<P> The western coast belongs to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, a Federal subject of Russia . Major towns that lie along the Strait include Lorino (1,267 people) and Lavrentiya (1,459 people). </P> <P> The Diomede Islands lie midway in the Strait . The village in Little Diomede has a school which belongs to Alaska's Bering Strait School District . </P> <P> The earliest reference of the strait were from maps from the Polo family; based on the adventures of Marco Polo . From at least 1562, European geographers thought that there was a Strait of Anián between Asia and North America . In 1648, Semyon Dezhnyov probably passed through the strait, but his report did not reach Europe . Danish - born Russian navigator Vitus Bering entered it in 1728 . In 1732, Mikhail Gvozdev crossed it for the first time, from Asia to America . Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld in 1878--79 sailed along the northern coast of Siberia, thereby proving that there was no northern land bridge from Asia to North America . </P> <P> In March 1913, Captain Max Gottschalk (German) crossed from the east cape of Siberia to Shishmaref, Alaska, on dogsled via Little and Big Diomede islands . He was the first documented modern voyager to cross from Russia to North America without the use of a boat . </P>

When was the last time the bering strait was frozen