Alaska (AK).

• Region: Northwest of Canada
• Population: 733,583 (ranked 48th) (2022 estimate)
• Capital: Juneau (pop. 31,685) (2022 estimate)
• Largest city: Anchorage (pop. 287,145) (2022 estimate)
• Number of counties: 19 boroughs, 11 census areas
• State nickname: The Last Frontier; Land of the Midnight Sun
• State motto: North to the Future
• State flag: Blue field with eight gold stars forming Ursa Major and the North Star

Alaska, known as “the Last Frontier,” entered the Union as the forty-ninth state on January 3, 1959. A rich and stark land of immense size and natural wealth, it had been purchased from Russia in 1867 for a price of $7,200,000. The state is a peninsula, surrounded by water except to the east, where it shares a border with Canada’s Yukon Territory and the province of British Columbia. Alaska borders the Arctic Ocean and Beaufort Sea to the north; the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Chukchi Sea to the west; and the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The territory’s remoteness and harsh climate initially led many Americans to call the place “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s Icebox” after Secretary of State William H. Seward, who had arranged the purchase. That skepticism changed in 1898, when gold was discovered, setting off the Gold Rush of 1898 and increased immigration to the northwest. Seventy years later, huge reserves of oil and natural gas were discovered near Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Coast, solidifying Alaska's economic importance.

The terrain is a mixture of mountains and steppes, with the North Slope leading up to the Arctic coast. Alaska draws millions of visitors each year, who come to experience the state’s scenic beauty and outdoor recreation opportunities. Natural features include the rugged coastlines of the Panhandle, home to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve; as well as the mountains of central Alaska, home to Denali (Mt. McKinley)—at 20,310 feet, the highest point in North America.

The state of Alaska is home to one of the largest populations of Indigenous Americans in the nation.

State Name:Alaska is based on an Aleut word which means “the great land” or “the mainland”; the literal translation is “that which the sea breaks against.” The nickname “Last Frontier” refers to Alaska’s geographical distance from the rest of the United States. The nickname “Land of the Midnight Sun” refers to Alaska’s location near the Arctic Circle, where the sun does not set for six months out of the year.

Capital: The city of Juneau has served as the state capital since Alaska entered the Union in 1959. Juneau served as a territorial capital from 1900–59. Located on the northern Panhandle, Juneau was founded in 1880 as a gold-mining camp. It was named in honor of Joseph Juneau, one of the region’s original gold prospectors. From 1867 to 1900, the territory’s original capital was Sitka. This city, founded by the Russians, had served from the late 1700s as the capital of “Russian America.”

Flag: Alaska’s state flag has a dark blue background and eight gold stars. It was adopted as the state flag in 1959. The dark blue, the color of the state’s wildflowers, also represents the sky, sea, and lakes of Alaska. The seven stars in the lower left represent the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear or Big Dipper). The star in the top right, the North Star (Polaris), symbolizes Alaska’s position as the northernmost state in the Union. The state flag was created in 1927 by Benny Benson, a thirteen-year-old Alaskan student who entered the design into an official competition to select a territorial flag.

Official Symbols

• Flower: Forget-me-not
• Bird: Willow ptarmigan
• Tree: Sitka spruce
• Fish: King salmon
• Song: "Alaska's Flag" by Marie Drake and Elinor Dusenbury

State and National Historic Sites

• Aleutian Islands World War II National Historic Area
• Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve (King Salmon)
• Benny Benson Memorial (Seward)
• Big Delta State Historical Park (Big Delta)
• Cape Krusenstern National Monument
• Independence Mine State Historical Park (in the Talkeetna Mountains)
• Iñupiat Heritage Center (Barrow)
• Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park (Skagway)
• Saint Michael’s Cathedral (Sitka)
• Sitka National Historical Park
• Totem Bight State Historical Park

State-Specific Holidays

• Alaska Day, October 18
• Seward’s Day, Last Monday in March

DEMOGRAPHICS

• Population: 733,583 (ranked 48th) (2022 estimate)
• Population density: 1.3/sq mi (2020 estimate)
• Urban population: 64.9% (2020 estimate)
• Rural population: 35.1% (2020 estimate)
• Population under 18: 24.1% (2022 estimate)
• Population over 65: 13.9% (2022 estimate)
• White alone: 64.1% (2022 estimate)
• Black or African American alone: 3.7% (2022 estimate)
• Hispanic or Latino: 7.7% (2022 estimate)
• American Indian and Alaska Native alone: 15.7% (2022 estimate)
• Asian alone: 6.7% (2022 estimate)
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone: 1.7% (2022 estimate)
• Two or More Races: 8.2% (2022 estimate)
• Per capita income: $39,236 (ranked 14th; 2021)
• Unemployment: 4.0% (2022)

Alaska Natives: Alaska’s first inhabitants are believed to have arrived from Asia thousands of years ago, across the Bering land bridge that once connected Alaska with Siberia. Prominent Alaska Native tribes include the Inuit, the Aleuts, the Tlingits, and the Athabaskans. The Inuit, who live as far north as the Arctic Sea coast, have developed a culture able to handle the region’s harsh winters. Coastal Inuit hunt sea mammals such as the walrus. There are also inland populations who primarily hunt caribou. The Aleuts, who inhabit the southwestern Aleutian Island chain, are also largely a maritime people. When the Russians arrived in the 1740s, they forced Aleuts to work on expeditions to hunt sea otter. The Tlingits, who dominate in southeastern Alaska, historically controlled trade along the coast and the Canadian interior. The Athabaskans inhabit the Alaskan interior, as well as the coastal region along Cook Inlet.

Relations between the Alaska Native and White populations have often been rocky. White settlers and traders brought diseases, such as measles, that decimated Alaska Native villages. During the Russian period, fur traders sought to enslave Alaska Natives; Orthodox missionaries, however, played a role in the invention of writing systems for Native languages. The record of the US era has been similarly mixed. The Alaska Natives were among Alaska’s poorest residents, and schools even tried to prevent Alaska Native children from using their own languages in school. Conditions have improved, however, since statehood in 1959. Alaska Natives are able to embrace their cultures openly, and have also improved their economic situation somewhat through successful land claims against the state and the US government.

ENVIRONMENT AND GEOGRAPHY

• Total area: 665,384 sq mi (ranked 1st)
• Land area: 570,641 sq mi (85.8% of total area)
• Water area: 94,743 sq mi (14.2% of total area)
• Shoreline: 4,563 miles
• National parks: 23
• Highest point: Denali (20,310 feet)
• Lowest point: Pacific Ocean (sea level)
• Highest temperature: 100° F (Fort Yukon, June 27, 1915)
• Lowest temperature: -80° F (Prospect Creek, January 23, 1971)

Topography: Alaska is divided into several major regions: Arctic, Northwest, Yukon, Southwest, South Central (where Anchorage is located), and Southeast. The central part of the state is covered by a huge plateau. The northern part of the state is covered by the North Slope, leading up to the Arctic coast. Vast quantities of petroleum have been discovered in this region. Along the Pacific and Arctic coasts are long mountain ranges. Because of the mountainous terrain, transportation has been historically difficult between regions. Air travel, though expensive, has made travel much easier.

Major Lakes

• Becharof Lake
• Dall Lake
• Eklutna Lake
• Iliamna Lake
• Kenai Lake
• Kukaklek Lake
• Lake Clark
• Lake Louise
• Meadow Lakes
• Tangle Lakes
• Teshekpuk Lake

Major Rivers

• Chena River
• Kasilof River
• Kenai River
• Kuskokwim River
• Nenana River
• Nushagak River
• Porcupine River
• Tanana River
• Yukon River

State and National Parks: Alaska has over 150 state parks, which encompass over three million acres. These include trails, wilderness areas, recreational areas, and historic sites.

There are twenty-three national parks, including natural areas such as the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Gates of the Arctic National Preserve, and Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Historic areas operated by the National Park Service include the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park and the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area.

Natural Resources: Alaska’s immense mineral resources include petroleum and natural gas, which form a major part of the state’s economy. Gold has been important historically, as seen by the Gold Rush of 1898. Little of Alaska is arable, with agricultural land concentrated in the south-central part of the state, near Anchorage and Fairbanks. Much of the land is forested, making the lumber industry very important. The abundance of fish and marine mammals support Alaska’s commercial fishing and fur-trapping industries, respectively.

Plants and Animals: Alaska’s wildlife population is one of the most diverse in the nation, enjoying millions of acres of state parks and federal wilderness areas as habitat. Several species of bear are found there, including the black, brown, and polar varieties. Common herd animals are the caribou, moose, and musk ox. Dall sheep can be found in the mountains. Smaller mammals include fur-bearing species such as the martin and mink. Bird species include numerous species of shorebirds, as well as geese and loons. Alaska’s coastal waters are rich with fish, particularly salmon. There are also sea mammals such as seals, whales, sea lions, and walruses.

Climate: Alaska’s varied topography has produced numerous climatic regions. The central plateau has hot but brief summers and long, cold winters. The southeastern Panhandle, the heavily populated region bordering Canada, has relatively mild weather year-round, because of warm winds from the Pacific. The Aleutian Island archipelago, which sticks out into the Pacific, has cold, damp, windy weather. The Arctic coast is cold throughout the year, and the ground usually never thaws, although climate change has had significant impact in the region.

EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Major Colleges and Universities

• Alaska Pacific University (Anchorage)
• Ilisagvik College (Barrow)
• Sheldon Jackson College (Sitka)
• University of Alaska (Anchorage, Fairbanks)
• University of Alaska Southeast (Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka)

Major Museums

• Alaska Native Heritage Center (Anchorage)
• Alaska State Museum (Juneau)
• Anchorage Museum (Anchorage)
• Kodiak History Museum (Kodiak)
• Northwest Arctic Heritage Center (Kotzebue)
• Sheldon Jackson Museum (Sitka)
• Trail of ’98 Museum (Skagway)
• University of Alaska Museum of the North (Fairbanks)

Major Libraries

• Alaska State Library (Juneau)
• Anchorage Public Library (Anchorage)
• Elmer E. Rasmussen Library, University of Alaska (Fairbanks)

ECONOMY AND INFRASTRUCTURE

• Gross domestic product (in millions $USD): 63,618 (ranked 48th) (2022 estimate)
• GDP percent change: -2.4%

Airports: Because Alaska has a limited network of roads, residents rely heavily on air travel. There are nearly eighty commercial airports in the state. Between the larger regional airports one can use jet travel. To reach smaller communities, however, one must use turboprop or propeller-driven aircraft, or even floatplanes. There are over one hundred seaplane bases in Alaska. The state has one of the highest per-capita numbers of pilots and airplanes in the total population.

Seaports: Alaska, with its immense coastline, has numerous ports. Those on the Inside Passage along the Panhandle are popular with the tourist trade because of their scenic beauty and relatively mild climate. Anchorage, one of the state’s largest ports, handles tens of millions of tons of cargo annually, with petroleum accounting for a significant percentage. Other ports are located in Juneau, Sitka, Valdez, Seward, and Dutch Harbor. Ferries handle much of the passenger traffic between coastal cities.

GOVERNMENT

• Governor: Mike Dunleavy (Republican)
• Present constitution date: April 24, 1956
• Electoral votes: 3
• Number of counties: 19 boroughs, 11 census areas
• Violent crime rate: 837.8 (per 100,000 residents) (2020 estimate)
• Death penalty: No (abolished in 1957)

Constitution: The state constitution was ratified in 1956 and went into effect when Alaska entered the Union in 1959.

Branches of Government

Executive: The state’s highest elected officials are the governor and secretary of state, who are elected to four-year terms on the same ticket. They are limited to two terms, but may serve again after the passage of another term. The governor’s duties include the proposal, vetoing, and passage of legislation; oversight of state executive agencies; given pardons; and serving as commander-in-chief of state military forces. The lieutenant governor fulfills any duties prescribed by law or given by the governor, and acts as governor in place of the incumbent’s death, disability, or removal from office.

Legislative: Alaska’s legislature has two houses: a twenty-member senate and forty-member house of representatives.

Judicial: Alaska’s highest court is the State Supreme Court, which serves as the court of last resort and also hears constitutional cases. The Court of Appeals, established by the legislature in 1980, serves as a lower appellate court. The state has three kinds of trial courts: superior courts (which has general jurisdiction), district courts, and magistrate courts. Alaska has four judicial districts, each possessing a superior court. Magistrate courts serve areas that do not need a full-time district-court judge, and also ease workload on urban judges.

HISTORY

1725Vitus Bering, a Dane, explores the Northern Pacific Ocean on a voyage for Russian Emperor Peter the Great. In 1728, Bering sails through the strait which now bears his name.

1733 Bering makes his second expedition to the Northern Pacific, accompanied by German-born naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller.

1741 Bering’s expedition sights Alaska on July 14, when expedition member Alexei Chirikof sees land (probably Prince of Wales Island). This marks the first recorded European contact with Alaska. The expedition anchors off Kayak Island; Steller the naturalist goes ashore, thus becoming the first known White man to set foot in Alaska.

1743 Russian fur traders began intensive hunting of sea otter, often forcing the Aleuts to work on their hunting expeditions.

1770s Spain feels threatened by Russia’s expansion into the Pacific Northwest. The Viceroy of Mexico sends his own expeditions northward, to lay territorial claims for the Spanish crown. In 1774, Juan Perez sights Prince of Wales Island and Dixon Sound.

1776–79 Captain James Cook’s third expedition travels to the North Pacific Ocean, seeking the long-desired Northwest Passage. During this voyage, he maps the Alaskan coast.

1784 Siberian fur merchant Grigorii I. Shelikov, along with his partner Ivan Golikov, establishes a settlement on Kodiak Island. The settlement at Three Saints Bay is the first permanent Russian settlement there, as well as the first White community in the region.

1791 Alejandro Malaspina, a Spanish sea captain, explores Alaska’s northwestern coast.

1792 Grigorii Shelikov is awarded a monopoly over the Alaskan trade from Russian Empress Catherine II. That same year, Kodiak becomes the first capital of Russian America.

1794 The Russian Orthodox diocese of Irkutsk, in Russia, establishes a vicariate or mission jurisdiction in Kodiak. A year later, the first Orthodox church building is built there.

1799 Aleksandr Baranov establishes a trading post along Alaska’s southeastern panhandle. The site is today known as “Old Sitka.” Emperor Paul I grants an exclusive trade charter to the Russian American Company, which has Baranov as general manager.

1805 The Russian American Company begins sending furs directly to China.

1805–6 The Russian American Company’s director, N. P. Rezanov, visits Alaska. He tries to establish a trade agreement with Spanish California, in order to maintain regular supplies of provisions.

1808 The capital of Russian America is transferred from Kodiak to New Archangel (now Sitka).

1812 The Russian American Company establishes Fort Ross eighty miles north of San Francisco. The fort, the name of which is derived from the Russian spelling of “Russia,” operates farms and ranches to provide Alaska with supplies.

1821 Russian America’s coastal waters are placed off limits to foreigners, except at regular ports of call.

1824 The Russians begin exploration of the Alaskan interior. That same year, Father Ivan Veniaminov arrives as a missionary priest.

1840 The Russian Orthodox Church establishes a diocese for Alaska, based at Sitka. The diocese is formally known as the See of Kamchatka, Kuril, and Aleutian Islands.

Father Veniaminov is consecrated as Bishop Innocent. The Church gives him permission to use Alaska Native languages in the liturgy. (Veniaminov had published an Aleut catechism in 1834, with the help of an Aleut named Ivan Pan’kov.)

1848 The Alaskan diocese dedicates the Cathedral of St. Michael at Sitka as the seat of the bishop.

1850 The Church promotes Bishop Innocent to Archbishop and expands his diocese. His see (or Episcopal seat) is relocated to Yakutsk, in Siberia.

1849 Gold and coal are discovered on the Kenai Peninsula. Coal mining began at Coal Harbor in 1857.

1853 Oil seeps are discovered in Cook Inlet.

1859 Edouard de Stoeckl, Russia’s minister plenipotentiary to the United States, returns with authority to negotiate the sale of Alaska.

1861–65 The American Civil War. Russia fosters good relations in the Union, in part as a counterbalance to British and French influence. In 1863, the Russian Fleet visits the United States. The war takes attention, however, away from the prospect of a US purchase of Alaska. Secretary of State William Seward is unable to follow through on this plan until after the war.

1867 The United States purchases Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. The Pribilof Islands come under authority of the Treasury Department. The purchase soon becomes mockingly known as “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s Icebox,” after the US secretary of state. Formal title is transferred on October 18, at Sitka. The former capital of Russian America becomes the capital of the new American territory. Until 1877, the territory is administered by the US Army. That same year, Archbishop Innocent is elected Metropolitan of Moscow and All-Russia.

1868 Congress organizes Alaska’s government under the military Department of Alaska. US Brevet Major General Jefferson C. Davis (no relation to the former Confederate president), is placed in charge of the department.

1869 Alaska gains its first newspaper, the Sitka Times.

1870s Gold is discovered at several places in Alaska—near Sitka in 1872 and at Windham Bay (south of Juneau) in 1876.

1877–84 The Army leaves Alaska, and the Navy takes over the territory’s administration.

1878 The Sitka Training School is founded by Presbyterian missionaries John G. Brady and Fannie Kellogg to educate Tlingit Indians. The name is changed to Sheldon Jackson School in 1911, in honor of Presbyterian missionary Dr. Sheldon Jackson, Alaska’s first superintendent of education. The state’s first salmon canneries open.

1879 Metropolitan Innocent dies at the age of eighty-two. In 1977, he is recognized as St. Innocent.

1880 Juneau (eventually the state capital) is established as a gold-mining camp. It is named in honor of Joseph Juneau, one of the original prospectors.

1884 Congress passes the first Organic Act, which establishes civil government for Alaska.

1885 Presbyterian missionary Sheldon Jackson is appointed as the territory’s superintendent of schools.

1888 The United States and Canada begin surveying their Alaskan boundary.

1896 Gold is discovered in the Klondike region of Alaska. The famous Klondike Gold Rush begins the following year, when the steamer Portland arrives in Seattle carrying an immense quantity of gold. The gold rush lasts until 1900.

1898 Congress appropriates funding to establish a telegraph line between Sitka, Alaska, and Seattle, Washington.

1898–1900 The White Pass and Yukon Railroad is built.

1899 President William McKinley establishes Fort Gibbon, an Army post near Tanana. That same year, a local government is established in Nome.

1900 A civil code for Alaska is passed by Congress. This action establishes three judicial districts and moves the territorial capital from Sitka to Juneau. Congress also passes legislation to establish a military communications system for Alaska. The system, originally known as the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS), is built by the Army Signal Corps between 1900 and 1904. The system is completed when underwater telegraph cables are laid between Sitka and Seattle, Washington. WAMCATS later becomes the Alaska Communications System (ACS).

1901 The community of Fairbanks is established by E. T. Barnette.

1902 The Tongass National Forest is established by order of President Theodore Roosevelt.

1906 Alaska gains a representative in Congress, though without voting rights.

1911 The United States and four other nations (United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, and Japan) sign an agreement to control hunting for fur seals and sea otters.

1912 Alaska is organized as a territory, under the Second Organic Act. The Alaska Native Brotherhood, a fraternal and self-help organization, is organized in Sitka with the support of the Presbyterian Church.

1913 Alaska’s first Territorial Legislature meets in Juneau. In addition to other measures, the assembly gives women the right to vote.

1914 Anchorage is founded as a construction camp for the Alaska Railroad.

1916Alaska statehood is voted down by Congress.

1918 The Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines is established at Fairbanks. Established by Congress as a land-grant college, the institution later develops into the University of Alaska. The school opens for students in 1922.

1920 A city government is established in Anchorage. Alaska Native leader William Paul Sr. gains admission for Alaska Native children into White schools in southeastern Alaska.

1923 President Warren G. Harding makes an official visit to Alaska to celebrate the completion of the Alaska Railroad. On July 15, at Nenana, he drives in a golden spike to commemorate the event.

1924 All Native Americans gain US citizenship, through an act of Congress. William Paul Sr., a lawyer, becomes the first Alaska Native to be elected to the territorial legislature. He serves from 1925–29.

1925 Alaska’s territorial legislature adopts a literacy law for voting. Alaska Native leaders, including legislature member William Paul Sr., oppose this measure, seeing it as an effort to disenfranchise Alaska Native voters. In January of that same year, a dog team travels from Nenana to Nome in eight days (January 27 to February 4) to deliver badly needed diphtheria serum. This is the origin of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

1930s Radio telephone service is established in various parts of Alaska. In 1937, service is extended between Juneau and Seattle, Washington.

1936 Nell Scott of Seldovia is elected to the territorial legislature, the first woman to win this office.

1939–40 Concerned about the prospect of war with Japan, the US Navy seeks to strengthen its presence in Alaska. It establishes bases at Dutch Harbor, Sitka, and Kodiak, to house naval aircraft, destroyers, and submarines.

1940 The Army begins construction on Elmendorf Field, an air base at what becomes Fort Richardson, near Anchorage. That same year, Congress considers a measure to create a Jewish homeland in Alaska. The legislation is defeated due to opposition from Alaskans, who fear that this will open up the territory to unrestricted immigration.

1941–45 World War II. In 1942, the Japanese bomb Dutch Harbor and briefly occupy the islands of Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian chain. The United States builds the 1,488-mile Alaska Highway (a military road) that year, to protect the territory. The highway extends from Fairbanks to the Canadian community of Dawson Creek, British Columbia.

1944 The Sheldon Jackson School adds a Junior College program.

1945 Alaska passes anti-discrimination legislation. The Anti-Discrimination Act is noteworthy, because it is the first such civil-rights legislation passed in the United States (and possessions) since the Reconstruction era more than seventy years earlier.

1947 The US military establishes the Alaska Command, the nation’s first unified command—i.e., one staffed by members of all major armed services (Army, Navy, and Air Force).

1951 The Army transfers Elmendorf Army Air Base (the former Elmendorf Field) to the US Air Force. The facility takes its present name of Elmendorf Air Force Base.

1953 Alaska’s modern petroleum industry begins with the discovery of oil near the town of Eureka.

1955 Alaska holds a constitutional convention, which takes place at the University of Alaska (Fairbanks).

1956 Voters approve a state constitution and send a three-member congressional delegation to Washington under the so-called Tennessee Plan, which the state of Tennessee used to lobby for statehood in the 1790s. Under this plan, Alaskan voters elect two senators and one representative to Congress. Ernest Henry Gruening and William A. Egan are chosen as senators and Ralph Rivers as the representative. Congress refuses to recognize the three men, but they serve as lobbyists for statehood. In this effort, they work with Bob Bartlett, Alaska’s territorial delegate to Congress.

1958 Congress passes the bill for Alaska statehood, and President Eisenhower signs it.

1959 Alaska officially enters the Union on January 3, when statehood is proclaimed. The state constitution, adopted in 1956, goes into effect.

1961 Inupiat Paitot (People’s Heritage) is formed. This is the first organization to represent Alaska’s Eskimos.

1962 Howard Rock, an Eskimo, establishes the Tundra Times newspaper, the first newspaper to focus on issues affecting Alaska Natives.

1964 The largest earthquake in the history of North America strikes the Anchorage area on March 27. The quake, which measures 9.2 on the current Richter scale, kills nine people and causes nearly half a billion dollars in damage. A tsunami caused by the earthquake kills another 120 people.

1966 Alaska Native populations establish the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), in order gain a land settlement from the federal government.

1966–69 Walter J. Hickel, the leader of Alaska’s statehood effort, serves as Governor. To settle Alaska Native land claims, he establishes the Alaska Land Claims Task Force. The group recommends that the Alaska Natives receive 40 million acres. In 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act becomes law.

1968 Oil is discovered at Prudhoe Bay, on the North Slope.

1969 Governor Hickel is appointed by President Richard Nixon as Secretary of the Interior, serving in the position until 1970.

1975 The legislature approves money for a satellite communications network, to improve statewide communications.

1976 The Alaska Permanent Fund is established by a constitutional amendment, as a way to ensure the state’s financial stability even after oil resources run dry. The fund is to receive at least 25 percent of the state’s oil revenues and related income.

1977 The Trans-Alaska Pipeline, authorized by Congress in 1973, is completed. The pipeline extends from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.

1978 The Alaska Public Radio Network (APRN) is established as a statewide network of local-news stations.

1980 The Alaska Dividend Fund is established to distribute the Permanent Fund’s earnings to residents.

1980s The state suffers a severe economic depression due to declining oil prices.

1989 The oil tanker Exxon Valdez grounds on Bligh Reef. Eleven million gallons of crude oil from the North Slope are spilled into Prince William Sound.

1990 Walter Hickel is reelected governor on the Alaskan Independence Party ticket.

1991 Alaska and the federal government reach a $1 billion settlement with Exxon regarding the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Some of the money is intended for environmental cleanup.

1994 In another referendum on the location of the state capital, voters decide to keep the capital in Juneau.

2002 Voters reject another attempt to move the state capital, this time from Juneau to Anchorage.

2005 Democratic Senators successfully filibuster Arctic Refuge drilling legislation introduced by Alaska senator Ted Stevens, Republican.

2008 Alaska governor Sarah Palin joins the Republican presidential ticket as Senator John McCain’s running mate. Although the ticket loses the White House, they win over 59 percent of the Alaskan vote.

2010 Senator Ted Stevens, who represented Alaska for over forty years in the US Senate, dies in a plane crash near Dillingham, on the state’s southern coast.

2013 Nelson Kanuk, an eighteen-year-old Yup’ik Eskimo, and five other young Alaskans, sue the state of Alaska (along with nine other states and the US government) for not doing more to protect the atmosphere from greenhouse gases.

2015 The US Department of the Interior changes the name of the highest mountain peak in North America (located in Alaska) from Mt. McKinley, which had been the mountain’s name since 1917, to Denali, the Athabascan name for the peak.

2020 The global COVID-19 pandemic reaches Alaska, with the governor's office declaring a state of emergency that March.

2022 US Representative Don Young of Alaska dies at age eighty-eight, ending his tenure in office after forty-nine years, a Republican congressional record. Alaska's Mount Cereberus in renamed Mount Young in his honor by an act of Congress. After a special election, Young is succeeded by Mary Peltola, who makes history as the first Alaska Native in Congress.

FAMOUS PEOPLE

Irene Bedard, 1967– (Anchorage): Actor, starred in Disney's Pocahontas.

Mark Begich, 1962– (Anchorage): US senator, mayor of Anchorage, son of Alaska congressman Nick Begich.

John Ben “Benny” Benson, 1914?–72 (Chignik): Designer of the Alaska flag.

Annie Brower, 1925–84? (Barter Island): Political activist.

Mario Chalmers, 1986– (Anchorage): Professional basketball player.

John Coghill, 1950– (Fairbanks): State legislator.

Traci Dinwiddie, 1973– (Anchorage): Actor, The Walking Dead.

William Allen Egan, 1914–84 (Valdez): First governor of Alaska.

Jewel [Jewel Kilcher], 1974– (Homer): Folk singer.

Marie Smith Jones [Udach' Kuqax*a'a'ch], 1918–2008 (Cordova): Last surviving Eyak and native speaker of the Eyak language; Honorary chief of the Eyak Nation.

Georgianna Lincoln, 1943– (Fairbanks): State legislator.

Lisa Murkowski, 1957– (Ketchikan): US senator, lawyer, and daughter of Governor Frank Murkowski.

Ray Mala (Ach-Nach-Chiak), 1906–52 (Candle): Actor.

Virgil Partch, 1916–84: Cartoonist.

William Paul Sr., 1885–1977 (Tongass): Territorial delegate to Congress, Alaska Native activist.

Mary Peltola, 1973– (Anchorage): Politician, first Alaska Native member of US Congress.

Elizabeth Peratrovich [Kaaxgal.aat], 1911–58 (Petersburg): Grand Camp President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood; Civil rights activist.

Howard Rock, 1911–76 (near Tigara): Journalist, founder of the Tundra Times newspaper.

Gene Therriault, 1960– (Fairbanks): State legislator.

Curt Schilling, 1966– (Anchorage): Former professional baseball player.

William Martin "Bill" Walker, 1951– (Fairbanks): Governor of Alaska (2014–18).

TRIVIA

• “Alaska” means “mainland” or “the Great Land” in the Aleut language.
• Singer Jewel (born Jewel Kilcher) is a native of the small town of Homer, Alaska. She began performing as a small child, in her parents’ folk-singing act.
• The Russian American Company, a trading company chartered by Emperor Paul I in 1799, governed the colony of Alaska (“Russian America”) until the US bought the territory in 1867.
• Vitus Bering, a Danish-born Russian naval officer, led Russia's initial expedition to Alaska in 1741.
• The Yukon River is 2,300 miles long, one of the largest rivers in the United States.
• The 1990–95 TV show Northern Exposure, about a doctor who pays off his school loans by working in an Alaskan town, was actually filmed in Roslyn, Washington.
• Alaska, the largest state in the US, is over twice the size of the next-largest state, Texas.
• Alaska 's Semisopochnoi Island, part of the Aleutian Islands, is sometimes considered to technically be the easternmost point in the United States (and of North America as a whole), as it is situated less than ten miles west of the 180-degree meridian.

Bibliography

"Alaska." QuickFacts, US Census Bureau, 1 July 2022, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/AK/PST045222. Accessed 11 Sept. 2023.

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Eric Badertscher