Portal:Alaska

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Introduction

Alaska (/ə.ˈlæs.kə/ ^ⓘ, ə-LASS-kə) is a U.S. state located in the northwestern regions of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is considered to be the northernmost, westernmost, and, longitudinally, the easternmost state in the United States. It is a semi-exclave of the U.S., bordering the Canadian territory of Yukon and the province of British Columbia to the east. It shares a western maritime border in the Bering Strait with Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, and is closer to another continent (Asia) than any other U.S. state. The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean lie to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the south.

Alaska is the largest U.S. state by area—comprising more total area than the next three largest states of Texas, California, and Montana combined—and is the world's largest semi-exclave and seventh-largest subnational division. With a population of 740,133 in 2024, it is the third-least populous and most sparsely populated state in the U.S., but the most populous territory in North America located mostly north of the 60th parallel, with more than quadruple the combined populations of Northern Canada and Greenland. Alaska contains the four largest cities in the United States by area, including its capital, Juneau. Alaska's most populous city is Anchorage, and approximately half the state's residents live within its metropolitan area.

Indigenous people have lived in Alaska for thousands of years, and it is widely believed that the region served as the entry point for the initial settlement of the Americas by way of the Bering land bridge. The Russian Empire was the first to actively colonize the area beginning in the 18th century, eventually establishing Russian America, which spanned most of the current state and promoted and maintained a native Alaskan Creole population. The expense and logistical difficulty of maintaining this distant possession prompted its sale to the U.S. in 1867 for US$7.2 million, equivalent to $166 million in 2025. The area went through several administrative changes before becoming organized as a territory on May 11, 1912. It was admitted as the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959.

An abundance of natural resources—including commercial fishing and the extraction of natural gas and oil—has enabled Alaska to have one of the highest per capita incomes in the United States, despite having one of the smallest economies. U.S. Armed Forces bases and tourism also contribute to the economy; more than half of Alaska is federally owned, containing national forests, national parks, and wildlife refuges. It is among the most irreligious states and one of the first to legalize recreational marijuana. Alaska has the highest proportion of Native Americans of any U.S. state, at 22 percent. (Full article...)

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Joseph Jeffrey Hazelwood (September 24, 1946 – c. July 22, 2022) was an American sailor. He was the captain of Exxon Valdez during her 1989 oil spill. He was accused of being intoxicated which contributed to the disaster, but was cleared of this charge at his 1990 trial after witnesses testified that he was sober around the time of the accident. Hazelwood was convicted of a lesser charge, negligent discharge of oil (a misdemeanor), fined $50,000, and sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service. (Full article...)

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Tlingit (Lingít, pronounced [ɬɪ̀nkɪ́t]; English: /ˈklɪŋkɪt/ ^ⓘ KLING-kit) is an endangered language indigenous to Southeast Alaska and Western Canada spoken by the Tlingit people. It is generally agreed to form an independent branch of the Na-Dene language family. Although the number of speakers is declining, there are several revitalization and second-language programs in Southeast Alaska.

Missionaries of the Russian Orthodox Church were the first to develop a written version of Tlingit using the Cyrillic script. After the Alaska Purchase, Tlingit language use was suppressed by the United States government, though preservation programs were introduced beginning in the 20th century. Today, Tlingit is spoken natively by perhaps only 100 elders.

Tlingit's placement in the Na-Dene family has provoked much debate over the last century, with most scholars now considering it to form a separate branch in the phylum, the other being Eyak–Athabaskan (including Eyak and the Athabaskan languages). Tlingit has also attracted interest due to its unusual phonology, especially compared to Indo-European languages, and its morphological complexity. (Full article...)

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Cruise ship tourists observing Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay.

Photo credit: User:Nvvchar

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The following are images from various Alaska-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Nushagak River in Southwest Alaska (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 2An Inupiaq woman, Nome, Alaska, c. 1907 (from History of Alaska)
Image 3Alaska has more acreage of public land owned by the federal government than any other state. (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 4Earthquake damage in Anchorage (from History of Alaska)
Image 5Map of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline (from History of Alaska)
Image 6Matanuska Glacier (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 7Oil pooled on rocks on the shore of Prince William Sound after the oil spill. (from History of Alaska)
Image 8Kenai River on the Kenai Peninsula (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 9Buildings burning after the first Japanese attack on Dutch Harbor, June 3, 1942. (from History of Alaska)
Image 10Calving glacier (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 11Near Little Port Walter in Southeast Alaska (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 12Spanish contact in British Columbia and Alaska (from History of Alaska)
Image 13Alaska's area compared to the 48 contiguous states. (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 14The check that paid for Alaska (from History of Alaska)
Image 15Miners and prospectors climb the Chilkoot Trail during the Klondike Gold Rush. (from History of Alaska)
Image 16Alaska in 1895 (Rand McNally). The boundary of southeastern Alaska shown is that claimed by the United States before the conclusion of the Alaska boundary dispute. (from History of Alaska)
Image 17Ketchikan, one of the places affected by COVID-19 during the 2020 outbreak in Alaska (from History of Alaska)
Image 18St. Michael's Cathedral in Sitka. The original structure, built in 1848, burned down in a fire on January 2, 1966. The cathedral was rebuilt from plans of the original structure and contains artifacts rescued from the fire. (from History of Alaska)
Image 191860 map of Russian America (from History of Alaska)
Image 20Propaganda poster, World War II, depicting Alaska as a death trap for Japan. (from History of Alaska)
Image 21Köppen climate types of Alaska (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 22Mount Sanford in the Wrangell Mountains (from Geography of Alaska)
Image 23Aleksandr Baranov, "Lord of Alaska" (from History of Alaska)

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Recognized content

This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject Alaska}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.

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1971-CANNIKIN-2
2010-kodiak-bear-1
Alaska Purchase (hi-res)
Alaska wild berries
Anchorage White Raven
Heinrich Berann NPS Panorama of Denali without labels
Malaspina-panorama-no-type
MtRedoubtedit1
Parque estatal Chugach, Alaska, Estados Unidos, 2017-08-22, DD 94
Russian-American Co - 1 Ruble (7559)
Whales Bubble Net Feeding-edit1
Yukon Delta

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Related Portals

Alaska • Puerto Rico • Hawaii • Oklahoma • Arizona • California • Florida • Illinois • Indiana • Kansas • Maryland • Michigan • Mississippi • Nevada • New Jersey • New York • Ohio • Oregon • Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) • Texas • Utah • Virginia

American football • Baseball • • North America

Canada • Russia

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Related WikiProjects


Alaska	U.S. States
Alaska Project Divisions
People Physical geography History Economy	Communities Government Transportation Culture Alaska Natives

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State facts

Nicknames: The Last Frontier, Land of the Midnight Sun, Land of the Noonday Moon, Seward's Folly
Capital: Juneau
Governor: Michael J. Dunleavy (R)
Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom (R)
Attorney General: Position currently vacant, most recently Treg Taylor

Senators: Dan Sullivan (R), Lisa Murkowski (R)
Representatives: Nick Begich III (R)

Total area: 663,268 mi²
- Land: 571,936 mi²
- Water: 91,332 mi²
Highest elevation: 20,310 ft (Denali)

Population 741,894 (2016 est)
Admission to the Union: January 3, 1959 (49^th)

State symbols:

Dog: Alaskan Malamute
Bird: Willow Ptarmigan
Insect: Four-spot Skimmer Dragonfly
Colors: None
Fish: King Salmon
Flower: Alpine Forget-me-not
Gem: Jade
Sport: Dog Mushing
Songs: Alaska's Flag

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Tasks

Open tasks for Wikipedia:WikiProject Alaska.
Edit or discuss these tasks.

Shortcuts: Recent changes | Categories | History

Urgent: An editor in Alaska able/willing to actively work with the Wikipedia Ambassador Program to provide direction/oversight for any articles within the project which are being improved upon under the program.
To Rate: Unassessed Alaska articles, Unknown-importance Alaska articles
To Nominate at WP:FAC:
To Improve to Featured standard: Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, Juneau, Alaska, History of Alaska
Collaboration:
To Expand: Category:Alaska stubs, Alaskeros, Sheldon Jackson, Scouting in Alaska
- Governor articles: Steve Cowper, Bill Sheffield, Keith Harvey Miller, Waino Edward Hendrickson
To Clean up: Diomede Islands
To Merge:
To Destub: See: Category:Alaska stubs
To Deorphan:
To Categorize:
To Create: Articles on incoming (2019) legislators (and updating outgoing ones), Articles for new 2010 Census CDPs: Badger, Alaska, Chena Ridge, Alaska, Eureka Roadhouse, Alaska, Farmers Loop, Alaska, Goldstream, Alaska, Loring, Alaska, Point Possession, Alaska, South Van Horn, Alaska, Steele Creek, Alaska, Whitestone, Alaska
Lists to de-redlink: List of mayors of Anchorage DoneDavid chamberlain (talk) 20:49, 2 February 2014 (UTC)
Lists to complete: List of mayors of Fairbanks, Alaska
Wanted Pics/Graphics:
Wanted New Pics: See Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in Alaska
Common mistakes to avoid (and correct):
- Knik, Alaska, the ghost town, and Knik River, Alaska, the CDP, are not the same place. In fact, they are approximately an hour's drive away from each other.
- Despite its name of "City and Borough of Yakutat," this entity is a borough, not a consolidated city-borough.

See the talk page (or archives of same) of WP:ALASKA, or of the articles in question, for more information.

Maintain: add {{WikiProject Alaska}} to the talk pages of Alaska-related articles and add the articles to Wikipedia:WikiProject Alaska/Recent changes (if not done already by a bot) so related changes link works.
To expand: Rie Muñoz, Rosita Worl

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