The History of Alaska (история Аляски)

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The Eskimos were primarily a coastal people, setting along the shores of the Arctic and Bering seas.

For millennia they lived a simple, subsistence life--much as they still do today--by harvesting the fish and mammals of the seas, the fruits and game of the land. Somehow they learned how to thrive despite the demanding conditions of the Arctic.

Their sense of direction was keen, almost uncanny. Travelling in a straight line, sometimes through snowstorms and whiteouts, they found their way around the mostly featureless terrain by noting wind direction, the position of the stars, the shape and size of a snowdrift. And they were resourceful. In a land where the summer sun stays at eye-level for weeks on end, never setting below the horizon, the Eskimos fashioned the first sun- visor--which also doubled as a snow mask to protect their eyes from the wind-driven snow.
The Athabascans:
Nomads of the Interior.

Like the Eskimos, the Athabascans were skilful hunters, but they depended more on large land mammals for their subsistence--tracking moose and migrating caribou.

When it came to fishing, the Athabascans were absolutely ingenious, snaring fish with hooks, lures, traps and nets that are the fascination of modern day anglers who visit their camps.

Generally nomadic, they lived in small, simply organized bands of a few families, and whenever possible pitched their camps in the sheltered white spruce forests of the Interior. Some adventurous tribes, however, wandered all the way to the Southwest United States to become kin to the Navajos and
Apaches.
Aleuts:
Born of the Sea.

For the Aleuts, life centred on the sea as they distributed themselves among the 70-some islands in the Aleutian chain across the North Pacific.

Life here was somewhat more benign that in the Arctic, though wind storms were sometimes strong enough to blow rocks around.

Since their food supply was rich, varied and readily available, the Aleuts had time to develop a complex culture. Evidence indicates that they practiced surgery and that their elaborate burial rituals included embalming. Instruments utensils, even their boats were made with amazing beauty and exact symmetry. And everything was fashioned for a specific purpose--the Aleuts used 30 different kinds of harpoon heads for different species of game!

Skilled navigators and sailors, the Aleuts had the dubious distinction of being the first to encounter the white man...Russian fur traders who took them as slaves to harvest the fur seals in the Pribilofs.
The Northwest Coast Indians:
High Society of Alaska’s southeast.

The milder, more temperate climate and an unlimited supply of salmon and other seafood’s enabled the Northwest Coast Indians to evolve a way of life quite different from the Eskimos, Aleuts and Athabascans. They settled in year-round permanent villages, took slaves and lived their lives according to the strict rules, rituals, and regulations of their respective clans.
Their artwork was nothing less than masterful...beautiful blankets, finely woven cedar bark and spruce root baskets magnificent totem creations.
Natives, who make up 15 percent of the state's population, maintain many traditions, such as whaling, subsistence hunting and fishing, and old ways of making crafts and art. Native heritage history and culture can be found in such diverse places as Ketchikan, Anchorage and Kotzebue, as well as in hundreds of villages where people live in traditional ways.

But while Native culture, as a whole, may define much of Alaska's appearance, the state contains a broad mixture of cultures. In Anchorage, for example, the school district has found that its student body comes from homes that speak 83 languages. Anchorage, the state's biggest city, has many Alaska influences but is also sometimes called Los Anchorage for its
Lower 48-style architecture and mannerisms. Most residents of Alaska were born outside the state, and when they came to Alaska they brought their own traditions and desires.

There are European influences as well. Petersburg, in the Inside Passage, has a strong Scandinavian heritage. Cordova and Valdez bear names bestowed by a Spanish explorer; Cook Inlet is named for a British explorer; Russians left a legacy of the Orthodox Church in much of the state.

2. From the Russian Empire to the United States of America.

The first written accounts indicate that the first Europeans to reach
Alaska came from Russia. Vitus Bering sailed east and saw Mt. St. Elias.
The Russian-American Company hunted otters for their fur. The colony was never very profitable, because of the costs of transportation.
At the instigation of U.S. Secretary of State William Seward, the United
States Senate approved the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 on
9 April 1867, and the United States flag was raised on 18 October of that same year (now called Alaska Day). The first American governor of Alaska was W?odzimierz Krzy?anowski. The purchase was not popular in the continental United States, where Alaska became known as "Seward's Folly" or
"Seward's Icebox". Alaska celebrates the purchase each year on the last
Monday of March, calling it Seward's Day.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act into United
States law on 7 July 1958 which paved the way for Alaska's admission into the Union.
The name "Alaska" is most likely derived from the Aleut word for "great country" or "mainland." The natives called it "Alyeska", meaning "the great land." It is bordered by the Yukon Territory and British Columbia, Canada to the east, the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south, the
Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Chukchi Sea to the west, and the Beaufort
Sea and the Arctic Ocean to the north.
In 1976, the people of Alaska amended the state's constitution, establishing the Alaska Permanent Fund. The fund invests a portion of the state's mineral revenue, including revenue from the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline
System, 'to benefit all generations of Alaskans.' In June 2003, the fund's value was over $24 billion.
Over the years various vessels have been named USS Alaska, in honor of the state.
During World War II outlying parts of Alaska were occupied by Japanese troops. It was the only part of the United States to have land occupied during the war.
3. Alaska today.

Geography.

Alaska is the only state that is both in North America and not part of the 48 contiguous states. Alaska is the largest state in the United
States in terms of land area, 570,374 square miles (1,477,261 kmІ). If you superimposed a map of Alaska on the Lower 48 states, Alaska would stretch from Minnesota to Texas and from Georgia to California.
One scheme for describing the state's geography is by labeling the regions:

• South Central Alaska is the southern coastal region with towns, cities, and petroleum industrial plants;
• The Alaska Panhandle, also known as Southeast Alaska, is home to towns, tidewater glaciers and extensive forests;
• the Alaska Interior has big rivers, such as the Yukon River and the
Kuskokwim River, as well as Arctic tundra lands and shorelines; and
• The Alaskan Bush is the remote, uncrowned part of the state.
Alaska, with its numerous islands, has nearly 34,000 miles (54,700 km) of tidal shoreline. The island chain extending west from the southern tip of
Alaska is called the Aleutian Islands. Many active volcanoes are found in the Aleutians.
Alaska is the easternmost state in the Union. The Aleutian Islands actually cross longitude 180°.
Alaska's most populous city is Anchorage, home of 260,284 people, 225,744 of whom live in the urbanized area. It ranks a distant third in the List of
U.S. cities by area. Sitka ranks as the America's largest city by area, followed closely by Junea.

Government.

Much of Alaska is managed by the federal government as national forests, national parks, and national wildlife refuges. There are places in Alaska that are general public lands (BLM land) but they are arguably more spectacular than many national parks in the Lower 48. Many of Alaska's state parks would be national parks if they were in other states.
Much of Alaska is managed by corporations called ANCSA, or native, corporations, of which there are thirteen regional ones and dozens of local ones.
Alaska has no counties in the sense used in the rest of the country; however, the state is divided into 27 census areas and boroughs. The difference between boroughs and census areas is that boroughs have an organized area-wide government, while census areas are artificial divisions defined by the United States Census Bureau.

Business.

Alaska's main agriculture output is seafood, although nursery stock, dairy products, vegetables, and livestock are produced and used internally.
Manufacturing is limited, with most foodstuffs and general goods imported from elsewhere. Employment is primarily in government and industries such as natural resource extraction, shipping, and transportation. There is also a small but growing service and tourism sector. Its industrial outputs are crude petroleum, natural gas, coal, gold, precious metals, zinc and other mining, seafood processing, timber and wood products.

Transport.

Alaska has various transportation options. Some of Alaska is connected by roads (and sometimes a tunnel) to the highways of Canada and of the rest of the United States. These places are "on the road system". Along the Pacific
Ocean, many places have freight and passenger service from ocean-going ships. Most places have air service, ranging from jets on tarmac to floatplanes on lakes.

4. The most important dates in the history of Alaska.