Travel Guide Kotzebue

Gateway by plane to the nearby Kobuk Valley National Park, Kotzebue owes its name to the eponymous strait. Located at the tip of the Baldwin Peninsula, 50 km north of the Arctic Circle, its title means in Inupiaq almost an island. Kotzebue was once a gathering and trading center for the entire region. The Noatak, Selawik and Kobuk rivers flow into the Gulf of Kotzebue, naturally creating a center for transportation. In addition to the inhabitants of the Alaskan interior villages, people from the Russian Far East also came here to trade. Furs, whale oil, weapons and sealskins were traded. People also gathered for competitions such as the current WorldEskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO). Then the trading center grew in importance with the arrival of whalers, gold seekers, traders and missionaries.Today, this small town of about 3,500 people is the headquarters of the Northwest Alaska Native Association (NANA), one of 13 regional native corporations established in 1971. Here many residents still live the old-fashioned way, spreading their nets in Kotzebue Bay or across the Kobuk and Noakak rivers. A short visit is necessary to discover their way of life