Nome

Seaport and peninsula in northwest Alaska, USA, on the north shore of Norton Sound, south of the Seward Peninsula, 21 km/13 mi west of Cape Nome; population (2000) 3,500. The city is the commercial, service, and supply centre for northwest Alaska, and is the site of federal buildings, schools, and a hospital. Its harbour is ice-free between May and November. A civilian airport and a number of military airforce-bases are located in the vicinity. Fur-farming, trapping, and fishing are the main occupations.

The port's name derives from the misreading of a naval chart; the site being marked ‘?Name’.

Nome lies in a vast gold-mining area, discovered in 1899. Founded as a prospectors' camp in 1896, it grew rapidly during the Alaskan gold-rush.

Estimates put the population of the prospector's camp as high as 20,000 at its peak. A fire in 1934 destroyed most of the original buildings. The annual Iditarod Sled Dog Race runs from Anchorage to Nome each March.