The 49th state admitted to the US was Alaska, on January 3rd, 1959. The name "Alaska" comes from an Aleut word "alaxsxaq", which means "the mainland". A different Aleut word, "Alyeska" is another term for Alaska that means "the great land". The state flag was designed by a 13-year old boy in 1926. The most US glaciers are in the great state of Alaska. It is also the home to 17 of the tallest mountains in North America, and has over 100 volcanoes. There is more coastline in Alaska than there is in the rest of the country combined, with over 34,000 miles of coastline on three different seas. The lowest population density of all states in the nation belongs to Alaska, and just over half of the people are men - which is the highest percentage of any other state. Some of the lowest temperatures (-80*) that have been recorded in history were in Prospect Creek Camp in 1971. There are also a few abnormal energies in the state like Gravity Hill and the regular paranormal activity. Gravity Hill is on Upper Huffman Road in Anchorage and apparently defies the laws of physics. Cars at the bottom of the hill roll upward instead of downward, etc. At the University of Alaska Anchorage, there are many stories of events that prove the campus is haunted. The state capital is Juneau, the state bird is the Willow Ptarmigan, the state flower is the Alpine Forget-Me-Not, and the state tree is the Sitka Spruce.
Alaskan Natives add up to be 18% of the total population. There are 224 federally recognized tribes that speak 20 indigenous languages. Indigenous people have inhabited Alaska since 10,000BCE. The Athabaskans, Aleuts, Inuit, Yupik, Tlingit, and Haida migrating groups are still there today. From that time until the early 1700's, they lived off of the land and learned how to care for themselves and each other. In the early 1700's, a Russian expedition commissioned by Peter the Great, and led by a Danish mariner, Vitus Bering, tried to find the land of North America, but failed due to heavy fog. A second voyage twenty years later was successful, and sea otter furs were taken back to Russia for trade between Europe, Asia, and North America. In 1784, the first European settlement was established by the Russians at Three Saints Bay. Indigenous Unangan were killed by the Russians from their diseases and over the hunting and trading of fur seals. Natives fought to try and hold onto their land, and that was when the "Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971" met their demands for land rights. In 1824, Russia created separate treaties with the US and Great Britain to establish trade route boundaries and regulations. This Russian-American Company ruled over Alaska until it was purchased by the US in 1867. Soon, sea otters were virtually extinct, and the Crimean War cost the Russians political consequences. Those were two good reasons for the US to purchase Alaska and negotiate a treaty. The US Secretary of State, William H. Seward, proposed $7.2 million, it was approved by the US Congress, and Sitka flew the first American flag on October 18, 1867. They called the Alaska Purchase the "Seward's Folly" because they didn't think that Alaska had anything good to offer. Eventually, it became the largest salmon industry in the world, and a salmon cannery was built in 1878. Alaska became a judicial land district in 1884, and federal courts and schools were set up. The territory of Alaska was established by Congress in 1912. Gold was discovered in Juneau on the Stikine River, and dredging in the Tanana River valley began in 1903 and lasted through 1967. In 1946, Alaskan locals voted for statehood and adopted a constitution in 1956. The Alaska statehood bill of 1958 was approved by Congress, and the state was invited to join the union in 1959. Today, Native Alaskans are indigenous, and the culture is part of this amazing state. Alaskan Native Americans make up about 15% of the population. The largest groups of indigenous people come from the Yup'ik, Inupait, Tlingit-Haida, Alaska Athabaskan, Aleut, and Tsimschian.
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