Bering Strait

Bering Strait
The Bering Strait
Bering Strait
Nautical chart of the Bering Strait
Location	North Asia and Northern America
Coordinates	65°51′41″N 168°53′10.5″W / 65.86139°N 168.886250°W / 65.86139; -168.886250
Basin countries	Russia, United States
Min. width	82 km (51 mi)
Average depth	30–50 m (98–164 ft)
Max. depth	90 m (300 ft)
Islands	Diomede Islands

The Bering Strait (Russian: Берингов пролив, romanized: Beringov proliv) is a strait between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, separating the Chukchi Peninsula of the Russian Far East from the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. The present Russia-United States maritime boundary is at 168° 58' 37" W longitude, slightly south of the Arctic Circle at about 65° 40' N latitude. The Strait is named after Vitus Bering, a Danish explorer in the service of the Russian Empire.

The Bering Strait has been the subject of the scientific theory that humans migrated from Asia to North America across a land bridge known as Beringia when lower ocean levels – a result of glaciers locking up vast amounts of water – exposed a wide stretch of the sea floor,^[1] both at the present strait and in the shallow sea north and south of it. This view of how Paleo-Indians entered America has been the dominant one for several decades and continues to be the most accepted one. Numerous successful crossings without the use of a boat have also been recorded since at least the early 20th century.