HISTORY
On July 6, 2009 we began our second visit to the 49th State of the United States, Alaska.Our first trip was from July 2, 1995 through July 16, 1995. Both visits began in Vancouver. On the first trip we left for home on July 16th from Vancouver. This second visit is on the 50th anniversary of statehood. We left from Fairbanks on July 17th. We visited some of the same cities on both trips (Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay). A number of sites were different.
Alaska is divided into five different regions of which we have visited three.
Southeast Alaska which covers a 500 mile coastal strip that extends from Prince Rupert Island to the Gulf of Alaska. Winding through the middle of the region is the inland passage. Cities included are Ketcthikan, Juneau, and Skagway. The native indians include the Tlingit, Haida, and the Tsimshian.
South Central Alaska which covers Prince William Sound & Kenai Peninsula. The native indians include the Eyak and Aluting.
Southwest Alaska stretches 1500 miles, from Kodiak Island to the international date line.
Interior includes Denali, Wrangell as well as Fairbanks. The Athabascan were the native indians in this region.
The Bush is the largest slice of Alaska, including the Brooks Range, Arctic Alaska and Western Alaska on the Bering Sea. The native indians were the Inupiaq and Yupik Eskimo.
The U.S. Senate, under the negotiations of William H. Seward, approved the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million at two cents per acre. The land became an organized territory on May 11, 1912, at which time the capital was moved to Juneau. On January 3, 1959 Alaska became the 49th state of the United States beating Hawaii which a few months later became the 50th state in the United States.
Alaska is administratively divided into "boroughs" as opposed to counties or parishes.
The first European contact with Alaska occurred in the year 1741, when Vitus Bering led an expedition for the Russian Navy aboard the St. Peter. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1784. New Archangle on Kodiak Island was Alaska's first capital, but for a century under both Russia and the U.S. Sitka was the capital.