St. Lawrence Island (Central Siberian Yupik: Sivuqaq) is located west of mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea, just south of the Bering Strait. The village of Gambell is located on the northwest cape, 58 km (36 mi) from the Chukchi Peninsula in the Russian Far East. The island is part of Alaska, but closer to Siberia than to the Alaskan mainland. St. Lawrence Island is thought to be one of the last exposed portions of the land bridge that once joined Asia with North America during the Pleistocene period.