Alaska population. Population of Alaska, geographical location, history. Settlement of the northwestern lands

Alaska is called the Land of the Midnight Sun, the Last Frontier, the Great Land. and how much did this land cost for the USA? Who now lives on its territory?

Alaska on the world map

Alaska is located in the northwestern United States and is the largest state in the country. separates it from Russian territory - the Chukotka Peninsula. In the east, the state borders Canada.

This state is an exclave. It is separated from the rest of the United States by Canadian lands. To get from Alaska to the nearest American state, you need to overcome 800 kilometers of Canadian territory.

The total area of the state is 1,717,854 square meters. km, and coastline stretches for 10,639 km. Alaska Territory represented mainland and numerous islands. These include the Alexander Archipelago, Kodiak, Pribalova and

Alaska's Cape Barrow is the most... northern point United States, and the island of Attu, which is part of the Aleutian Islands, is the westernmost.

Natural conditions

Alaska is washed by the Pacific and Arctic oceans, creating different climatic conditions. The interior of the state is characterized by a subarctic climate with cold winters and relatively warm summers. In the northern part the climate is arctic: severe cold winters and cold summers. Temperature in summer time rarely rises above zero. On the Pacific coast (southeast of the state) the climate is mild, maritime, with big amount precipitation.

The north of Alaska is covered with tundra, while the south is covered with dense forests. There are many volcanoes and glaciers in this region. The largest is the Bering Glacier, its area is 5800 square meters. m. Volcanic mountain ranges Alaska is part of the Shishaldin Volcano located on Unimak Island and is considered one of the largest Alaskan volcanoes.

The most large rivers in the state - Yukon and Kuskokwim. In total, Alaska has more than 10 thousand rivers and over 3 million lakes. In the northeastern part of the state is the Arctic national reserve, and in the northwest is the territory of the US oil reserve.

Discovery of Alaska

There is an opinion that Alaska was first discovered by Semyon Dezhnev in the 17th century. But there is no official confirmation of this fact. Therefore, the discovery of the Great Land is attributed to the crew of the ship "Saint Gabriel". The expedition group, whose members were M. S. Gvozdev, I. Fedorov, D. I. Pavlutsky and A. F. Shestakov, landed in Alaska in 1732.

Nine years later, a second expedition set out here on the ships “St. Peter” and “St. Paul”. The ships were led by Alexey Chirikov and famous explorer Vitus Bering.

Thick fog was a significant hindrance to exploration. At first, the lands of Alaska were seen from the board of the St. Paul; it was Prince of Wales Island. Researchers noticed that many beavers and sea otters live here, the fur of which was considered the most valuable at that time. This became the main impetus for the development of new lands.

Sale

In 1799, a Russian-American company was opened, headed by an active hunt for beaver fur (which subsequently led to a significant reduction in the number of animals).

New villages and ports are founded, schools and hospitals are opened, the Orthodox Church carries out educational work, the object of which is the population of Alaska. True, land development is limited to fur mining and missionary activity.

In addition, relations with Britain were heating up, and the proximity of Russian Alaska to British Columbia made it vulnerable in the event of a military conflict between the countries. Thus, in 1857, thoughts arose about selling it to America.

In March 1867, an agreement was signed in Washington to sell the territory for $7,200,000. In October, the official transfer of the purchased lands took place in the city of Sitka (then called Novo-Arkhangelsk).

American Alaska

For a long time, the newly acquired lands were under the control of US military forces and were not particularly developed. In 1896, a real gold boom occurred when gold deposits were found on the Klondike River, in Canada. The easiest way to get to Canadian territory was through Alaska, which provoked the rapid growth of settlements.

In 1898, gold was found near the city of Nome and modern city Fairbanks, Alaska. The gold rush contributed economic development region. Alaska's population has grown significantly. Railways were built and minerals were actively mined.

The Great Depression in the 20th century also affected Alaska. Residents of the northern states are resettled here to boost the region's economy. During World War II, supplies were sent through Alaska. military equipment to the Soviet Union.

In 1959, Alaska became the 49th US state. Later, significant oil reserves are discovered here, which again boosts its development.

Population of Alaska

The state's population is about 700,000 people. This figure puts the state in 47th place in terms of population in the country. Alaska's population density is the lowest at 0.4 people per square kilometer.

The state's largest population growth occurred after oil deposits were discovered. At that time, Alaska's population increased by 36%. The largest city in the state is Anchorage, home to more than 300,000 people.

About 60% of the population is white, indigenous people make up about 15%, Asians make up about 5.5%, and the rest comes from other races. The largest ethnic group living in Alaska is the Germans. The Irish and English each account for 10%, followed by the Norwegians, French and Scots.

Russian missionary Orthodox Church did not pass without a trace - now in Alaska about 70% of the inhabitants are Christians. Protestantism is considered the second largest religion, although Alaska is the least religious state in America overall.

Alaska Natives

The Russians, of course, are considered the pioneers, but people began to populate the region long before the arrival of explorers. According to scientists, the first inhabitants of Alaska came here from Siberia about 30 thousand years ago, during the freezing of the Bering Strait.

The first peoples to arrive in the “Land of the Midnight Sun” were the Tlingit, Tsimshian, Haila and Athapaskan peoples. They are the ancestors of modern American Indians. The tribes had their own language and beliefs, and were mainly engaged in fishing.

Much later (almost 8 thousand years ago) peoples belonging to the Eskimos or Inuit sailed to the lands of Alaska. These were the Aleut, Alutiiq and Inupiat tribes.

With the discovery of Alaska, Russian explorers brought their faith and traditions to the world of the indigenous population. Many local residents worked for the Russians. Alaska now has the largest percentage of indigenous people in the United States, but this figure is gradually decreasing. Therefore, recently special programs have been carried out to preserve the culture of indigenous people.

Conclusion

Alaska (America) is a rich region with a unique but harsh nature. There are many volcanoes, glaciers, rivers and lakes here. It is the largest American state, separated from the US territory by Canada. Alaska's population is represented by numerous ethnic groups and nationalities. Descendants of Indians and Eskimos still live here, continuing their traditions and culture.

A region in northwestern North America, currently a US state.

Etymology and early settlers

The name comes from the Aleutian “alakshak” (big land, mainland, not an island). The first inhabitants of North America moved to this continent through Alaska 40 thousand years ago or later. The proto-Indian site of Mesa dates back more than 11 thousand years ago. Alaska was settled by the time Europeans arrived.

Discovery of Alaska

In 1648, an expedition passed through the Bering Strait and may have seen the shores of Alaska. On August 21, 1732, during the expedition of A. Shestakov and D. Pavlutsky (1729-1735), the boat “St. Gabriel" under the leadership of S. Gvozdev and I. Fedorov (Prince of Wales Cape). In 1745, there was a clash between the Russians and the Aleuts on the island of Attu. Since 1758, Russian "industrialists" lived from time to time in the Aleutian Islands, hunted, traded with the Aleuts and collected tribute (yasak) from them. In 1763-1765, the Aleuts rebelled, but were defeated. In 1772, the first permanent trading settlement was founded on the island of Unalaska. In 1761 about the discovery big land traveler G. Pushkarev reported in these places. The expeditions of P. Krenitsyn - M. Levashov (1764-1769) and I. Billings - G. Sarychev (1785-1795) set the task of securing Russia's rights to Alaska and bringing the population into Russian citizenship.

In 1774, the Spaniards approached Alaska, and in 1778, D. Cook. In 1784, an expedition under the command of G. Shelekhov founded the settlement of Trekhsvyatitelskoye on Kodiak Island. Since 1794, an Orthodox mission began to operate here, headed by Archimandrite (since 1799 - bishop) Joasaph. In 1791, Fort St. was founded on the mainland. Nicholas.

Russian-American company

On July 8, 1799, by decree, the Russian-American Company (RAC) was created for the monopoly development and management of Armenia. A. Baranov was appointed the main ruler of Alaska. Since 1796, he built the center of Alaska in Yakutat Bay: the Yakutat fortress and the city of Novorossiysk. However, Yakutat suffered from native attacks and supply difficulties, and in 1805 the Russian settlement here was destroyed by the Tlingit during the 1802-1805 war, which delayed the Russian advance into Alaska. The center of Russian Alaska was moved to Novo-Arkhangelsk (now Sitka). In 1821, foreign trade in Alaska was prohibited. On February 28, 1825, the border between the Russian-American Company and the British Hudson's Bay Company was established (now the border between the United States and Canada). Russia thus gained rights to 586,412 square miles (1,518,800 km²). However, she was unable to master them. The population of “Russian” Alaska and the Aleutian Islands was about 2,500 Russians and several tens of thousands of Indians and Eskimos.

By the middle of the 19th century, RAC was unprofitable. The Governor General of Eastern Siberia in 1853 proposed to sell Alaska. At the same time, it showed the vulnerability of Russian possessions remote from the center.

Selling Alaska

In 1854, the United States expressed interest in acquiring Alaska (at least temporarily, to prevent its capture by Britain). RAC negotiated this with the American-Russian trading company, controlled by the US government, as well as the settlement of relations with the British Hudson's Bay Company.

In 1857, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich expressed a proposal to sell Alaska in a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs A. Gorchakov, who supported this idea. In 1862, the RAC's privileges expired, and after that Russia was ready to negotiate the terms of the sale, but the issue was postponed until completion. In the United States, the idea of buying Alaska was actively supported by Senator Charles Sumner, who became chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

At a meeting with the emperor on December 16 (28), 1866, with the participation of Grand Duke Constantine, the ministers of finance and the naval ministry, and the Russian envoy to the USA E. Stoeckl, the idea of sale was unanimously approved. The threshold amount below which Russia would not agree to cede Alaska was set at 5 million dollars in gold. On December 22, 1866, Alexander II approved the border of the ceded territory: the Alaska Peninsula along a line running along the meridian of 141° west longitude, then along the ridge of mountains parallel to the coast to 56° north latitude and the Prince of Wales Island, including the Alexander Archipelago, the Aleutian and other islands.

In March 1867, Steckl reminded US Secretary of State William Steward “of the proposals that have been made in the past for the sale of our colonies” and added that “the Imperial Government is now disposed to enter into negotiations.” President E. Johnson approved the start of negotiations. At a second meeting on March 14, 1867, Seward and Steckle discussed the main provisions of the future treaty.

On March 30, 1867, an agreement was signed on the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States for $7.2 million in gold. Along with the territory, the United States received all real estate and archives.

On 3 (15).5.1867 the treaty was ratified by Alexander II, on 6 (18).10.1867 the Governing Senate adopted a decree on the implementation of the “Highest Ratified Convention on the Cession of the Russian North American Colonies to the United States of America.”

The treaty could not be ratified by the US Congress because the congressional session was over. Johnson called an emergency executive session of the Senate. A discussion ensued in the Senate, as some senators believed that after the end of the destructive war, such a purchase would be difficult for the US budget. It turned out that payment would be made through Stekl’s personal account. However, the treaty was ratified by 37 votes to 2. On June 8, 1867, the instruments of ratification were exchanged. On October 6-7 (18-19), 1867, Alaska was officially transferred to the United States. The signing ceremony took place in Novo-Arkhangelsk (Sitka) on board the American sloop of war Ossipee.

Immediately after the transfer of Alaska to the United States, American troops arrived in Sitka.

Of the 11,362,481 rubles 94 kopecks received from the United States, the majority (10,972,238 rubles 4 kopecks) was spent on purchasing supplies abroad railways: Kursk-Kyiv, Ryazan-Kozlovsk, Moscow-Ryazan and others. Thus, the sale of Alaska provided impetus railway construction, which became one of the most important features of the post-reform development of Russia.

Since 1867, the Department of Alaska has been under the jurisdiction of the US War Department, since 1877 - the Treasury Department, and since 1879 - the Navy Department. General J. Davis became the first governor. On May 17, 1884, Alaska became special administrative district led by an appointed governor (the first of them was J. Kinkead). Various departments of the US federal government began to deal with Alaska's affairs.

There are about 200 Russians and more than one and a half thousand Russian-speaking Creoles left in Alaska. Alaska was part of the Ninth Judicial Circuit of the United States, which also included the states of Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii. The closest judges lived in California and Oregon. It was not until 1934 that Alaskans received the status of American citizens.

Golden fever

In 1880, Indian Covey and prospectors J. Juneau and R. Harris found gold, creating the Golden Brook mine. The city of Juneau arose nearby, which became the capital of Alaska in 1906. On August 16, 1896, prospectors J. Carmack, J. Skookum and C. Dawson found gold on Bonanza Creek, which flows into the Klondike River. On July 17, 1897, a cargo of gold worth about half a million dollars arrived in San Francisco. In the USA and then in Europe, a “gold rush” began; more than 18 thousand people, hoping for quick enrichment, rushed to Alaska and western Canada (Yukon). Steam and burning oil were used to combat permafrost. Although the fever zone was located on both sides of the border, it was initially dominated by self-government of miners, relying on supplies from the United States. In 1895, the Canadian Mounted Police began to impose dominion laws on the Yukon. In Alaska, decisions, including judicial decisions, were made by open vote at a meeting of miners.

As part of the USA

The Canada-Alaska border was not demarcated. In 1883, American Lieutenant F. Svatka established the approximate position of the 141st meridian, missing by several kilometers. The geodetic party of W. Ogilvy in 1888 clarified the location of the border on the ground. At the same time, to facilitate the further orientation of residents on the area, it was decided to name the villages on the Canadian side after Canadian figures, and on the US side - American ones. The demarcation in southern Alaska in the area of Lake Bennett presented difficulties due to the difficult terrain and bays. In 1895, the American-Canadian commission adopted a compromise decision on the border in the lake area. Bennett, which went to Canada. The border dispute continued until October 12, 1903, when it was resolved by an international arbitration commission.

Since 1906, Alaska has been represented by a delegate in Congress. On August 24, 1912, Alaska received territory status. In 1913, Governor J. Strong was elected. In 1916, the possibility of turning Alaska into a state was discussed, but this proposal was not supported. Nature reserves were founded in 1917-1918 (then National parks) McKinley and Katmai. The population of Alaska grew in the first 20 years of the twentieth century from 44 thousand to 58 thousand people. They mined copper and gold and were engaged in fishing. With the passage of the Merchant Vessel Act of 1920, trade with Alaska could only be carried out on U.S. ships, primarily through Seattle. Because of this monopoly, prices in Alaska have increased significantly. At the same time, during the Great Depression, demand and prices for goods produced in Alaska fell. All this hindered the settlement of Alaska, but its development was facilitated by the development of aviation.

On June 3, 1942, Japanese aircraft attacked naval base Dutch Harbor and Fort Mears. On June 6, 1942, the Japanese landed on Attu Island and then captured Kiska Island. An airfield was created on Kiska and a large Japanese garrison was present. Admiral T. Kincaid sent the battleships Nevada, Pennsylvania and Idaho, the aircraft carrier Nassau, submarines, cruisers and destroyers to Atta. The 7th Infantry Division of General A. Brown was intended for the landing. On May 11, 1943, American troops landed on the island. Cold and unflyable weather and rugged terrain hampered the advance of troops and aviation operations. The United States transferred 12,000 people to the island against 3,000 Japanese. On May 29, 1943, the commander of the Japanese garrison, Colonel Yasuyo Yamasaki, attacked the Americans without hope of success. After hand-to-hand combat, almost all Japanese soldiers were killed. The Americans lost 549 people killed and 1148 wounded, 2100 people sick and frostbite. There were 29 Japanese survivors. In August 1943, the Americans landed on Kiska after a heavy bombardment of the island. Shortly before the landing, the Japanese left the island, which the American command did not know, so several dozen Americans died from friendly fire during the landing.

On January 3, 1959, Alaska received statehood. In 1968, the Prudhoe Bay oil and gas field was discovered. In 1977, an oil pipeline was built from Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez tanker disaster resulted in an oil spill that severely damaged the Alaskan environment.

State of Alaska

Alaska is considered the last American frontier. It is the largest state in size, although in terms of population (it is over half a million people), it ranks before last place. It is estimated that there are 2.6 square kilometers of territory per resident of the state.

When talking about their state, Alaskans often use the word “most”: Mount McKinley in the Alaska Range is the most high peak North America (6194 meters), the Yukon River with a length of 2879 kilometers is one of the longest waterways in all of North America, the Malaspina Glacier, whose length is 110 kilometers, is larger in area than the entire state of Rhode Island (glacier area - 3880 square kilometers). The territory of Alaska is so large (1,530,693 square kilometers) that its acquisition increased the size of the United States by one fifth.

Alaska is home to many rare birds and animals: bald and golden eagles, hawks, owls, fur seals live on the Pribilof Islands, and sea otters, seals and whales live in the sea. Here you can see grizzlies, brown and polar bears, caribou, moose, and bison. Kodiak Island is home to the world's largest Kodiak bear. The state of Alaska is widely known among hunters and fishermen, so lovers of sport fishing and hunting flock here.

Alaska is a land of the most unexpected contrasts. Here you can see steaming volcanoes and cold tundra, hot springs and glaciers gushing out of the ground, virgin forests and vast open spaces.

The name “Alaska” comes from the Aleut word alaxsxaq, which literally means “land upon which the sea rushes”, i.e. “continent”.

The fact that Alaska was once Russian is now reminded by such Russian toponyms as Shelikhov Strait, Chirikov Island, Shumagin Islands, Pavlova Volcano, Mount Veniaminova, Shishaldin Volcano, Lake Bocharova, Makushina Volcano, Baranova Island. The development of Alaska is indeed connected primarily with Russia. In 1724, Peter I ordered Captain Vitus Bering (1681–1741) to explore the lands and waters east of Siberia. On his second voyage in 1741, Bering found himself in Alaska and claimed it as Russian territory. On the way back to Russia, Bering died, but the rest of the expedition reached Russia, and the stories of travelers about the wealth of this region, about the abundance of furs there, inspired Russian merchants to explore this distant land. One such entrepreneur, Alexander Andreevich Baranov (1746–1819), lived in Alaska from 1790 to 1818, serving as director of the Russian-American Company, which existed from 1799 to 1818. Baranov's name is immortalized in the title large island Baranova, 140 kilometers south of the city of Juneau. The city of Novoarkhangelsk was built on the island, which is now called Sitka. The city of Sitka was the capital of Alaska from 1867 to 1906, but initially Russian explorers, merchants and other trading people made a place near the Bay of Three Saints on Kodiak Island their center of trade.

The opportunity to make a quick profit from the fur trade led to the extermination of fur-bearing animals in such quantities that many breeds, such as the sea otter, were on the verge of extinction. Such ruthless extermination of animals stopped in 1799, when Russian Emperor Paul I ordered the founding of the Russian-American Company to purposefully populate and develop the territory of Alaska. The director of the company was Alexander Baranov, who led “Russian America” for 19 years as the viceroy of the Russian emperor and created 15 Russian settlements on this continent, including Fort Ross in California. The history of the Russian exploration of Alaska is quite dramatic: it also remembers clashes with local population- Eskimos, Aleuts and Indians, and conflicts with American fur traders. So, in 1802, a group of Tlingit Indians destroyed the Russian settlement of Mikhailovsk. In response, the Russian colonists decided to punish the Indians and destroyed the Indian village in 1804, creating the nearby city of Novoarkhangelsk, which later became not only the capital of the Russian colony, but the center of the joint Russian-American company. In 1812, Russian and American merchants entered into an agreement between themselves, which marked the beginning of the development of trade and good relations between Russia and the United States. At one time, Novoarkhangelsk was called “the Paris of the Pacific”, the city ruled by Alexander Baranov looked so impressive. The Russian churches preserved in Sitka remind us of the glorious times of the exploration of Alaska.

Russia first tried to sell Alaska in 1855. By that time, the military-political rivalry between the United States and Great Britain made the activities of the Russian-American Company risky and even unprofitable, and Russia’s participation in the Crimean War turned the colony in Alaska into an unprotected and vulnerable place. Negotiations to acquire the territory began in 1867 under President Andrew Johnson (1808–1875) at the urging of Secretary of State William Seward. The United States paid Russia 7 million 200 thousand dollars (11 million royal rubles) for Alaska. The day Alaska came under US jurisdiction, October 18, 1867, is now celebrated as Alaska Day. Skeptics of that time were sophisticated in their wit, coming up with epithets for the cold territory in the far northeast, off the coast of the Northern Arctic Ocean, like “Seward Glacier”, “Polar Bear Sanctuary” or “Frigidian Land”. However, the state's true nickname was the land of the midnight sun. In addition, the state motto, “North, into the Future,” is intended to dispel doubts about the usefulness of the deal and convince skeptics that Alaska is not the last place in the United States.

The management of Alaska was successively taken over by the US Army, the Department of the Treasury, and the Navy. There was no civil administration, and until 1884 Alaska lived under the laws of the State of Oregon. A dramatic and exciting new period in Alaska's history began with the discovery of gold in the Klondike, northwestern Canada, in 1896. Hundreds of gold miners rushed in search of a convenient route to the Klondike - one of these turned out to be the route through the city of Skagway in southeast Alaska. Even before the Klondike gold boom had died down a bit, there was a new excitement about the discovery of gold in the Nome area on the Seward Peninsula. At this time, a disagreement arose between the United States and Canada over the southern section of the border between the two countries. Under the 1867 treaty under which the United States acquired Alaska from Russia, the border between the United States and Canada was established along the coastline approximately between the 55th and 60th parallels, at a distance of 48 kilometers from the coast. Access to the Klondike was through a bay called Lynn's Canal. Canada claimed this channel for itself. This dispute was resolved by a joint arbitration commission, which included the USA, Canada and the UK. In 1903, the decision was made to maintain the border along the coastline and leave the Lynn Canal to the United States. In 1912, President William Howard Taft (1857–1930) signed legislation establishing Alaska as a territory.

During World War II in 1942, the Japanese occupied the islands of Kiska and Attu in the Aleutian chain. In the summer of 1943, these islands were returned to the United States, and to consolidate their victory, the Americans began to hastily develop the area. Their first step was to create the Trans-Alaska Highway. At the same time, a military program to strengthen the area began to develop.

For more than 40 years, Alaska has been vying to become a state. This happened only in 1958, when the Senate voted to admit Alaska to the United States as a state, and on January 3, 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a law that officially became the 49th state.

If you look at a map of North America, Alaska will appear huge peninsula. In reality, the Alaska Peninsula is only a part of the state located in the southwest of this tip of the North American continent. The entire state is named after the peninsula. The length of the Alaska Peninsula from Lake Naknek to the western tip is approximately 800 kilometers. The peninsula is predominantly mountainous, with almost 50 volcanic peaks here and in the Aleutian Islands. The climate on the peninsula is cool: on average -7 °C in winter, but in summer the mercury does not rise above +10 °C. The volcanic Aleutian ridge, stretching 1,900 kilometers southwest of the Alaska Peninsula, consists of fourteen large and more than one hundred small islands. The Aleutian Islands are mostly uninhabited, except for small Aleut settlements of about 6 thousand people and personnel serving military installations. A common occurrence on the Aleutian Islands, which have almost no trees, is wind and fog.

In the southeast, Alaska borders on the Canadian province of British Columbia, and in the east on the Canadian territory of Yukon. The northernmost point of Alaska, which is also the northernmost point of the United States, is Cape Barrow on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. Approximately a third of Alaska's territory lies above the Arctic Circle.

In the east, Alaska is washed by the Bering Sea, separating Siberia from North America. Shortest distance between Cape Dezhnev in Siberia and the easternmost point of the Seward Peninsula in Alaska is only 85 kilometers. This is the Bering Strait, in which the Big and Little Diomede Islands are located, belonging to Russia and the United States, respectively. The international demarcation line of daily time runs between them.

The Bering Sea is considered one of the most difficult in terms of navigation; in winter, very strong winds blow there, there are frequent storms, the mercury sometimes drops to -45 °C, which leads to severe icing of ships, and waves can reach a height of 12 meters. In the sea, cold currents coming from the Arctic Ocean and warm Pacific currents collide, which leads to frequent fog and storms. The one-sixth of Alaska, which is covered by tundra, has a polar climate, meaning that winter lasts approximately 280 days. However, during the short polar summer, the sun shines almost all day, the ground thaws a little, and moss turns green and bright northern flowers bloom.

Northern part The state is occupied by the Brooks Range, which stretches for 960 kilometers and is a deserted kingdom of snow and ice. Some peaks of this ridge reach heights of over two thousand meters. The southern foothills of the Brooks Range are forested.

South of the Brooks Range is the Inland Plateau, an upland area along which flow the Kuskokwim and Yukon rivers and their tributaries. This territory is occupied by forests, swamps and lakes. The hillsides are covered with coniferous forests. The climate of this area is sharply continental. The temperature range on the Inner Plateau is from - 48 °C in winter to + 38 °C in summer.

The territory in southern Alaska, closer to the Pacific Ocean, is occupied by mountains. Here the climate is maritime, moderated by warm ocean currents, as well as warm air masses moving from Asia.

In the southeast of Alaska, between the 55th and 60th parallels, a narrow coastal strip stretches for 500 kilometers from north to south, bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the east by the border with Canada. The coastal mountains in this area rise sharply out of the water. The Alexandra Archipelago is located in this part of the state. It is believed that the most memorable way to get to Alaska is to travel by sea through more than a thousand islands of this archipelago. Slopes Coast Mountains covered with dense forests, where spruce, hemlock and cedar are harvested for the local timber industry. The height of some peaks of the Coast Mountains reaches three thousand meters, and to the north, where the coastline turns to the west, there is Mount St. Elias with a height of 5488 meters. Glaciers sliding down the mountain form entire valleys, the largest of which is the Malaspina glacier valley. Another famous glacier, the Muir Glacier, is located in the Alaska National Glacier Reserve. Glaciers sliding down the mountains deepen the river valleys and make these places look like Norwegian fjords.

South of mainland Alaska is Kodiak Island, home to salmon farms and a US Coast Guard base. The city of Kodiak on this island is one of the largest fishing ports in the United States.

Alaska undoubtedly has great strategic importance in the plans of the US military. Numerous facilities operated by the Pentagon are located here. According to the law on the admission of Alaska to the United States in the event of a military threat, the entire territory of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands comes under federal control. Between 1954 and 1957, a chain of radar installations was built in Alaska, serving all of North America. The city of Anchorage is the northwestern headquarters of the Department of Defense. Anchorage is home to Elmendorf Air Force Base, which has one of the largest military airfields in the world. It is also home to the military base and Army command center at Fort Richardson. Eielson and Fort Wainwright Air Force Bases are located near Fairbanks. The Pentagon traditionally conducts military exercises in Alaska, developing skills in conducting military operations in conditions close to those of the north, in particular Siberia, the Urals and the Russian Arctic. Fort Greeley near the city of Delta Junction is used for this. Complexes are also located in Alaska air defense with early warning systems about the approach of a suspected enemy.

On March 27, 1964, a powerful earthquake struck Southern Alaska, destroying Anchorage and surrounding cities and killing 100 people. And in 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker crashed off the coast of Alaska, and more than 37 million 850 thousand liters of oil spilled into the waters of Prince William Bay. This accident seriously disrupted the ecological situation along the state's coast and caused great damage to wildlife and fisheries.

Alaska's main source of income is fishing. In some years, up to half of all US fish production was produced here. The main types of fish and seafood produced are salmon, halibut, herring, crabs, shrimp and shellfish. The catch is mainly frozen for the purpose of export to Japan and Western Europe. One third of the catch is processed in canneries, with pink salmon being the main preference.

Mining is the second most important industry in the state's economy. Alaska is primarily known as a gold-bearing region. In addition to gold, other metals are also mined in the state. However, due to the state's remoteness from other industrial centers country and excessively expensive transportation, the development of the mining industry is quite slow. Two major producing areas began development in 1989 and 1990, in the southeast at Greens Creek (near Juneau) and in the northwest at Red Dog (near Kotzebue). The minerals mined here primarily are those that are in short supply outside the state and that other industries cannot do without: gold, platinum, chromium, mercury, silver, molybdenum, zinc, copper, lead and nickel.

In 1957, commercial oil production began on the Kenai Peninsula, and since 1968, oil production platforms began operating in Prudhoe Bay, which is considered the largest oil field in North America. To transport oil from north to south, an oil pipeline with a length of 1,280 kilometers was built in 1977, leading to the ice-free port of Valdez. Natural gas is also produced in Alaska, construction sand, gravel and coal.

The remoteness of Alaska from the rest of the USA, the halo of northern exoticism, its unusual landscape, nature and climate make the state unusually attractive for lovers of tourism and outdoor recreation wildlife. Tourism is the state's third largest economic sector. Most tourists arrive in Alaska by ferry, but an increasing number of tourists travel by car and bus along the Trans-Alaska Highway. This is the only land route connecting Alaska with Canada and the "lower" American states. Most of The highway passes through Canada. It begins in the town of Dawson Creek in British Columbia and stretches for two thousand kilometers. The road was built during World War II to connect military airfields. Nowadays, the Trans-Alaska Highway has become an unforgettable a tourist route. It passes through forests, past lakes, along glacial valleys, and winds through picturesque mountains.

One of the most visited places by tourists is National Park and the Denali Wildlife Refuge, which does not allow hunting but allows camping and fishing.

A third of Alaska's territory is occupied by forests in which birch, poplar, and aspen grow, but logging in the state is carried out on an insignificant scale, especially compared to such forest industry leaders as the states of Washington and Oregon. The timber is floated down rivers along the southern and southeastern coasts to deep sea harbors. Hemlock and spruce, as well as red and yellow cedar, are subject to industrial felling. The main timber processing plants are located in the cities of Ketchikan and Sitka.

Agriculture in effect natural conditions Alaska is underdeveloped. 90 percent of agricultural products and food are imported from outside. Areas suitable for farming are mostly forested and difficult to develop. The agricultural season in Alaska is unusually short, but cultivated plants grow well because the polar day is quite long. The most suitable land for agriculture is in the Matanuska Valley, 80 kilometers northeast of Anchorage, as well as in the Tanana River valley near Fairbanks, in the lowlands of the Kenai Peninsula and in several areas of the southeast coast. In Alaska, they grow what goes straight to the table. Fruits, potatoes, carrots, greenhouse vegetables, huge cabbage, berries, as well as milk and eggs are in great demand because, unlike many other regions of the United States, they are not imported, do not contain preservatives, and most importantly, they are fresh.

Fur production is another important industry in Alaska. For this purpose, mink are actively bred here, and beaver, marten, lynx, coyote, otter and muskrat are hunted.

The population of Alaska is over 0.5 million people, of which approximately 85 thousand people are Eskimos, Aleuts and Indians, i.e. the indigenous population of the state. Among representatives of other nationalities, the most common are Russians, Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese and people from Scandinavia.

Although most indigenous people gravitate toward their own cultures and engage in traditional trades and crafts, many of them move to cities. Local Eskimos settle mainly along the coast Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean and in the deltas of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers. They engage in fishing, hunting and fur farming.

The Indians, mainly belonging to the Tlingit tribe, live on the islands in the south of the state. They engage in fishing, hunting and traditional crafts - wood and bone carving, and also work in fish canning factories.

Two-thirds of the state's residents live in cities and towns. Although Alaska's cities look as modern as other cities in the United States, they are separated from each other by large distances. In many cases, communication between them is carried out only by water or air.

Anchorage, with a population of 230,000 and Alaska's largest city, was founded in 1914 near Cook Inlet as the headquarters of the Alaska Railroad Authority and was rebuilt after the 1964 earthquake. It is the main commercial, transportation and military center of the state. Anchorage grew rapidly in the 1970s. There is a large one here international Airport, called the "air crossroads of the world", serving millions of passengers flying between the United States, Canada and East Asia. The city has everything necessary to be called large modern center, - theaters, musical groups, a museum of history and art with a collection of masterpieces of local folk crafts, a museum of natural history, and a zoo.

Fairbanks, the second largest city in Alaska with a population of over 30 thousand people, was founded by gold miners in 1902 in the center of the state, on the Chena River, a tributary of the Yukon River. Gold continues to be mined in this place, but Fairbanks' main significance lies in its role as a transportation hub. This city is the last station on the Alaska Railroad. The Trans-Alaska Highway ends here. Important defense facilities are located near the city, including a satellite tracking station.

Juneau, the capital of Alaska, a city with a population of about 27 thousand people, is located in the southeast of the state. The city got its name from gold miner Joe Juneau, who discovered gold in these parts in 1880. The settlement founded here became the center of the mining industry, and in 1900 the town became the capital of the territory, although all administrative institutions moved here from Sitka only in 1906. In 1976, Alaskans were polled about moving the state capital to Willow, north of Anchorage, as Juneau's economy declined. Over time, however, Juneau gained economic strength, largely from tourism and the mining industry, so a re-vote in 1982 retained the city's status as the capital.

Juneau can only be reached by plane or boat. The main sectors of the city's economy are tourism, mining and fishing industries. Near Juneau is the Greens Creek Mine, one of the largest silver deposits in the United States. Juneau is picturesquely located on the Gastineau Canal, which resembles Norwegian fjord. A bridge over the canal connects the business part of the city with Douglas Island, where residential areas are located. Juneau is a bit like San Francisco - houses in both cities are crowded along winding streets and climb up hills. Juneau Harbor is an ice-free port. North of the city, the Lynn Canal begins, leading to the cities of Haines and Skagway. Ferry services connect these cities with Seattle, Washington, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada. Juneau attractions include the Alaska Museum, which has a wonderful collection of traditional art. northern peoples. The city is home to the University of Alaska and a large library.

In Sitka, former city Novoarkhangelsk on Baranova Island, now home to about 10 thousand people. It is a port city, famous for its fish canning factories, and a center of the timber industry. Sitka is one of the largest centers of “Russian America” with a “Russian quarter”. The city is home to a national historical park, created on the site of a battle in which Russian troops defeated the Tlingit Indians.

Ketchikan, in the Alaska Panhandle—which has a southern protrusion on the map that resembles a bucket handle—is a port city, home to the state's largest wood pulp mills and the largest fishing fleet in Alaska.

From the book 100 greats geographical discoveries author Balandin Rudolf Konstantinovich

From the book Essay on Gold author Maksimov Mikhail Markovich

Alaska (the last classic gold rush) The gold-bearing region of Alaska extends beyond the borders of the US state of the same name into Canada and is actually located in the middle and lower reaches of the river. Yukon. Alaska was discovered in 1741 by the Russians, i.e. this is the last