Alaska, State

Alaska, State – (derived from the Indian word meaning “Great Land,” formerly known as Aleutia, American Siberia, Morzhovia, Polaria, and other names, but eventually the name Alaska was acknowledged). The former Russian America, since 1959 the 49th state of the USA in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, separated from the rest of the USA by the territory of Canada (Yukon and British Columbia territories). It was formed on the territory of the Russian America. From the day of its purchase from the Russian Empire in 1867 to the year of 1959 it had a status of “a territory.” The area is 1.5 million km², the largest state of the USA. It consists of a mainland part and a large number of islands (the Alexander Archipelago, the Aleutian Islands, the Pribilof Islands, Kodiak Island, etc.). Alaska is washed by the Arctic Ocean (the Chukchi Sea, the Beaufort Sea) and the Pacific Ocean (the Bering Sea). The Pacific coast is skirted with high mountain ranges (McKinley peak...