The Last Frontier

Here is kind of a huge “Did you know?” on Alaska.

Everybody can locate Alaska? Hopefully, yes! It is in the US (not Canada!), located between the 55^th and the 70^th parallels north. In Europe it would correspond to Copenhagen, Denmark and North Cape, Norway. In terms of population, it is pretty empty: a bit more than 720.000 inhabitants. But Alaska is three times larger than France and nearly as large as the four largest Lower 48 (Texas, California, Montana and New Mexico). See its size compared to the 48 contiguous states (map from Wikipedia).

As in many US States, the capital city is not the most populated one. Here, it is Juneau: 30.000 inhabitants (3^rd after Anchorage and Fairbanks). Although it is located on mainland, Juneau is only accessible by sea or air.

Employment is primarily in government and industries such as natural resource extraction, shipping, and transportation. Fishing and tourism are also important.

History, now. The territory is originally populated with the Inuit (also called the Eskimo) and native Americans (the Athabaskan). In 1867, it was then bought from Russia by the US for $7,2 million ($113 million in today's dollar). And only in 1959 it became the 49^th State of the Union (Hawaii being the 50^th and last, a few months later).

Two thirds of the territory are the property of the federal state, which manages forests, national parks, natural reserves, etc. It is a mountainous and volcanic region. The Mount McKinley is the highest mountain peak in North America, with an elevation of 20,320 ft (6,194 m).

In terms of seasons, it is quite simple. As everywhere else in the world, there are four seasons: summer, winter, winter and winter. Temperatures can easily drop to -40°. And you can see snow from September to late April. Finally, the length of the day varies a lot during the year. In Barrow (far North) the polar night lasts at least two months, from mid-November till mid-January and the sun does not set at all during the summer.

Alaska is a wonderful and wild place, but it is also remote and hostile somehow. It might be another reason why its nickname is “the Last Frontier”.