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Introduction

Alaska (/əˈlæskə/ ^ⓘ ə-LASS-kə) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. It is in the Western United States region. The only other non-contiguous U.S. state is Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost (the Aleutian Islands cross the 180th meridian into the eastern hemisphere) state in the United States. It borders the Canadian territory of Yukon and the province of British Columbia to the east. It shares a western maritime border, in the Bering Strait, with Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean lie to the north, and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south. Technically, it is a semi-exclave of the U.S., and is the largest exclave in the world.

Alaska is the largest U.S. state by area, comprising more total area than the following three largest states of Texas, California, and Montana combined, and is the sixth-largest subnational division in the world. It is the third-least populous and most sparsely populated U.S. state, but is, with a population of 736,081 as of 2020, the continent's most populous territory located mostly north of the 60th parallel, with more than quadruple the combined populations of Northern Canada and Greenland. The state contains the four largest cities in the United States by area, including the state capital of Juneau. The state's most populous city is Anchorage, and approximately half of Alaska's residents live within its metropolitan area.

Indigenous people have lived in Alaska for thousands of years, and it is widely believed that the region served as the entry point for the initial settlement of North America by way of the Bering land bridge. The Russian Empire was the first to actively colonize the area beginning in the 18th century, eventually establishing Russian America, which spanned most of the current state and promoted and maintained a native Alaskan Creole population. The expense and logistical difficulty of maintaining this distant possession prompted its sale to the U.S. in 1867 for US$7.2 million (equivalent to $157 million in 2023). The area went through several administrative changes before becoming organized as a territory on May 11, 1912. It was admitted as the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959.

Abundant natural resources have enabled Alaska— with one of the smallest state economies—to have one of the highest per capita incomes, with commercial fishing, and the extraction of natural gas and oil, dominating Alaska's economy. U.S. Armed Forces bases and tourism also contribute to the economy; more than half of the state is federally-owned land containing national forests, national parks, and wildlife refuges. It is among the most irreligious states, one of the first to legalize recreational marijuana, and is known for its libertarian-leaning political culture, generally supporting the Republican Party in national elections. The Indigenous population of Alaska is proportionally the second highest of any U.S. state, at over 15 percent, after only Hawaii. (Full article...)

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Prospectors ascending Chilkoot Pass, 1898

The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of Yukon, in north-western Canada, between 1896 and 1899. Gold was discovered there by local miners on August 16, 1896; when news reached Seattle and San Francisco the following year, it triggered a stampede of prospectors. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain. It has been immortalized in films, literature, and photographs.

To reach the gold fields, most prospectors took the route through the ports of Dyea and Skagway, in Southeast Alaska. Here, the "Klondikers" could follow either the Chilkoot or the White Pass trails to the Yukon River, and sail down to the Klondike. The Canadian authorities required each of them to bring a year's supply of food, in order to prevent starvation. In all, the Klondikers' equipment weighed close to a ton, which most carried themselves, in stages. Performing this task, and contending with the mountainous terrain and cold climate, meant that most of those who persisted did not arrive until the summer of 1898. Once there, they found few opportunities, and many left disappointed.

To accommodate the prospectors, boom towns sprang up along the routes. At their terminus, Dawson City was founded at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers. From a population of 500 in 1896, the town grew to house approximately 17,000 people by summer 1898. Built of wood, isolated, and unsanitary, Dawson suffered from fires, high prices, and epidemics. Despite this, the wealthiest prospectors spent extravagantly, gambling and drinking in the saloons. The indigenous Hän, on the other hand, suffered from the rush; they were forcibly moved into a reserve to make way for the Klondikers, and many died. (Full article...)

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Legal education in Alaska refers to the history of efforts to educate Alaskans in the laws of the state, including the education of those representing themselves before the courts, paralegals and the continuing legal education of Alaskan lawyers after their admission to the Alaska Bar Association. Since becoming the 49th state of the United States on January 3, 1959 Alaska has not had a public, American Bar Association-accredited law school. A 1975 study by former Alaska Attorney General (1970–1973) John E. Havelock concluded that the state did not require a law school. Without a state law school, Alaska did not receive a 2001 distribution of the complete legal papers of Abraham Lincoln and the Alaska Law Review has been published outside Alaska.

As of 2015, Alaska was the only state without a law school, but Seattle University School of Law has opened a satellite campus at Alaska Pacific University, where law students from any ABA accredited school can study Alaska-specific courses during summers or for part or all of their third (and final) year of law school. Also, although it still requires students to leave the state, as of 2021, University of Alaska Anchorage undergraduates can qualify for direct admission to Case Western Reserve University School of Law and Willamette University College of Law on an accelerated schedule. (Full article...)

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Blanket toss during Nalukataq in Barrow, Alaska

Photo credit: Floyd Davidson

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The following are images from various Alaska-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Aleksandr Baranov, "Lord of Alaska" (from History of Alaska)
Image 2Spanish contact in British Columbia and Alaska (from History of Alaska)
Image 3Propaganda poster, World War II, depicting Alaska as a death trap for Japan. (from History of Alaska)
Image 4Earthquake damage in Anchorage (from History of Alaska)
Image 5Matanuska glacier (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 6Calving glacier (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 7Near Little Port Walter in Southeast Alaska (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 8St. Michael's Cathedral in Sitka. The original structure, built in 1848, burned down in a fire on January 2, 1966. The cathedral was rebuilt from plans of the original structure and contains artifacts rescued from the fire. (from History of Alaska)
Image 9Miners and prospectors climb the Chilkoot Trail during the Klondike Gold Rush. (from History of Alaska)
Image 10Map of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline (from History of Alaska)
Image 11Buildings burning after the first Japanese attack on Dutch Harbor, June 3, 1942. (from History of Alaska)
Image 12Alaska has more acreage of public land owned by the federal government than any other state. (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 13An Inupiaq woman, Nome, Alaska, c. 1907 (from History of Alaska)
Image 14Nushagak River in Southwest Alaska (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 15Alaska in 1895 (Rand McNally). The boundary of southeastern Alaska shown is that claimed by the United States before the conclusion of the Alaska boundary dispute. (from History of Alaska)
Image 16Mount Sanford in the Wrangell Mountains (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 171860 map of Russian America (from History of Alaska)
Image 18Ketchikan, one of the places affected by COVID-19 during the 2020 outbreak in Alaska (from History of Alaska)
Image 19Kenai River on the Kenai Peninsula (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 20The check that paid for Alaska (from History of Alaska)
Image 21Köppen climate types of Alaska (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 22Alaska's area compared to the 48 contiguous states (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 23Oil pooled on rocks on the shore of Prince William Sound after the oil spill. (from History of Alaska)

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Alaska Purchase (hi-res)
Alaska wild berries
Heinrich Berann NPS Panorama of Denali without labels
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MtRedoubtedit1
Parque estatal Chugach, Alaska, Estados Unidos, 2017-08-22, DD 94
Russian-American Co - 1 Ruble (7559)
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Yukon Delta

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Grizzly Denali edit

Related Portals

Alaska • Puerto Rico • Hawaii • Oklahoma • Arizona • California • Florida • Illinois • Indiana • Kansas • Maryland • Michigan • Mississippi • Nevada • New Jersey • New York • Ohio • Oregon • Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) • Texas • Utah • Virginia

American football • Baseball • • North America

Canada • Russia

Related WikiProjects


Alaska	U.S. States
Alaska Project Divisions
People Physical geography History Economy	Communities Government Transportation Culture Alaska Natives

State facts

Nicknames: The Last Frontier, Land of the Midnight Sun, Land of the Noonday Moon, Seward's Folly
Capital: Juneau
Governor: Michael J. Dunleavy (R)
Lieutenant Governor Kevin Meyer (R)
Attorney General: Kevin G. Clarkson

Senators: Dan Sullivan (R), Lisa Murkowski (R)
Representatives: Mary Peltola (D)

Total area: 663,268 mi²
- Land: 571,936 mi²
- Water: 91,332 mi²
Highest elevation: 20,310 ft (Denali)

Population 741,894 (2016 est)
Admission to the Union: January 3, 1959 (49^th)

State symbols:

Dog: Alaskan Malamute
Bird: Willow Ptarmigan
Insect: Four-spot Skimmer Dragonfly
Colors: None
Fish: King Salmon
Flower: Alpine Forget-me-not
Gem: Jade
Sport: Dog Mushing
Songs: Alaska's Flag

Tasks

Open tasks for Wikipedia:WikiProject Alaska.
or discuss these tasks.

Shortcuts: Recent changes | Categories | History

Urgent: An editor in Alaska able/willing to actively work with the Wikipedia Ambassador Program to provide direction/oversight for any articles within the project which are being improved upon under the program.
To Rate: Unassessed Alaska articles, Unknown-importance Alaska articles
To Nominate at WP:FAC:
To Improve to Featured standard: Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, Juneau, Alaska, History of Alaska
Collaboration:
To Expand: Category:Alaska stubs, Alaskeros, Sheldon Jackson, Scouting in Alaska
- Governor articles: Steve Cowper, Bill Sheffield, Keith Harvey Miller, Waino Edward Hendrickson
To Clean up: Diomede Islands
To Merge:
To Destub: See: Category:Alaska stubs
To Deorphan:
To Categorize:
To Create: Articles on incoming (2019) legislators (and updating outgoing ones), Articles for new 2010 Census CDPs: Badger, Alaska, Chena Ridge, Alaska, Eureka Roadhouse, Alaska, Farmers Loop, Alaska, Goldstream, Alaska, Loring, Alaska, Point Possession, Alaska, South Van Horn, Alaska, Steele Creek, Alaska, Whitestone, Alaska
Lists to de-redlink: List of mayors of Anchorage DoneDavid chamberlain (talk) 20:49, 2 February 2014 (UTC)
Lists to complete: List of mayors of Fairbanks, Alaska
Wanted Pics/Graphics:
Wanted New Pics: See Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in Alaska
Common mistakes to avoid (and correct):
- Knik, Alaska, the ghost town, and Knik River, Alaska, the CDP, are not the same place. In fact, they are approximately an hour's drive away from each other.
- Despite its name of "City and Borough of Yakutat," this entity is a borough, not a consolidated city-borough.

See the talk page (or archives of same) of WP:ALASKA, or of the articles in question, for more information.

Maintain: add {{WikiProject Alaska}} to the talk pages of Alaska-related articles and add the articles to Wikipedia:WikiProject Alaska/Recent changes (if not done already by a bot) so related changes link works.
To expand: Rie Muñoz, Rosita Worl