Two of the world’s largest countries, Russia and the United States, at their closest points are separated by 2.4 miles, but are 21 hours apart! Find out how ...

The closest geographic point between the borders of the United States and Russia lies in the Bering Strait, in the Pacific Ocean. At its narrowest point, the Bering Strait is about 55 miles and in the middle of the Bering Strait are two small, sparsely populated islands, Big Diomede and Little Diomede.

The larger island, Big Diomedes is the easternmost point in Russia. A mere 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometres) away is the smaller island, known as Little Diomedes, and is within the United States’ border.

These islands, located between midland Siberia and the state of Alaska, also have the International Date Line (IDL) running between the two and which is also the border between Russia and the United States.

They are also referred to as Tomorrow Island and Yesterday Isle because the IDL separates the two. Tomorrow Island (Big Diomedes) is 21 hours ahead of Yesterday Isle (Little Diomedes) although some people erroneously think these two islands are separated by 23 hours.

Between mid-December and mid-June, when the water between the two islands freezes, an intrepid explorer can just walk from one to the other!

Big Diomede has no permanent population, though it does house an important weather station. However, Little Diomede retains a permanent native population and, as of the 2010 census, Little Diomede had a population of 110, down from its recorded peak of 178 in 1990.

So we can say that Americans on Little Diomede can see into the future since Big Diomede is on the other side of the International Date Line!

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 18th, 2017