Sisualik, Alaska Explained

Sisualik
Settlement Type:Unincorporated community
Pushpin Map:USA Alaska
Pushpin Map Caption:Location within the state of Alaska
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:United States
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:Alaska
Subdivision Type2:Borough
Unit Pref:Imperial
Population As Of:2000
Population Density Km2:auto
Timezone:Alaska (AKST)
Utc Offset:-9
Timezone Dst:AKDT
Utc Offset Dst:-8
Coordinates:66.9942°N -162.8281°W
Postal Code Type:ZIP codes
Blank Name:FIPS code
Blank1 Name:GNIS feature ID
Blank1 Info:1413968[1]

Sisualik (from Iñupiaq, meaning "place that has beluga whales" from sisuaq "beluga whale"[2]) is a former Iñupiaq village and summer camp in the Northwest Arctic Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located by the Chukchi Sea shore on the Sheshalik Spit, 14 mi. northwest of Kotzebue.

The name of this village was recorded as "Sesualik" by Captain Frederick William Beechey in 1831. In the 1880 Census conducted by Ivan Petroff Sheshalik was listed as "Sheshalegamute" with a population of 100. Captain Calvin L. Hooper (1881, p. 44) published the name as "She-shore-lik," and U.S. Navy lieutenant George M. Stoney, in his manuscript map dated 1883, wrote it as "She-sur-are-lick." Maximum elevation 3 m.

Notes and References

  1. 1413968. Sheshalik, Alaska.
  2. William Bright, Native American Placenames of the United States