”’Alaska”’ is a state in the north-west of America, the United States exclave, separated from other American states by the territory of Canada.
This state is the most extensive state in the USA, famous for its natural resources. On the territory of Alaska, there are more than 3 million lakes and 3 thousand rivers – the Yukon River, the 3rd in length in the United States; 100 thousand glaciers (5% of the surface of Alaska); the highest peak of North America – McKinley Peak; about 70 active volcanoes.
Alaska is placed in the north-west of the mainland, isolated from the Chukchi Peninsula (Russia) by the Bering Strait. It consists of the continent and a vast amount of islands: the Alexander Archipelago, Pribilof Islands, the Aleutian Islands, and Kodiak Island. The Arctic and Pacific Oceans wash Alaska.
Alaska, unlike most other states in the United States with the leading local administrative division – county, has different administrative division -borough. There is one more important difference between Alaska and other states. 15 borough and the municipality of Anchorage cover only a part of Alaska’s territory. The rest of the area does not have enough population for the formation of the local government. The territories that are not part of any borough are divided into so-called census areas. There are 11 such regions in Alaska.
The capital of Alaska is Juneau. The city was founded in 1881, soon after the discovery of gold deposits. Named after the gold digger Joseph Juneau.
Alaska’s nicknames
Great Land, Last Frontier, Land of the Midnight Sun, and Mainland State.
Area
Alaska area
Total 663,268 sq mi (1,717,856 km2)
Width 2,261 miles (3,639 km)
Length 1,420 miles (2,285 km)
History
The community of Siberian tribes passed the Isthmus (now the Bering Strait) 16-10 thousand years ago. The first Europeans that attended Alaska were Vitus Bering and Alexander Chirikov in 1741. Alaska became a territory of Russia in 1744. The region was named “Russian America.” The Russian settlement was founded in 1784 on Kodiak Island.
The United States bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $ 7.2 million. It was a result of negotiations between the Russian envoy E.A. Stekl and Secretary of State William Seward.
Gold deposits were found five years later. Alaska developed gradually until the beginning of the gold rush on Klondike in 1896. It became a state in 1959.
Demographics
Despite the fact that Alaska is one of the least populated in the United States America, many new residents moved to the state in the 1970s, intrigued by jobs in the oil and transport industry. In the 1980s population increase was more than 36 percent.
About 75 percent of the population is natives of the United States. There are about 86 thousand local people in the state ( Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures). Russian descendants also live in Alaska, but not in such a significant amount. The main religious groups include Catholics, Baptists, Orthodox, Protestants, and Methodists. For the past 20 years, state residents have traditionally voted for Republicans.
TOP 5 Universities
Best Universities in Alaska
* University of Alaska Fairbanks
* University of Alaska Anchorage
* Alaska Pacific University
* University of Alaska Southeast
* Alaska Bible College
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