You’ve probably seen the memes or heard the jokes about seeing Russia from your back porch in Alaska. It sounds like a tall tale. Honestly, for most people living in Anchorage or Fairbanks, Russia is as distant and abstract as the moon. But if you look at a specialized russia and alaska map, the reality is way more intense than the jokes suggest.
There is a spot in the middle of the Bering Strait where the two superpowers are basically neighbors sharing a fence.
The 2.4-Mile Gap
Most people assume the distance between the U.S. and Russia is hundreds, maybe thousands, of miles.
Nope.
In the middle of the Bering Strait sit two chunks of rock: Big Diomede and Little Diomede. Big Diomede is Russian territory. Little Diomede is American. The distance between them? Just about 2.4 miles.
On a clear day, you can stand on the shore of the village of Ignaluk on Little Diomede and watch the sun glint off the cliffs of Big Diomede. It’s right there. But it’s not just a physical gap; it’s a temporal one. The International Date Line runs right between these two islands. Because of that, Big Diomede is often called "Tomorrow Island" and Little Diomede is "Yesterday Island." When it's Monday morning in Alaska, it’s already Tuesday morning in Russia just a stone's throw away.
Why the Map Looks So Weird
If you look at a standard world map, the kind hanging in most classrooms, Russia and Alaska are on opposite ends. They look like they’re trying to get as far away from each other as possible.
That’s the fault of the Mercator projection.
Because it flattens a sphere into a rectangle, it stretches the areas near the poles. To really understand the russia and alaska map, you need a polar projection or an azimuthal equidistant map. These views center on the North Pole. Suddenly, you see the "Arctic Ring" where the U.S., Russia, Canada, and Scandinavia all huddle around a central icy basin.
From this perspective, the Bering Strait looks less like a divide and more like a narrow hallway.
The $7.2 Million Receipt
Back in the 1800s, the map looked very different. Alaska was "Russian America."
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Russia had been there since the early 1700s, mostly hunting sea otters for the fur trade. But by the 1860s, the otters were nearly gone, the Russian Treasury was bleeding cash from the Crimean War, and they were terrified that if another war broke out with Great Britain, the British would just seize Alaska from nearby Canada.
Basically, they decided to sell it to the highest bidder before it got stolen.
On March 30, 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William Seward inked the deal. The price was $7.2 million. That works out to roughly two cents an acre. At the time, American newspapers called it "Seward’s Folly" or "Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden." They thought we bought a giant ice box.
Then came the gold. Then the oil.
The map was redrawn forever, and Russia’s presence in North America officially ended. Today, that legacy lives on in the onion domes of Orthodox churches in Sitka and Unalaska, and in the Russian surnames of many Indigenous families across the state.
Walking Across the Border?
Could you walk from the U.S. to Russia?
Technically, yes. Practically? You’d probably end up in a Russian prison or a frozen grave.
In the winter, the "Ice Curtain" forms. The sea ice in the Bering Strait can freeze solid enough to support a person. In 2006, an adventurer named Karl Bushby and his companion actually walked across the frozen strait from Alaska to Russia. They were immediately detained by Russian border guards for lacking a proper entry permit and nearly deported.
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It’s a reminder that even though the russia and alaska map shows them nearly touching, the political distance is massive.
Modern Geopolitics on the Map
The map isn’t just about land; it’s about the water. The maritime boundary, known as the "Baker-Shevardnadze Line," was settled in 1990. It’s a jagged line that carves up the Bering Sea into Economic Exclusion Zones.
Why does this matter to you?
- Fishing Rights: This area is home to some of the richest crabbing and fishing grounds on Earth. Crossing that invisible line on the map can trigger international incidents involving the Coast Guard.
- Mineral Wealth: There are massive deposits of oil and gas under the seabed. As the Arctic ice melts, new shipping lanes are opening up, making this narrow "hallway" between Russia and Alaska one of the most strategic spots on the planet.
- Military Presence: Both sides have increased their activity here. Russia has been reopening old Soviet-era bases in the Arctic, and the U.S. has been beefing up its presence at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.
Seeing Russia for Real
If you want to actually see this map come to life, your best bet is heading to Western Alaska.
Most tourists go to Juneau or Ketchikan. You won't see Russia from there. You need to get to Nome. From Nome, you can take a small bush plane to Little Diomede (if the weather holds, which it usually doesn't).
It’s a rugged, wind-swept life. The 100 or so residents of Little Diomede live on a steep slope of granite. There are no roads, just boardwalks. And there, staring back at them across two miles of choppy, frigid water, is the massive, uninhabited cliff of Big Diomede.
It’s one of the few places on Earth where the abstract lines of a map feel heavy and real.
Actionable Insights for Map Enthusiasts
If you're fascinated by the geography of this region, don't just stick to Google Maps. Use the National Park Service's "Beringia" resources to see how the land bridge looked 20,000 years ago. You'll realize that for most of human history, Russia and Alaska weren't separated by water at all—they were one continuous subcontinent.
Check out "marine traffic" trackers online to see the sheer volume of cargo ships squeezing through the Bering Strait right now. It gives you a real-time view of how that tiny gap on the map functions as a global artery.
Lastly, if you're planning a trip to see the "edge of the world," remember that Western Alaska is remote. Travel requires bush planes, flexible schedules for weather delays, and a deep respect for the Indigenous cultures that have navigated these waters long before any maps were drawn.