Alaska
Commonwealth of Alaska | |
---|---|
Motto: North to the Future | |
Anthem: Alaska's Flag | |
Capital | Juneau |
Largest city | Anchorage |
Official languages | English, Russian, Aleut, Tlingit, Inupiaq |
Demonym(s) | Alaskan |
Government | Federal semi-presidential constitutional republic |
Nicolas McCarty | |
Sean Coghill-Ross | |
Griffan Holland | |
Legislature | Parliament |
National Council | |
House of Commons | |
Independence from the Kingdom of Sierra | |
July 8, 1733 | |
October 18, 1867 | |
May 17, 1884 | |
July 8, 1950 | |
Area | |
• Total | 1,717,856 km2 (663,268 sq mi) |
• Water (%) | 13.77% |
Population | |
• 2018 estimate | 738,448 |
• 2014 census | 708,132 |
• Density | 0.49/km2 (1.3/sq mi) |
GDP (PPP) | 2014 estimate |
• Total | $49.12 billion |
• Per capita | $44,174 |
Currency | Alaskan dollar (AD) |
Alaska, officially the Commonwealth of Alaska, is a sovereign state located in North America and based in the western coastal region of Anglo-America. It shares land borders with Astoria and Superior to the east, and a maritime border with Ussuria thanks to its western most island, Attu Island, in the Bering Strait. It has also has coasts on the Pacific Ocean to the south and the Arctic Ocean to the north. Alaska is one of the largest countries in the world, but is also one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world with a total population of around 787,909 according to 2018 estimates. Half of all Alaskans live in the Anchorage metropolitan area and its economy is dominated by oil, fishing and natural gas, which are abundant in the country. Tourism also plays a significant role in the Alaskan economy as well and trade with various international organizations and nearby countries in East Asia have also benefited the country as well.
Historically speaking, Alaska was initially colonized by various native tribes, but was later colonized by the Russian Empire in the 18th century leading to the establishment of Russian America in 1733. The colony remained in Russian control until the Kingdom of Sierra acquired it in the Alaska Purchase in 1873. It was initially administered as an unorganized territory until the Klondike Gold Rush when it was restructured into an organized incorporated territory as the Dominion of Alaska, commonly known as Sierran Alaska during this period. During the Great War, Alaska was involved in the conflict as a staging ground for the Sierran Royal Navy and other units from the Sierran Crown Armed Forces, however the presence was initially small and internal defense was left up to the Alaska Territorial Guard. In 1934, the Empire of Japan launched an invasion of Alaska's westernmost territories, kickstarting the Aleutian Islands campaign, seeing Alaskan and Sierran troops fight the Imperial Japanese Army with support from Manitoba and Astoria, repulsing the Japanese forces by 1935. Towards the end of the war in 1938, Alaska was used by the Sierran military for bombing runs against Derzhavist Russia against its Far Eastern territories.
During the Cold War, Alaska would see the emergence of a nationalist movement that promoted the idea of an Alaskan nation and national identity, pushing for independence from Sierra. The Alaskan independence movement gained steam in the 1940s, motivated in part by its role in the Great War in preventing further Japanese advances into the Aleutian Islands and the American Coalition victory in the campaign. Changing views of Alaska in Sierra combined with fears of the potentials spread of Landonism into the region if independence was rejected, the K.S. government agreed to grant Alaska independence, singing the Alaskan Sovereignty Act of 1950 which permitted Alaska's secession from the Kingdom of Sierra. Alaska would remain a close ally with Sierra and aligned itself with the Western Bloc against the communist Eastern Bloc during the Cold War, though contributed limited military resources and personnel during this period.
In the modern era Alaska is a developed country with an advanced economy and decent standards of living, though poverty is a problem that Alaska suffers from in the modern era. Alaska is a federal constitutional republic under a semi-presidential system and ranks 13th worldwide in press freedom, 8th in free speech, 10th in social progress and 20th in prosperity. Alaska is a member of various international organizations such as the League of Nations, World Trade Organization, the Northern Treaty Organization, and the Conference of American States among others.
Etymology
The name "Alaska" (Russian: Аляска, tr. Alyaska) was coined during the Russian colonial period where it was used to refer to the Alaskan peninsula and was derived from an Aleut-language idiom, which figuratively refers to the mainland. Literally, it means object to which the action of the sea is directed. The name Alaska was used by the Sierran government to designate the territory and later when it became a self-governing dominion.
History
Pre-colonization
Long before the arrival of the first European settlers, Alaska was first settled by by various native tribes and indigenous peoples in the region. DNA and Linguistic studies have proven that the tribesmen first arrived in Alaska via the Bering land bridge and at the Upward Sun River site, the skeletal remains of six-year old infant were found. The DNA from the infant's fossils showed that she belonged to a population that was genetically separate from various other native groups located in the New World at the end of Pleistocene. The remains were unearthed by Ben Potter from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and were unearthed at the Upward River Site in 2013 and named the long gone group the Ancient Beringians. The Tlingit people had developed a society with a matrilineal kinship system of property inherence in present day Southeast Alaska and in parts of present day Eastern Rainier. The Haida people were also in the same region as the Tlingit and are now known for their unique arts. These groups, along with other indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America, would experience smallpox outbreaks during he 18th and 19th centuries, with the 1830s and 1860s seeing the worst epidemics, resulting in high fatalities and significant social disruption to these groups.
Russian colonization
Several researchers believe that the first Russian settlement in Alaska was established in the 17th century. According to this hypothesis, several koches from the expedition to Alaska lead by Semyon Dezhnyov washed ashore by storm and found the settlement in 1648. This claim is based on the testimony of Nikolai Daurkin, a Chukchi geographer who visited Alaska in 1764–1765 where he traveled along the Kheuveren River where he came across a settlement of "bearded men" who "prayed to icons". The Kheuveren River is associated with the Koyuk River according to several modern researchers.
Sierran territory
Independence and the Cold War
Contemporary era
Geography
Demographics
Race and ethnicity
Languages
Religion
Government and politics
Political structure
Administrative divisions
Alaska is organized into six regions and 40 provinces.
Political parties
Military
The Alaskan Defense Forces include the Army, Navy, Air Force, Territorial Guard, and Naval Militia.
Economy
Culture
Alaska's culture reflects the confluence of Russian, Anglo-American, and Indigenous cultures and traditions. It is drawn upon the native Alaskan and Inuit cultures that existed prior to Russian colonization and the Western cultures that were introduced following colonization. Alaska is home to a number of distinct regional and ethnic subcultures, each with strong identities. The two largest ethnolinguistic groups: the Anglophones and the Russophones, are the dominant peoples in Alaska, especially in Southern Alaska. More recent immigration waves from East Asia, Western Europe, and Oceania have further enriched the cultural diversity of the country.
See also
This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Alaska, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors). |
- Start-class articles
- Altverse II
- Alaska
- Republics
- Countries in North America
- States and territories established in 1950
- English-speaking countries and territories
- Former Russian colonies
- Northern America
- Member states of the League of Nations
- Member states of the Conference of American States
- Member states of NTO
- Member states of the Columbian Community
- Former Sierran colonies