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Alaska

Alaska
US State
Nickname"Land of the Midnight Sun"
MottoNorth to the Future
Official languagesNone
Spoken languagesEnglish 89.7%,
Native North American 5.2%,
Spanish 2.9%
DemonymAlaskan
CapitalJuneau
Largest cityAnchorage
Area
Area Ranked1st
Total663268 sq mi 1717854 km2
Width2261 mi 3639 km
Length1420 mi 2285 km
% water13.77
Population
Pop. Rank47th
Total710,231 (2010)
626,932 (2000)
Density1.07 /sq mi 0.4 /km2
Median incomeUS$64,333 (4th)
Elevation
Highest pointMount McKinley (Denali)
20320 ft 6194 m
Mean1900 ft 580 m
Lowest pointOcean
0 ft 0 m
Other information
Admission to UnionJanuary 3, 1959 (49th)
GovernorSean Parnell (R)
Lieutenant GovernorMead Treadwell (R)
LegislatureAlaska Legislature
Upper houseSenate
Lower houseHouse of Representatives
U.S. SenatorsLisa Murkowski (R)
Mark Begich (D)
U.S. House delegationDon Young (R) (at-large)
Timezone
- east of 169° 30' - Alaska: UTC-9/DST-8
- west of 169° 30' - Aleutian: UTC-10/DST-9
Time zoneAlaska: UTC-9/DST-8

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Alaska c-enaudio=en-us-Alaska.oggəˈlæskə is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait. Approximately half of Alaska's 710,231 residents (as per the 2010 United States Census) live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaska is the least densely populated state of the U.S.

Alaska was purchased from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million ($ in today's dollars) at about two cents per acre ($4.74/km2). The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized (or incorporated) territory on May 11, 1912, and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959.

The name "Alaska" (Аляска) was already introduced in the Russian colonial period, when it was used only for the peninsula and is derived from the Aleut alaxsxaq, meaning "the mainland" or more literally, "the object towards which the action of the sea is directed". It is also known as Alyeska, the "great land", an Aleut word derived from the same root.


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