Nome, city, southern Seward Peninsula, northwestern Alaska, a port on Norton Sound (an arm of the Bering Sea); incorporated 1900. It is a commercial, transportation, and tourist center of a mining region noted for its gold production. The city's Eskimo inhabitants produce a variety of handicrafts for sale. The community was founded during the rush of prospectors to the area following the discovery of gold at nearby Anvil Creek in 1898. It was called Anvil City until 1900, when it was renamed for nearby Cape Nome; in that year it had some 20,000 inhabitants, but the population decreased drastically in the following years. The city was badly damaged by fire in 1905 and 1934. Gold mining in the region was revived in the late 1970s. Population 2,301 (1980); 3,500 (1990); 3,899 (1998 estimate).
