The Untold Story of the Diomede Islands, Where America and Russia Are a Day Apart

Two islands. One American, one Russian. Just 2.4 miles apart, and separated by 21 hours. Little Diomede belongs to Alaska. Big Diomede belongs to Russia. Between them runs the International Date Line, so standing on one island on a Sunday afternoon, you can look across the water at Monday. For thousands of years, the Iñupiat people here crossed this strait freely. They hunted together, traded, and married across it. Then, in 1948, the crossing stopped. This is the untold story of how a line on a map split a people between two empires, how a woman swam across the Cold War border, and how a single flight helped open it again. CHAPTERS 0:00 Two Islands, Two Days 0:50 The Map 2:57 When the Strait Was Land 5:11 The People of the Rock 7:31 Empires Arrive 9:22 A Line on the Ice 11:26 The Ice Curtain Falls 13:54 The Thaw 17:01 Life on Yesterday Island 19:57 The Future of the Strait Would you step into tomorrow, or stay in today? Tell me in the comments. The Atlas Key: stories of the places where maps stop making sense. New episodes explore strange borders, forgotten islands and the history hidden in maps. Subscribe for the next episode:    / @theatlaskey   #DiomedeIslands #BeringStrait #History