A mere 50 miles separates Alaska’s Cape Prince of Wales from Cape Dezhnev, the easternmost point of mainland Eurasia. The cape, which lies at the end of the Chukchi Peninsula between the Bering and Chukchi seas, is named for Russian explorer Semyon Dezhnev, who successfully navigated the Bering Strait in 1648 — some 80 years before Vitus Bering sailed through it. (A lighthouse and memorial built on the point stand in tribute to Dezhnev’s feat.) A number of settlements once dotted the peninsula, a former hub for whalers and fur traders; Uelen, the only village still inhabited, is home to a bone-carving studio where local Chukchi and Yupik (Asiatic Eskimo) artisans carve museum-quality art from walrus ivory. Naukan, an ancient Yupik settlement located a few miles from Cape Dezhnev, was abolished during the 1950s, although archaeologists continue to find artefacts among the ruins.