The largest state of the USA-Alaska

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The largest state of the USA-Alaska
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Alaska State

• A state of the United States in extreme northwest
  North America including the Aleutian Islands and
  Alexander Archipelago.
• It is separated from the other mainland states by
  British Columbia, Canada.
• Alaska was admitted as the 49th state in 1959 and
  is the largest state of the Union.

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• The territory was purchased from Russia in 1867
  for 7,200,000 and was known as Seward's Folly
  (after Secretary of State William H. Seward, who
  negotiated the purchase) until gold was
  discovered in the late 1800s. Juneau is the
  capital and Anchorage the largest city.
  Population 683,000.

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• The official state flag of Alaska was officially
  adopted in 1959. The golden stars represent the
  Big Dipper (an asterism in the constellation Ursa
  Major, the Big Bear) and the North Star, also
  called Polaris (representing Alaska's northern
  location). This beautiful flag was chosen from a
  flag-designing contest. It was designed in 1926
  by a 13-year-old Native American boy named Bennie
  Benson. Bennie was from the village of Chignik
  he won a 1,000-dollar scholarship and a watch for
  winning the contest.

State Flag
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Animal Symbols
State Bird Willow ptarmigan(Lagopus lagopus) State Land Mammal                   Moose(Alces alces) State Marine Mammal                                             Bowhead whale(Balaena mysticetus) State Fish                                             King salmon(Onchorhynchus tshawytscha) State Insect Four spot skimmer dragonfly State Fossil                           Woolly Mammoth(Mammuthus primigenius)
Plant Symbols
State Flower                Forget-me-not(genus Myosotis) State Tree Sitka spruce(Picea sitchenensis)
Earth Symbols
State Mineral Gold State Gem Jade State Soil Estelle (unofficial)
Miscellaneous Symbol
State Sport Dog mushing
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• For most of its history as a U.S. possession,
  Alaska was known as the "last frontier," the last
  part of the country where would-be pioneers could
  go to live out the American dream of freedom and
  self-sufficiency through hard work and ingenuity.
  But with the rise of environmental consciousness
  in the 1960s and 1970s, that notion subsided.
  Alaska became America's "last wilderness," the
  last place in America with vast stretches of
  undeveloped, unpopulated land. In 1980 Congress
  designated 50 million acres of the state as
  wilderness, doubling the size of the national
  wilderness system.

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History

• They were unhampered by the Monroe Doctrine,
  which warned that the American continent was no
  territory for future European colonization.
• Tsar Alexander I admired the American republic,
  and agreed in April 1824 to restrict Russia's
  claims on the America continent to Alaska.
• American statesmen had attempted several times
  between 1834 and 1867 to purchase Alaska from
  Russia.
• Overextended geographically, the Russians were
  happy at the time to release the burden.
• However, the discovery of gold in 1896 and of the
  largest oil field in North America (near Prudhoe
  Bay) in 1968 may have caused second thoughts.

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The state abounds in natural wonders.

• In the Panhandle, the scenic beauty of the
  mountains and the rugged fjord-indented coast are
  augmented by such attractions as the Malaspina
  glacier and the acres of blue ice in Glacier Bay
  National Park and Preserve.

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• In the Alaska Range of central Alaska stands the
  highest point in North America, Mt. McKinley
  (Denali) in Denali National Park and Preserve.

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• The Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands
  have numerous volcanoes Katmai National Park and
  Preserve contains the Valley of Ten Thousand
  Smokes, scene of a volcanic eruption in 1912.

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Economy

• Alaska has very little agriculture, ranking last
  in the nation in number of farms and value of
  farm products. The state's best arable land is in
  its S central region, in the Matanuska Valley N
  of Anchorage and the Tanana Valley (around
  Fairbanks). The state's most valuable farm
  commodities are greenhouse and dairy products and
  potatoes.

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• Alaska leads the nation in the value of its
  commercial fishing catch-chiefly salmon, crab,
  shrimp, halibut, herring, and cod.
• Mining, principally of petroleum and natural
  gas, is the state's most valuable industry. Gold,
  which led to settlement at the end of the 19th
  cent., is no longer mined in quantity.
• Fur-trapping, Alaska's oldest industry, endures
  pelts are obtained from a great variety of
  animals.
• The Pribilof Islands are especially noted as a
  source of sealskins (the seals there are owned by
  the U.S. government, and their use is carefully
  regulated).

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Government, Politics, and Higher Education

• Alaska operates under a constitution drawn up and
  ratified in 1956 (effective with statehood).
• Its executive branch is headed by a governor and
  a secretary of state, both elected (on the same
  ticket) for four-year terms.
• Alaska's bicameral legislature has a senate with
  20 members and a house of representatives with 40
  members.
• The state sends two senators and one
  representative to the U.S. Congress and has three
  electoral votes.

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• Alaska's educational institutions include the
  Univ. of Alaska, with divisions at Fairbanks,
  Anchorage, and Juneau and Alaska Pacific Univ.,
  at Anchorage.

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