Lying to the northwest of Canada, Alaska, the 49th state, ranks first in size. Juneau, its capital, is the nation's 2nd largest city, in area, over 3,000 square miles but only has about 30,000 people. Alaska touches no other state. Instead, it is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the south by the Pacific Ocean, on the easy by Canada, and on the west by the Bering Sea. At one point it is only 51 miles across the Bering Straight to Russia.
             Alaska's name was based on an the Aleut word "alaxsxaq" literally meaning "object toward". The people are called alaskans which is derived from the Eskimo word, Alakshak, which means 'great lands' or 'peninsula'.
             The state nicknames for Alaska are The Last Frontier, The Land of the Midnight Sun, and The El Dorado of the North. The capital city is Juneau. The overall population for Alaska is 626,932 people, which ranks it as having the 48th in population.
             Anchorage is Alaska's main city and is home to more than half of the total state population
             Altitude:The altitude is 39 m with a Latitude of 53∘22'N and a longitutde of 167∘54'W. Alaska's landscape has the greatest concentration of Glaciers in the Nation. Five percent of the state is covered with Glaciers; that is about 29,000 square miles.
             History: Alaska became a state in 1959. Alaska has one state highway (7). Alaska was bought from Russia in 1867 for only 7.2 million dollars. When its lands were first bough from Russia by U.S. Secretary of State William Seward, for about two cents per acre, the purchase was known as "Seward's Folly Alaska was first settled because of the rich quantity of animal furs. Many Alaskan communities were founded because of the rush for gold.
             Sitka was Alaska's first official capital city.
             Economic Aspects: Mining, oil and gas production, fishing, construction, forestry, and tourism are some of the economic opportunities in Alaska. Alaska ...