Bering Strait

From Freepedia

For the country music band, see Bering Strait (band).

For the school district, see Bering Strait School District.

The Bering Strait is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, the eastmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, the westernmost point of the American continent, approximately 85 km (58 mi) in width, with a depth of 30–50 m (100–165 ft). The strait connects the Chukchi Sea (part of the Arctic Ocean) in the north with the Bering Sea (part of the Pacific Ocean) in the south. It is named for Vitus Bering, a Danish-born Russian explorer who crossed the strait in 1728.

The Diomede Islands lie directly in the middle of the Bering Strait. Little Diomede has a small school that is part of the Bering Strait School District.

Suggestions have been made for the construction of a bridge spanning the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia, dubbed by some the Intercontinental Peace Bridge, and, alternatively, for a connecting tunnel underneath the strait.

During the ice ages, the area of the strait was a land bridge known as the Bering land bridge.