The American state of Alaska, located on the eponymous peninsula, is associated with constant frost, snow, and ice. That’s partly right, but only partly – the short northern summer in these provinces is amazingly beautiful.
But if you are not indifferent to northern nature, then this corner of the planet is also worth being included on your list to visit.
Here are the top 25 most interesting facts about Alaska.
- Alaska joined the United States as the 49th State. Alaska has a sea border with Russia, and they are only 4 kilometers away from each other.
- In terms of area, Alaska ranks first place among all 50 American states, but in terms of population, it is only the third from the bottom.
- Juneau, the capital of Alaska, was built around a big gold deposit. It was named after one lucky gold digger.
- One of the local laws in Alaska prohibits waking a sleeping bear to take a picture with him since there was once a similar case.
- During the Klondike Gold Rush in Alaska, from 200 prospectors only one was successful. And people, who sold them equipment and provided infrastructure, achieved the largest profit.
- During the Gold Rush prices in Alaska were monstrous. Potatoes, for example, were sold worth their weight in gold – a kilo of potatoes for a kilo of gold ore.
8 Interesting facts about Alaska?
- According to local laws, anyone can look for gold in Alaska, even a foreigner. Nothing prevents a tourist to try searching for grains of precious metal in the gold-bearing sand of local rivers.
- About 5% of Alaska’s territory is covered with glaciers. In total there are about 10.000 glaciers.
- The world’s highest tsunami was recorded in Alaska in 1958. It was more than 500 meters high. It happened when a piece of glacier fell into a narrow lake sandwiched in rocks.
- An interesting species of frogs live in Alaska. These amphibians freeze into ice in winter and thaw in spring to continue living.
- One of the local pizzerias delivers pizza on small planes that can land and take off even without a specially equipped runway.
- During long polar days in northern Alaska local farmers grow huge vegetables, which reach truly incredible sizes in such conditions. For example, the biggest pumpkin was 821 kg.
- A third of Alaska’s territory lies beyond the Arctic Circle. The lowest temperature registered here was -62 degrees.
- The northern lights can be seen an average of 243 days a year in Fairbanks. The northern lights are produced by charged electrons and protons striking the earth’s upper atmosphere.
5 Unknown facts about Alaska?
- Alaska is often shaken by earthquakes. The world second strongest earthquake hit Alaska in 1964, and it was so strong that it was recorded by seismographs located in Africa.
- First Alaska belonged to the Russian Empire, but in 1867 it was sold to the United States since it was not easy to control such remote lands, and gold hasn’t been found in this area.
- There are many volcanoes here. The highest of them, Veniaminof volcano, rises to a height of more than 2.5 kilometers.
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- The population density in Alaska is lower than in any country in the world. About 52% of Alaskans are men – the highest percentage of any state.
- Juneau, the capital city, can be reached only by air or sea. There are simply no highways between Juneau and other parts of the mainland.
6 Interesting facts about Alaska for Kids?
- The most northern city of Alaska is Barrow. Notable is the fact that the duration of the polar night and polar day there is almost 3 months.
- The name Alaska comes from the Aleut word Alyeska, meaning «the great land». And about 20% of all US oil and gas reserves are located in Alaska.
- The state bird of Alaska is the willow ptarmigan (though some like to joke the state bird is the mosquito).
- Three times as many people live in the small European country of Slovenia as in the whole of Alaska. And if Manhattan, New York, had the same population density as Alaska, only 16 people would be living on the island.
- The post of mayor of one of the cities of Alaska was officially held by a domestic cat Stubbs. The red cat was the mayor for 20 years till he died in 2017.
- The state sport of Alaska is dog mushing, which was once the primary mode of transportation in most of Alaska. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is the state’s largest sporting event.
We bet, you didn’t expect, that Alaska contains such rich and eventful history and it’s so full of life! There will be more brilliant discover for you on our topic. Don’t miss it!
