Alaska (U.S. state)
Alaska is the most northerly of the 50 states in the United States of America. It is also the largest in land area (586,412 square miles),[1] though one of the smallest in population (pop. 670,053; only North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming are smaller).[2] It was the penultimate (49th) state to join the union, in 1959. The name “Alaska” is usually said to be taken from "Alyeska,"[3] meaning "the great land" the language of the Aleut Indians. The city of Juneau is the capital of Alaska, although the name of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, is probably better known. Alaska’s nickname is “The Last Frontier” and the state motto is “North to the Future”.
Bordering only the Canadian provinces of Yukon Territory and British Columbia, Alaska is noncontiguous to the mainland U.S., that is, it is physically separated from the other states. The only other noncontiguous state is Hawaii. Alaskans refer to the contiguous 48 states as "the lower 48."
Even more than in the western United States, something of a frontier mentality lives on in Alaska. Particularly outside of the largest municipalities, Anchorage (pop. 278,700) and Fairbanks (pop. 86,754), [4] it is difficult to forget that one is surrounded by wilderness. Alaska is unusually young (median age 33.4--only Texas and Utah are younger).[5] It is also unusually male, with 107 men for every 100 women, and by far the most male of the states.[6]
History of Alaska
In 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward brokered a deal to buy Alaska from Russia. It was a controversial purchase that took months to be approved by the U.S. Congress. Critics called the $7.2 million price—about two cents per acre—a waste of government funds, and referred to the new territory as "Seward's Folly" or "Seward's Icebox."
Alaska became the forty-ninth state of the United States on January 3, 1959.
Climate of Alaska
Because Alaska is so large, its climate is diverse, ranging from oceanic (very wet with less temperature difference between the seasons that other areas) to arctic (extremely cold, with summer daytime temperatures at or just above freezing). As a result of the inhospitable climate and terrain of much of the state, Alaska has relatively little agriculture, although in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, the short but intense growing season produces vegetables of enormous sizes.
References
- ↑ The Alaska Almanac, 26th ed., Alaska Northwest Books, 2002. ISBN 0882405667.
- ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, 2006 Population Estimates, Population Estimates (geographies ranked by estimate).
- ↑ Also spelled alakshak: "Alaska," Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. Ed. John Everett-Heath. Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Or alaxsxaq, according to J. Ellis Ransom, American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 42, No. 3, Part 1 (Jul. - Sep., 1940), pp. 550-551.
- ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, 2006 Population Estimates, Alaska -- Borough or Census Area.
- ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, 2006 Population Estimates,Median Age of the Total Population (geographies ranked by estimate).
- ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, 2006 Population Estimates, Sex Ratio of the Total Population (geographies ranked by estimate).