter home of a group of about 200 Inupiat who called themselves Aseuluk. The Aseuluk spent their winters engaging in subsistence hunting on King Island and their summers engaging in similar activities on the mainland near the location of present-day Nome, Alaska. After the establishment of Nome, the islanders began to sell intricate carvings to residents of Nome during the summer. By 1970, all King Island people had moved to Nome year-round.

In 2005 and 2006 the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded a research project which brought a few King Island natives back to the Island. Some participants had not been back to the island in 50 years. The King Island Community eagerly awaits the project's results.

James Cook was the first European to sight the island in 1778 and named for Lt. James King, a member of his party. It is part of the Bering Sea unit of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.

See also

• King Island Native Community

External links

• Ancient mask returned to Alaska ghost village, MSNBC, January 18, 2008
• Photogallery of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of King Island, Alaska, Oregon State University, October 28, 2008
• Munoz photographs - King Island early 1950s
• Survey of a King Island kayak