(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Kotzebue Alaska is a city in Northwest Arctic Borough of Alaska. According to
2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 3,237.
Geography
Kotzebue lies on a gravel spit at the end of the Baldwin Peninsula in the
Kotzebue Sound. It is 53 km (33 miles) north of the arctic circle on Alaska's
western coast.
History
There is archaeological evidence that Inupiat people have lived at Kotzebue
since at least the 1400s. Because of its location, Kotzebue was a trading and
gathering center for the entire area. The Noatak, Selawik and Kobuk Rivers drain
into the Kotzebue Sound near Kotzebue to form a center for transportation to
points inland. In addition to people from interior villages, inhabitants of the
Russian Far East came to trade at Kotzebue. Furs, seal-oil, hides, rifles,
ammunition, and seal skins were some of the items traded. People also gathered
for competitions like the current World Eskimo Olympics. With the arrival of the
whalers, traders, gold seekers, and missionaries the trading center expanded.
Kotzebue, known natively as Kikiktagruk or Qikiqtagruk, which means "almost an
island" in Inupiaq, the language of the Inupiat, which is a reference to the
spit. The name of the town was later changed to Kotzebue after the name of the
Kotzebue Sound which was named after Otto von Kotzebue, who explored the sound
while searching for the Northwest Passage in the service of Russia in 1818.
Reindeer herding was introduced in the area in 1897. Although Alaska had
caribou, the wild form of reindeer, the domesticated reindeer were brought to
Alaska from Asia.
A United States post office was established in 1899.
