Larger than Texas, California and Montana combined, it's so gigantic and rugged that the private airplane has (in many areas) replaced the family car.

In 1926, when Alaska was still a territory, this striking flag was designed by an Indian student. It displays the Big Dipper and the North Star, The gold color of the stars represents the state's enormous mineral resources.

Alaska's Historical Event's

about 10,000 bc Alaska is inhabited, as evidenced by the oldest artifacts yet found there.
about 4000 bc Forerunners of the Eskimo and Aleut arrive in Alaska.
ad 1741 Vitus Bering leads a Russian expedition to Alaska.
1778 Captain James Cook explores the Alaskan coast on behalf of Great Britain.
1784 The first European settlement in Alaska is founded by Russian colonists on Kodiak Island.
1799 Russia grants a monopoly of the Alaska fur trade to the Russian-American Company.
1867 William H. Seward, United States Secretary of State, purchases Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000.
1878 The first salmon canneries in Alaska are established.
1896 Gold is discovered in the Klondike, just east of Alaska; gold strikes in Alaska take place at Nome in 1898 and at Fairbanks in 1902.
1906 Alaska sends a territorial representative to Congress.
1912 Alaska is organized as a U.S. territory.
1923 The Alaska Railroad, joining Seward and Fairbanks, is completed.
1935 The Matanuska Valley near Anchorage is settled by homesteaders.
1942 Japan invades the Aleutian islands of Attu and Kiska. The Alaska Highway is built.
1959 Alaska becomes the 49th state of the Union (January 3).
1964 A powerful earthquake strikes south-central Alaska on Good Friday (March 27).
1968 A huge oil deposit is discovered at Prudhoe Bay.
1977 The oil pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez is opened.
1982 Alaska residents receive their first annual "oil dividend" payments from the state.
1989 In the worst oil spill in U.S. history, the supertanker Exxon Valdez spills about 38 million liters (about 10 million gallons) of crude oil into Prince William Sound.