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Alaska’s
History
Alaska was first the home of Eskimos, Aleuts,
Athabascans, Tlingit, and Haida. In the
early 1700’s, Europeans found Alaska.
Alaska was bought by the United States for 7.2 million dollars and became
a state on January 3rd, 1959.
Nine years later, an abundance of petroleum and natural gas in the North
Slope were found.
Alaska’s
Geography
Alaska has an area of 1,530,693 km2
or 591,004 mi2 making it the largest state in the U.S. Alaska is northwest of Canada and only 51
miles away from Eurasia. Temperatures
range from -80° to 100°. Almost one-third of Alaska is inside of the
Arctic Circle. In that region of
Alaska, hardly anything can grow in the poor soil and bitterly cold climate.
Alaska’s
Landforms
Alaska is covered with a lot of snow and
dangerous glaciers, but there are also some areas that are lush with
greenery. Evergreens are not very
common in Alaska so the places where they exist are mostly under protection in
national parks. Mount McKinley (Denali)
is the state’s highest mountain. It is
20,320 feet high or 6,194 meters high.
This also makes it the highest in North America.
Alaska’s
Population
Today, Alaska is home to about 555,000 people
with about 0.36 persons per km2.
Though Alaska is that largest state, it is ranked 49th for
population. 226,300 people in Anchorage
make up almost half of the population.
The native people, the Inuits, are known as Eskimos. They use sleds and sled dogs to travel
around. 0.36 persons per km2. Because of the extreme weather conditions in the northern part of
Alaska, it makes living difficult. This
explains why, though it is a large state, it has the second lowest population.
Alaska’s
Economy
Alaska is known for its fishing. The most common fish are salmon, found in
almost any river or coastline. The
major fishing city is Juneau, the capital of Alaska. Juneau is located near the border of Alaska and British Columbia,
Canada. At Point Barrow, there is a
point of time when the sun never sets.
Between May 10th and August 2nd, crops grow
quickly, and it is from these crops that most Alaskans get there food. Many minerals including gold, iron, ore,
tin, and platinum can be mined in Alaska.
Oil, Alaska’s most valuable product, can also be found in Alaska.