-
AbbreviationFinder.org: Offers list of phrases and slangs abbreviated as
AK including Alaska, and other most commonly used acronyms besides Alaska.
- Topschoolsintheusa.com:
Provides educational information for what you need to study in the state of
Alaska. Covers educational programs of various subjects (such as law,
business, education, engineering, medical) as well as GMAT, GRE, TOEFL and
LSAT testing centers in Alaska.
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COUNTRYAAH: Interested in doing research on towns or cities in Alaska?
This link below will take you to a full list of cities and complete profiles
of each in Alaska.
- Songaah Website: Interested in learning
popular songs associated with Alaska? You have come to the right place.
Here you can see complete lyrics for all songs about Alaska.
Northwest USA Federated State, 1,529,895 km², 735,132 residents (estimate
2013), 0 residents/km², capital: Juneau. Borders: Arctic Ocean (N), Pacific
Ocean (S, W) (Bering Strait); Canada (E).
State Overview
The peaceful coasts, which develop for 9000 km, are divided into peninsulas
and gulfs with numerous island groupings, including the archipelagos
of Alexander and the Aleutians; those facing the Arctic Ocean, for a length of
1700 km, are instead flat and straight. The islands of Pribilof, San Matteo and
San Lorenzo, which are located offshore in the Bering Sea, are also part of
Alaska. The territory of Alaska is animated by powerful reliefs, a continuation
of the Rocky Mountain system; they start S with the chain of the Sant'Elia
mountains (Saint Elias Mountains), including the eponymous peak and Mount Logan,
from which two chains depart, that of the Chugach mountains and the Alaska
chain which culminates in Denali, the highest peak (6194 m) of North America,
and continue with the Aleutian chain. The structure of Alaska is typical of
geologically young areas, with intense volcanism and strong seismicity. Among
the volcanic systems, the largest is the Wrangell (5036 m); the Katmai volcano
and the adjacent valley, called the Valley of 10,000 Fumes, are a national
monument. The glacial modeling was intense; numerous glaciers descend to both
the Arctic Ocean and the Pacific; the Malaspina glacier originates from the
Sant'Elia mountains, one of the largest in the world. The high mountain ranges
also represent climatic barriers: in the N the climate is clearly arctic, with
constantly low temperatures, snow almost all year round and in winter, along the
coast, frozen sea; in S instead, where the coast is lapped by the warm current
from Asia and is well sheltered from the mountains, the climate is relatively
milder: in Juneau, the average temperature in January is –3.5 ºC, that in July
of 13.5 ºC. Precipitation varies from 200 mm per year in northern Alaska to 500
in central Alaska and over 2000 mm along the Gulf of Alaska. The territory is
crossed in the EW direction by the Yukon River, the principal of the
state; Noatak, Kuskokwim, Susitna and Copper are also important; among the lakes
the largest is the Illiamna. Alaska's population is continuously increasing: in
1900 it was just 63,592 inhabitants, of which 30,000 indigenous (Inuit, Aleuti),
in 1940 it had risen to 72,524 inhabitants. and today it is 735,132; the
increase is almost exclusively due to US immigrants. The most populated city
is Anchorage; other main centers are Juneau, the capital, Fairbanks and
Ketchikan.
Economy
The economy, once mainly linked to fishing (salmon, herring, cod), today is
essentially based on mineral resources: oil (first discovered in the Kenai
Peninsula, on the Gulf of Alaska, and, subsequently, in the bay of Prudhoe, on
the Arctic coasts), gold (discovered in 1896), coal, natural gas, copper, silver
and platinum; a 1270 km long oil pipeline (almost entirely in an arctic
environment) transports the oil extracted to Prudhoe to Valdez, an ice-free port
all year round. As a result, Valdez became the third largest US port by tonnage
(after New York and New Orleans). And oil, the source of wealth for Alaska,
caused a serious ecological disaster: on March 24, 1989 the oil tanker Exxon
Valdez, due to an error of maneuver, it hit the bottom, overturning its
load into the sea; 41 million t of crude oil devastated hundreds of kilometers
of coastline, with irreparable damage to marine fauna. Agriculture (potatoes,
barley, oats) is limited to the valleys of the Matanuska and Tanana rivers,
where the soil is free from frost for 90-100 days a year; pastures are also not
usable for about eight months a year. The breeding concerns reindeer, cattle,
sheep, birds and above all fur animals. The forests, which extend over a third
of the territory, provide excellent work timber (fir, cedar, birch). Industrial
activities are limited to fish processing (Ketchikan) and timber (Ketchikan,
Sitka) and oil refining (Nikiski). Trade with other US states occurs mainly by
sea with embarkations from the ports of Juneau, Anchorage, Ketchikan, Skagway,
those with Canada via the Alaska Highway. Passenger traffic with the United
States takes place, however, almost exclusively by air. Numerous national parks
have been opened within this vast country, including (1980) Wrangell-St. Elias,
approximately 220,000 km².
History
Explored by Bering and Čirikov between 1728 and 1741, then by Russian,
Spanish and English expeditions (remember that of J. Cook in 1778), Alaska owes
its first attempts at colonization to Russian fur merchants Šelikov and Golikov,
who between 1748 and 1786 they founded the first merchant establishments in
Kodiak, which soon became centers for the colonization and evangelization of the
natives. From 1799 it was administered by a Russian-American company to which
Tsar Paul I had granted sovereign powers. The boundaries of the territory were
defined by the treaties of 1824 with the United States and of 1825 with Great
Britain. In 1867 Russia, not intending to take on the burden of the government
of such a demanding territory (whose mineral wealth was not yet known), sold it
to the USA for a fee of $ 7,200,000. Alaska thus became first (from 1867) a
territory administered by Congress, then, in 1913, it was equipped with elective
legislative bodies and finally, on January 3, 1959, it was proclaimed 49th State
of the Union.
Artistic events
From an artistic point of view, three cultural areas can be distinguished:
the area inhabited by the Eskimos, which is the arid area of the coast, the
area occupied by the Athabaska, which is the innermost, and the north-western
coast, occupied by the Tlingit and Haida. Prehistoric finds have been found in
the Eskimo-Aleutian area; among the ancient Eskimo cultures the highest
decorative level is reached by the culture of the "Old Bering Sea",
characterized by elaborate carvings on walrus ivory. Remarkable finds have been
made in Ipiutak: objects of caribou horn or walrus ivory, which reveal
relationships with the Scythian-Siberian zoomorphic style. For the art of the
Eskimos, very skilled at carving ivory and walrus bone, a clear distinction
cannot be established between archeology and ethnography, because themes and
ornamental motifs have been handed down until today and the objects made now for
the tourist market recall those of ancient cultures, while repeating in
stereotyped forms only some conventional signs. The Athabaskas have very little
artisanal production, limited to the decoration of leather garments with
porcupine spines, beads or shells. The Tlingit and the Haida, on the other hand,
develop craftsmanship widely: they do not know ceramics, but they skillfully
work horn and wood, sculpting totem poles, masks, objects of common use.
Juneau
City (30,191 residents in 1998) and capital of the State of Alaska (USA),
near the Canadian border, on the eastern shore of the Gastineau Strait, facing
Douglas Island. Commercial and fishing port with canning and wood
industries; nearby, gold deposits. Airport.
Anchorage
City (250,505 residents in 1996) of southern Alaska (USA), in the innermost
part of the Cook Inlet (Pacific Ocean). Founded in 1915 as a railway depot along
the line connecting Fairbanks to Seward, it is now the most populous center in
the state and the number of its inhabitants is continuously increasing. With an
active port and a large airport, an airport on the United States-Japan polar
route, it is a lively center of commercial traffic. The industry is particularly
developed in the food, mechanical and wood sectors. Military base.
Fairbanks
City (64,800 residents) of the State of Alaska (USA), on the Chena River,
at its confluence with the Tanana River, 400 km NNE of Anchorage. Seward railway
terminus and Alcan Highway and seat of the State University (1917), there is an
active agricultural and fur market and the seat of mechanical, metallurgical,
food, wood, electrotechnical and building materials industries: nearby, deposits
of gold and coal. International airport.
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