KOTZEBUE

city, northwestern Alaska, U.S., at the northwestern end of Baldwin Peninsula, on Kotzebue Sound, which was named for the Russian explorer Otto von Kotzebue, who searched for the Northwest Passage (181518). Since its establishment c. 1897, it has been an important Eskimo trading centre for a number of widely scattered villages above the Arctic Circle; it also provides governmental, including health, services. Seasonal fishing is economically important. Inc. city, 1958. Pop. (1990) 2,751.