FUN ALASKA FACTS
Alaska is land worthy of many superlatives. Here we provide you with an interesting collection of some of Alaska's vital statistics that may help
satisfy your curiosity and whet your appetite.
Name Origin: The name of Alaska comes from the Aleut work Alyeska, meaning The Great Land.
Nick Names: The last frontier, Land of the Midnight Sun
Motto: North to the Future
Flower: Forget-me-not
Capital: Juneau is the only capital in the United States accessible only by boat or plane.
Statehood: The US purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7,200,00 (about 2 cents an acre) and made it the union's 49th state on January 3, 1959.
Land Area Size: Alaska is the largest state in the union, covering 570,373 square miles, approximately one fifth of the entire United States. Alaska is so large that the state of Rhode Island could fit into Alaska 425 times.
Population: The population of Alaska is only 670,053 and compared to the population of bears in Alaska, there is 1 bear for every 21 people.
Tallest Mt. in North America: Mt. McKinley stands at 20,320 feet. Alaska is also home to 16 of the 20 highest mountains in the U.S.
Greatest concentration of glaciers in North America: There are more active glaciers and ice fields in Alaska than in the rest of the inhabited world. The largest glacier is Malaspina at 805 square miles.
State Symbols and emblems:
- State Bird: Alaska Willow Ptarmigan
- State Tree: Sitka Spruce
- State Marine Mammal: Bowhead Whale
- State Fish: King Salmon, also known as the Chinook Salmon
- State Sport: Dog Mushing
- State Gem: Jade
- State Mineral: Gold
- State Insect: Four spot skimmer dragonfly
Light vs. Dark: The Arctic Circle is an imaginary circle around the globe where on December 21 the sun never rises for twenty-four hours and on June 21 for twenty-four hours it never sets.
Gardening: Giant vegetables are common in Alaska due to the extremely long days in summer which account for a record cabbage weighing in at 94 pounds.
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