Cape Prince of Wales

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Satellite image of the Bering Strait. Cape Dezhnev, Russia is on the left while Cape Prince of Wales, USA is on the right. Between them are the Diomede Islands, separated by the International Date Line.

Cape Prince of Wales (Russian: Мыс Принца Уэльского) (65°35′47″N 168°05′05″W﻿ / ﻿65.59639°N 168.08472°W﻿ / 65.59639; -168.08472) is the westernmost mainland point of the Americas. It was named in 1778 by Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy,[1] presumably for the Prince of Wales at the time, George Augustus Frederick. Discovered (for Europeans) in 1732, by an expedition led by a Russian military geodesist Mikhail Gvozdev in Sviatoi Gavriil (St. Gabriel);[2] later, the cape was named by Vitus Bering for Gvozdev as Mys Gvozdeva (Cape Gvozdev). The Yupik name of the cape, published by G.Sarychev in 1826,[3] was Nykhta.[4] The current name has been finally approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names Decisions in 1944.[2]

Located on the Seward Peninsula of the U.S. state of Alaska near the settlement of Wales, Cape Prince of Wales is the terminus of the Continental Divide, marking the division between the Pacific and Arctic coasts, as well as marking the limit between the Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea. It is the eastern boundary of the Bering Strait, 51 miles (82 km) opposite Cape Dezhnev, and adjacent to the Diomede Islands and Fairway Rock.[citation needed]


  1. ^ James Cook (1821). The three voyages of Captain James Cook round the world. Vol. VI. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. p. 406.
  2. ^ a b "Map of the New Discoveries in the Eastern Ocean". World Digital Library. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  4. ^ Orth, Donald J. Dictionary of Alaska Place Names. Washington, DC: GPO, 1967.

External links[edit]

Coordinates: 65°38′24″N 168°7′12″W﻿ / ﻿65.64000°N 168.12000°W﻿ / 65.64000; -168.12000