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Alaska
On January 3, 1959, Alaska was admitted to the United States as
the 49th state. The population of the state is 626,932, as of
2000. USS Alaska was named in honor of this state.
State nickname: "The Last Frontier"
Capital Juneau
Largest City Anchorage
Area Ranked 1st
- Total 1,717,854 km2
- Land 1,481,347 km2
- Water 236,507 km2
- % water 13.77%
Population Ranked 48th
- Total (2000) 626,932
- Density 0.4/km2
History
Admittance into Union
Alaska was probably first
settled by peoples who came - Order 49th
there across the Bering Land - Date January 3, 1959
Bridge, including Inuit and a Time zone Alaska: UTC-9/-8
variety of Native American Latitude 54æ40'N to 71æ50'N
groups. Most if not all of the Longitude 130æW to 173æE
pre-Columbian population of the
Americas took this route, but Width 1,300 km
continued further south and Length 2380 km
east. Elevation
-Highest 6,194 meters
The first written accounts -Mean 3,060 meters
indicate that the first -Lowest 0 meters
Europeans to reach Alaska came ISO 3166-2: US-AK
from Russia. Vitus Bering sailed
east and saw Mt. St. Elias. The Russian-American Company hunted otters for
their fur. The colony was never very profitable, because of the costs of
transportation.
At the instigation of Secretary of State William Seward, the United States
Senate approved the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 on April
9th, 1867, and the United States flag was raised on October 18th of that
same year. The purchase was not popular in the continental United States,
where Alaska became known as "Seward's Folly" or "Seward's Icebox".
Currently, Alaska celebrates the purchase on Seward's Day, the last Monday
of March, and the flag-raising on Alaska Day, the October 18.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act into United
States law on July 7, 1958 which paved the way for Alaska's admission into
the Union.
The National Statuary Hall of the United States of America is part of the
Capitol in Washington DC. Each state selected distinguished citizens and
provided statues. Most states have two. Alaska has one. The statue is of
E.L. (Bob) Bartlett (1904-1968) one of the original U. S. senators from
Alaska. He was the territorial delegate to the US Congress from 1944 to
1958, and was elected as the first senior US senator in 1958 and re-elected
in 1964. There are streets, buildings, and even the first state ferry, named
for him.
The first woman elected to statewide office was Fran Ulmer, elected as
Lieutenant Governor in 1994.
Law and Government
The capital of Alaska is Juneau and the current Governor of Alaska is Frank
H. Murkowski (Republican). Alaska's two U.S. senators are Lisa Murkowski
(Republican) and Ted Stevens (Republican).
Geography
Alaska's largest city is Anchorage. The remote, uncrowded parts are called
the Alaskan Bush.
Many acres of Alaska are managed by the federal government as National
Forests, National parks, and National Wildlife Refuges. There are places in
Alaska that are general public lands (BLM land) but they are arguably more
spectacular than many national parks in the Lower 48. Probably, nearly every
Alaska state park would be a national park in the lower 48. Many acres of
Alaska are managed by corporations (mostly, ANSCA corporations, of which
there are 13 regional ones and dozens of local ones).
Alaska is the largest state in the United States in terms of land area
(615,230 sq mi). If you superimposed Alaska on the Lower 48, Alaska would
touch Minnesota and Texas, as well as Georgia and California. One scheme for
describing the state's geography is by labelling the regions: South Central
Alaska along the coast where there are towns, citites, and petroleum
industrial plants; the Alaska Interior where there are big rivers, such as
the Yukon River and the Kuskowim River, as well as Arctic tundra lands and
shorelines; and the Alaska Panhandle where there are towns, tidewater
glaciers and extensive forests.
Alaska, with its numerous islands, has nearly 34,000 miles of coastline. The
island chain extending west from the southern tip of Alaska is called the
Aleutian Islands
Another important way of describing Alaska is by distinguishing the
transportation options. Some of Alaska is connected by roads to the highways
of Canada and the rest of the United States. These places are "on the road
system". Along the Pacific Ocean, many places have freight and passenger
service from ocean-going ships. Most places have air service (ranging from
jets on tarmac to floatplanes on lakes).
Boroughs and Census Areas The Last Frontier
Alaska has no counties in the sense of State Bird: Willow Ptarmigan
counties as in the rest of the country. State Capital: Juneau
However, the state is divided into 27
census areas and boroughs. State Flower: Forget Me Not
(Myosotis alpestris)
State Motto: "North To The Future"
Economy State Song: "Alaska's Flag"
State Tree: Sitka Spruce
The state's 1999 total gross state
product was $26 billion placing it 46th in the nation. Its Per Capita Income
for 2000 was $30,064, 15th in the nation. Alaska's main agriculture output
is seafood, although nursery stock, dairy products, vegetables, and
livestock are produced and used internally. Manufacturing is limited, with
most foodstuffs and general goods imported from elsewhere. Employment is
primarily in governmental, natural resource extraction, shipping, and
transport industries. There is also a small but growing service and tourism
sector. Its industrial outputs are crude petroleum, natural gas, coal, gold,
precious metals, zinc and other mining, seafood processing, timber and wood
products, and tourism.
Important Cities and Towns
* Anchorage * Kenai
* Bethel * Ketchikan
* Fairbanks * Kodiak
* Juneau * Sitka
* Wasilla
Education
Colleges and Universities
* Alaska Bible College * University of Alaska System
* Alaska Pacific University o University of Alaska Anchorage
* Sheldon Jackson College o University of Alaska Fairbanks
o University of Alaska Southeast
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