History UsefulNotes / Alaska

* Michael Pointer AKA Weapon Omega (from OmegaFlight and NormanOsborn's ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'') is from NorthPole, Alaska.

* The final shot of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar was fired off the coast of Alaska. [=CSS=] ''Shenandoah'' was a commerce raider with the job of harassing, disrupting, and destroying Union supply ships. During the summer of 1865, they had been working the Bering Sea attacking Union whaling ships; in August 1865, they were informed by a friendly British crew that the war was over and the Confederacy dissolved. The crew of the ''Shenandoah'' knew that if they surrendered to the Union, they'd be given a perfunctory trial and executed for piracy, despite the fact that the Union and all major naval powers had ships just like theirs.[[note]]The Union would've responded to this argument by saying, "You weren't a major power but rebels; your government was illegal and didn't actually exist; so you're pirates.[[/note]] Instead, they sailed west around Asia and Africa, finally debarking in Liverpool.

* The final shot of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar was fired off the coast of Alaska. [=CSS=] ''Shenandoah'' was a commerce raider with the job of harassing, disrupting, and destroying Union supply ships. During the summer of 1865, they had been working the Bering Sea attacking Union whaling ships; in August 1865, they were informed by a friendly British crew that the war was over and the Confederacy dissolved. The crew of the ''Shenandoah'' knew that if they surrendered to the Union, they'd be given a perfunctory trial and executed for piracy, despite the fact that the Union and all major naval powers had ships just like theirs. Instead, they sailed west around Asia and Africa, finally debarking in Liverpool.

* The final shot of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar was fired off the coast of Alaska. The [=CSS=] ''Shenandoah'' was a commerce raider with the job of harassing, disrupting, and destroying Union supply ships. During the summer of 1865, they had been working the Bering Sea attacking Union whaling ships; in August 1865, they were informed by a friendly British crew that the war was over and the Confederacy dissolved. The crew of the ''Shenandoah'' knew that if they surrendered to the Union, they'd be given a perfunctory trial and executed for piracy, despite the fact that the Union and all major naval powers had ships just like theirs. Instead, they sailed west around Asia and Africa, finally debarking in Liverpool.

In time, however, America would soon realize just what a great deal it had gotten. Some 30 years after the purchase, a series of gold rushes in both Alaska and, more importantly, in the neighboring Yukon Territory of Canada[[note]]Despite most of the gold being in Canadian territory, the easiest way to get there was by boat, followed by a relatively short over-land trek; this meant the majority of prospectors ''had'' to start in Alaska, and it made Skagway into a boom town,[[/note]] turned the area into TheWildWest ''[[RecycledInSpace on ice!]]'', allowing it to gain enough people to be incorporated as a territory in 1912. After that, the Aleutian Islands were the site of a few minor battles during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (and the only part of the United States to be {{invaded|StatesOfAmerica}} during the war).

** Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}} must be a big fan of Alaska, because the so-called [[MessianicArchetype Mutant Messiah]] (the first mutant born after [[HouseOfM M-Day]], later named [[MeaningfulName/ComicBooks Hope]]) was born in Cooperstown, Alaska.

In time, however, America would soon realize just what a great deal it had gotten. Some 30 years after the purchase, a series of gold rushes in both Alaska and, more importantly, in the neighboring Yukon Territory of Canada[[note]]Despite most of the gold being in Canadian territory, the easiest way to get there was by boat, followed by a relatively short over-land trek; this meant the majority of prospectors ''had'' to start in Alaska, and it made Skagway into a boom town,[[/note]] turned the area into TheWildWest ''[[RecycledInSpace on ice!]]'', allowing it to gain enough people to be incorporated as a territory in 1912. After that, the Aleutian Islands were the site of a few minor battles during WorldWarII (and the only part of the United States to be {{invaded|StatesOfAmerica}} during the war).

* Towards the end of WorldWarII, the United States designed and began to build the ''Alaska'' Class Large Cruisers. These ships, which were [[GiantMook scaled up Cruisers]] rather than [[GlassCannon slimmed down Battleships]], were intended to be dedicated "Cruiser Killers" (a similar role as envisioned for the Battlecruisers). Cruisers were traditionally named for cities, and Battleships traditionally named for states. Being in-between, the Large Cruisers were to be named for US Territories[[note]]Two ships, ''Alaska'' and ''Guam'' were built, ''Hawaii'' was cancelled during construction, ''Philippines'', ''Puerto Rico'', and ''Samoa'' never left the drawing board.[[/note]]

* ''Literature/TheYiddishPolicemensUnion'' by Creator/MichaelChabon is set in an AlternateHistory where, during WorldWarII, the U.S. settled Jewish refugees from Europe in Sitka, Alaska, turning it into an autonomous state for sixty years. By the present day of 2007, the lease is about to expire, with the evangelical U.S. president hoping to resettle the Sitka Jews in Palestine.

** It is implied later that Mom hails from Alaska (although she sounds nothing like it).

But Alaska is also very sparsely populated. As of the 2010 census, there were just over 710,000 people living in Alaska, making the state the fourth least-populated in the nation – ahead of only North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. Please note that this is ''after'' a huge population surge (with many immigrants coming in from Washington, Oregon, and California for economic opportunities) – in the 2000 and 1990 Censuses, Alaska was firmly the second-smallest state by population, just barely ahead of Wyoming. More than half of those people live in only one tiny corner of the state: the Anchorage metropolitan area. The state has, by far, the lowest population density in the country. Part of this likely has to do with the fact that most of Alaska is either [[SlippySlideyIceWorld frozen tundra or forbidding mountains]], something of an American version of Siberia, with only the coastal regions in the south being really hospitable.[[note]] Although in the future, GlobalWarming may push the line between "cold" and "oh god this is fuckin' freezing!" further north, making the state more welcoming to new arrivals.[[/note]] The lowest temperature ever recorded in the US, -80 degrees [[AmericanCustomaryMeasurements Fahrenheit]], was taken in Prospect Creek, Alaska.

Alaska was the first place in the Americas that human beings laid eyes on, as the last ice age lowered sea levels enough so that a land bridge, known as Beringia, formed between Alaska and Siberia.[[note]] The remnants of this bridge are the Bering Sea Islands of St. Lawrence, Nunivak, and the Diomedes.[[/note]] The people who crossed Beringia are the ancestors of all the aboriginal tribes of North and South America, from [[InjunCountry the Iroquois and the Sioux]] to [[{{Mayincatec}} the Aztecs and the Inca]]. Some of them, of course, stayed in Alaska, living off the ample supplies of fish in the waters off the state's long coastline. Collectively, they are known as the Alaska Natives, a group that encompasses the Tlingit, the Haida, the Tsimshian, the Aleut, the Yupik, the Alutiiq, the Gwich'in, and the Inuit.

The first Europeans to lay eyes on Alaska were the Russians in 1741, who colonized it for the same reason that everybody else in Europe wanted a piece of the Americas: getting rich. Specifically, the Russians were there for the fur trade, and claimed an area that includes much of the [[TheOtherRainforest Pacific Northwest]]. As the US and Canada expanded west, the Russian claims were pushed back to the present-day area of Alaska. The colony was never very profitable for Russia, and was increasingly under pressure from Canada and its British protectors, so when the Americans came knocking at their door in 1867 asking to buy it from them for the [[{{Pun}} cool]] sum of $7.2 million, the Russians were happy to oblige. The purchase of Alaska was highly controversial initially, with many people calling it "Seward's Folly" or "Seward's Icebox" (after Secretary of State William H. Seward, the man who organized the purchase) and viewing it as a worthless wasteland that America would find no better use for than Russia did.

In time, however, America would soon realize just what a great deal it had gotten. Some 30 years after the purchase, a series of gold rushes in both Alaska and, more importantly, in the neighboring Yukon Territory of Canada[[note]] despite most of the gold being in Canadian territory, the easiest way to get there was by boat, followed by a relatively short over-land trek; this meant the majority of prospectors ''had'' to start in Alaska, and it made Skagway into a boom-town,[[/note]] turned the area into TheWildWest [[RecycledInSpace on ice!]], allowing it to gain enough people to be incorporated as a territory in 1912. After that, the Aleutian Islands were the site of a few minor battles during WorldWarII (and the only part of the United States to be {{invaded|StatesOfAmerica}} during the war).

Alaska's true value, however, was completely unforeseeable to the 19th-century Americans, and only became obvious in the late 1940s: ladies and gentlemen, imagine ''Soviet'' Alaska. The West really dodged a bullet on that one, no? Anyway, with the onset of the ColdWar, Alaska became the cornerstone of America's defense against [[UsefulNotes/FromRussiaWithNukes Soviet bombers]]. The two wars, and the resulting military investment, caused a population surge in Alaska, allowing it to be inaugurated as the 49th state in 1959, followed by {{Hawaii}} a few months later.[[labelnote:*]] Fun Fact: the reason the two states weren't admitted at the same time is apparently because, since the U.S. flag can only be ''officially'' changed on July 4th, flag-makers wanted to be able to have one year of selling 49-star flags – thus Alaska was admitted before the 4th and Hawaii after.[[/labelnote]][[note]] If only it had come in before Oklahoma and Arizona. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Then it could've been called]] "AK-47"![[/note]]

The two moments that defined Alaska's modern existence were the discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay in 1968, and the completion of the Alaskan Pipeline in 1977 to bring that oil to the rest of the country. Oil money sent Alaska from a backwater to one of the richest states in America, and the state has set up a permanent fund to invest some of its oil revenue for the benefit of the people. Every Alaskan receives a dividend (of varying amounts-2011 was $1281; 2012 was $878), meaning that a family of four has a guaranteed welfare check of about $5000... which just about makes up for the substantially higher cost of living. While it's gotten better in Anchorage and, to a lesser extent, Fairbanks, prices for basic goods are still ridiculously expensive in most of the state, due to the isolation of many towns and the harsh conditions making freight transport [[IceRoadTruckers quite difficult]].

And now, for the part you've been waiting for. SarahPalin. Yes, she was one of the previous governors. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Now let's limit discussion about her, okay?]]

* The capital of Alaska, Juneau, is the only state capital located on an international border (the Canadian border, [[MemeticMutation not the]] [[TinaFey Russian one]]),[[note]] Currently, that is; for a few years in the 1830s and 40s, the capital of UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}} was in UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}, also on the border with (then-British) Canada; this was moved for reasons of logistics and fear of British invasion.[[/note]] and is one of the state capitals that cannot be accessed by land[[note]] Honolulu, Hawaii's capital, is the other, of course[[/note]]. To reach Juneau, you must fly or take a boat in.
** Considering that Juneau is many hundreds of miles from Anchorage and its environs (the state's major population center), along with the whole can't-drive-there thing making access very inconvenient, there have naturally been several votes to move the state's capital to either Anchorage or some town close to it. The capital remains in Juneau, however, because no one is willing to pay the extra taxes it would take to relocate the government.[[note]] Some of Alaska's state agencies are already headquartered in Anchorage for convenience, but many of the most important ones are not. Moving involves more than just telling the governor and elected officials to meet elsewhere; there are innumerable files and archives, computer servers, and equipment that would have to be moved, to say nothing of relocating the workers and building new facilities to house it all. Plus, the people would surely want a proper statehouse (Alaska's legislature currently meets in a disused bank). Doing all of that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, so nobody wants to foot the bill.[[/note]]

* Alaska has more registered pilots per capita than any other state. In a place where the drivability of the roads is often in doubt, and some places just don't have roads, and still other places are islands, this is very much justified.

* There is a town west of Fairbanks called North Pole, which is the official-unofficial place the United States Postal Service sends all the childrens' letters to Santa Claus. Incidentally, it is nowhere near Barrow, the American town closest to the ''actual'' north pole.
* Less than 1% of Alaskan land is privately owned. The rest belongs to either the national government (~65%), the state government (25%), or one of twelve Native corporations (10%)[[hottip:*: There is a thirteenth native corporation, but they received no land, only money]].
* The final shot of the AmericanCivilWar was fired off the coast of Alaska. The [=CSS=] ''Shenandoah'' was a commerce raider with the job of harassing, disrupting, and destroying Union supply ships. During the summer of 1865, they had been working the Bering Sea attacking Union whaling ships; in August 1865, they were informed by a friendly British crew that the war was over and the Confederacy dissolved. The crew of the ''Shenandoah'' knew that if they surrendered to the Union, they'd be given a perfunctory trial and executed for piracy, despite the fact that the Union and all major naval powers had ships just like theirs. Instead, they sailed west around Asia and Africa, finally debarking in Liverpool.

* The brothers ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} and Havok from ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'' are originally from Anchorage. They still have love for the area and returned a couple times during sabbaticals from superheroing.

** [[MarvelComics Marvel]] must be a big fan of Alaska, because the so-called [[MessianicArchetype Mutant Messiah]] (the first mutant born after [[HouseOfM M-Day]], later named [[MeaningfulName/ComicBooks Hope]]) was born in Cooperstown, Alaska.

* Creator/ChristopherNolan's remake of ''Film/{{Insomnia}}'' is set in Nightmute, Alaska ([[CaliforniaDoubling but mostly filmed in British Columbia]]). The long periods of daylight are worked into the plot, being one of the factors that prevents protagonist [[AlPacino Will Dormer]] from sleeping.
* In [[WarGames WarGames]], Elmendorf Air Force Base (near Anchorage) is one of the bases supposedly hit by the Soviet first strike.
* SnowDogs is set in Talkeetna, but was filmed in Alberta. Despite the film having been marketed as a zany talking-animal comedy, it gives a surprisingly fair portrayal of rural Alaskan towns.

* A lot of JackLondon's stories, such as ''Call of the Wild'', ''White Fang'', and ''Batard'', take place in Alaska.
* ''IntoTheWild''.

* ''JulieOfTheWolves''.

* In ''TheHeroesOfOlympus'', it is ''literally'' "the land beyond the gods." It is also where the titan Alcyoneus has his lair.
* ''Literature/TheYiddishPolicemensUnion'' by Creator/MichaelChabon is set in an AlternateHistory where, during WorldWarII, the US settled Jewish refugees from Europe in Sitka, Alaska, turning it into an autonomous state for sixty years. By the present day of 2007, the lease is about to expire, with the evangelical US president hoping to resettle the Sitka Jews in Palestine.

* ''NorthernExposure''.
* ''SarahPalin's Alaska''.

* ''DeadliestCatch''.
* Seasons 3 and 4 of ''IceRoadTruckers''.
* ''Flying Wild Alaska''

* In Season 3 of {{Series/Malcolm In The Middle}}, older brother Francis emancipates himself from the military academy, in order to work in a mining camp somewhere in the wilds of Alaska. The rest of the season is spent with him trying to escape the indentured servitude he so willingly threw himself into.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' universe, RedChina invades Alaska for its increasingly valuable oil supplies, precipitating WorldWarIII between them and the US. The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' DLC ''Operation Anchorage'' allows you to play a virtual reality simulation of the US Army's liberation of Anchorage.

* In ''ShatteredUnion'', the Russians invade Alaska after [[DividedStatesOfAmerica the US collapses]]. The final mission, after you reunite America, has you invading Alaska to drive out the Russians. Despite it being the largest map in the game, it still only covers roughly a fifth of the state.

Alaska's true value, however, was completely unforeseeable to the 19th-century Americans, and only became obvious in the late 1940s: ladies and gentlemen, imagine ''Soviet'' Alaska. The West really dodged a bullet on that one, no? Anyway, with the onset of the ColdWar, Alaska became the cornerstone of America's defense against [[UsefulNotes/FromRussiaWithNukes Soviet bombers]]. The two wars, and the resulting military investment, caused a population surge in Alaska, allowing it to be inaugurated as the 49th state in 1959, followed by {{Hawaii}} a few months later.[[labelnote:*]] Fun Fact: the reason the two states weren't admitted at the same time is apparently because, since the U.S. flag can only be ''officially'' changed on July 4th, flag-makers wanted to be able to have one year of selling 49-star flags – thus Alaska was admitted before the 4th and Hawaii after.[[/labelnote]][[note]] If only it had come in before Oklahoma and Arizona. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Then it could've been called]] [[IncrediblyLamePun "AK-47"!]][[/note]]

* The brothers ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} and Havok from ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'' are originally from Anchorage. They still have love for the area and returned a couple times during sabbaticals from superheroing.

* [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Will Riker]] was (will be?) born in Valdez, Alaska (in the year [[TheFuture 2338]]).

* ''Alaska State Troopers'', a program similar to ''COPS'' is naturally set in Alaska

* The capital of Alaska, Juneau, is the only state capital located on an international border (the Canadian border, [[MemeticMutation not the]] [[TinaFey Russian one]]),[[note]] Currently, that is; for a few years in the 1830s and 40s, the capital of UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}} was in UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}, also on the border with (then-British) Canada; this was moved for reasons of logistics and fear of British invasion.[[/note]] and is one of the state capitals that cannot be accessed by land[[hottip:*: Honolulu, Hawaii's capital, is the other, of course]]. To reach Juneau, you must fly or take a boat in.

America's last true frontier, Alaska is, by a very wide margin, the largest of [[TheSeveralStates the 50 states]]. The next competitor for the title, [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]], is less than half its size. If it were [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alaska_area_compared_to_conterminous_US.svg overlaid over the contiguous 48 states]], then Anchorage, its largest city, would be in Missouri; Barrow, its northernmost town, would be in Minnesota; Nome would be in South Dakota; Juneau, the state capital, would be in Georgia; and the Aleutian Islands would stretch all the way into UsefulNotes/{{California}}. Bottom line: Alaska is flippin' ''huge''.

But Alaska is also very sparsely populated. As of the 2010 census, there were just over 710,000 people living in Alaska, making the state the fourth least-populated in the nation, ahead of only North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. Please note that this is ''after'' a huge population surge (with many immigrants coming in from Washington, Oregon, and California coming for economic opportunities): in the 2000 and 1990 Censuses, Alaska was firmly the second-smallest state by population, just barely ahead of Wyoming. And more than half of those people live in only one tiny corner of the state: the Anchorage metropolitan area. The state has, by far, the lowest population density in the country. Part of this likely has to do with the fact that most of Alaska is either [[SlippySlideyIceWorld frozen tundra or forbidding mountains]], something of an American version of Siberia, with only the coastal regions in the south being really hospitable.[[note]]Although in the future, GlobalWarming may push the line between "cold" and "oh god this is fuckin' freezing!" further north, making the state more welcoming to new arrivals.[[/note]] The lowest temperature ever recorded in the US, -80 degrees [[AmericanCustomaryMeasurements Fahrenheit]], was taken in Prospect Creek, Alaska.

Alaska was the first place in the Americas that human beings laid eyes on, as the last ice age lowered sea levels enough so that a land bridge, known as Beringia, formed between Alaska and Siberia. The people who crossed Beringia are the ancestors of all of the aboriginal tribes of North and South America, from [[InjunCountry the Iroquois and the Sioux]] to [[{{Mayincatec}} the Aztecs and the Inca]]. Some of them, of course, stayed in Alaska, living off the ample supplies of fish in the waters off the state's long coastline. Collectively, they are known as the Alaska Natives, a group that encompasses the Tlingit, the Haida, the Tsimshian, the Aleut, the Yupik, the Alutiiq, the Gwich'in, and the Inuit.

In time, however, America would soon realize just what a great deal it had gotten. At the turn of the century, a series of gold rushes in both Alaska and, more importantly, in the neighboring Yukon territory of Canada turned the area into TheWildWest [[RecycledInSpace on ice!]], allowing it to gain enough people to be incorporated as a territory in 1912. After that, the Aleutian Islands were the site of a few minor battles during WorldWarII (and the only part of the United States to be {{invaded|StatesOfAmerica}} during the war).

Alaska's true value, however, was completely unforeseeable to the 19th-century Americans, and only became obvious in the late 1940s: ladies and gentlemen, imagine ''Soviet'' Alaska. The West really dodged a bullet on that one, no? Anyway, with the onset of the ColdWar Alaska became the cornerstone of America's defense against [[UsefulNotes/FromRussiaWithNukes Soviet bombers]]. The two wars, and the resulting military investment, caused a population surge in Alaska, allowing it to be inaugurated as the 49th state in 1959, followed by {{Hawaii}} months later.[[note]]If only it had come in before Oklahoma and Arizona. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Then it could've been called "AK-47"!]][[/note]]

* The capital of Alaska, Juneau, is the only state capital located on an international border (The Canadian border, [[MemeticMutation not the]] [[TinaFey Russian one]].),[[note]]Currently, that is; for a few years in the 1830s and 40s, the capital of UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}} was in UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}, also on the border with (then-British) Canada; this was moved for reasons of logistics and fear of British invasion.[[/note]] and is the one of the two state capitals that cannot be accessed by land. To reach Juneau, you must fly or take a boat in.

* Unlike the other 49 states, not all of Alaska is organized into counties (or parishes, as in Louisiana -- or "boroughs," as Alaskan counties are known). In the "unorganized borough" covering more than half the state, the only local services are municipalities and school boards, with everything else handled directly by the state or by the tribal government.
* The tallest mountain in North America, Mt. [=McKinley=] (or Denali), is in Alaska.

* A lot of JackLondon's stories, such as ''Call of the Wild'', ''White Fang'' and ''Batard'', take place in Alaska.

** It is implied later that Mom hails from Alaska.

* On a related note, the terrain in southwestern Alaska is so unpredictable that delivery service to the villages is often conducted by [[www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXBQeSA-vZw hovercraft]].

* Alaska has more registered pilots per capita than any other state. In a place where the drivability of the roads is often in doubt, this is very much justified.

** [[MarvelComics Marvel]] must be a big fan of Alaska, because the so-called Mutant {{Messiah}} (the first mutant born after [[HouseOfM M-Day]], later named [[MeaningfulName/ComicBooks Hope]]) was born in Cooperstown, Alaska.

* An episode of ''Series/RiverMonsters'' took place in Alaska, even had a rather unnerving run-in with a [[EverythingsWorseWithBears grizzly]].

But Alaska is also very sparsely populated. As of the 2010 census, there were just over 710,000 people living in Alaska, making the state the fourth least-populated in the nation, ahead of only North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. And more than half of those people live in only one tiny corner of the state: the Anchorage metropolitan area. The state has, by far, the lowest population density in the country. Part of this likely has to do with the fact that most of Alaska is either [[SlippySlideyIceWorld frozen tundra or forbidding mountains]], something of an American version of Siberia, with only the coastal regions in the south being really hospitable.[[note]]Although in the future, GlobalWarming may push the line between "cold" and "oh god this is fuckin' freezing!" further north, making the state more welcoming to new arrivals.[[/note]] The lowest temperature ever recorded in the US, -80 degrees [[AmericanCustomaryMeasurements Fahrenheit]], was taken in Prospect Creek, Alaska.

* ''TheGrey'' is about a group of Prudhoe Bay oil workers who get stranded in the Alaskan wilderness after a plane crash.
* ''TheFourthKind'' takes place in Nome. It was actually filmed in Bulgaria and British Columbia, [[ArtisticLicenseGeography and it shows]].

The two moments that defined Alaska's modern existence were the discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay in 1968, and the completion of the Alaskan Pipeline in 1977 to bring that oil to the rest of the country. Oil money sent Alaska from a backwater to one of the richest states in America, and the state has set up a permanent fund to invest some of its oil revenue for the benefit of the people. Every Alaskan receives a dividend of over a thousand dollars a year from the fund, meaning that a family of four has a guaranteed welfare check of about $5000... which just about makes up for the substantially higher cost of living. While it's gotten better in Anchorage and, to a lesser extent, Fairbanks, prices for basic goods are still ridiculously expensive in most of the state, due to the isolation of many towns and the harsh conditions making freight transport [[IceRoadTruckers quite difficult]].

America's last true frontier, Alaska is, by a very wide margin, the largest of [[TheSeveralStates the 50 states]]. The next competitor for the title, [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]], is less than half its size. If it were [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alaska_area_compared_to_conterminous_US.svg overlaid over the contiguous 48 states]], then Anchorage, its largest city, would be in Missouri; Barrow, its northernmost town, would be in Minnesota; Nome would be in South Dakota; Juneau, the state capital, would be in Georgia; and the Aleutian Islands would stretch all the way into {{California}}. Bottom line: Alaska is flippin' ''huge''.

* The capital of Alaska, Juneau, is the only state capital located on an international border (The Canadian border, [[MemeticMutation not the]] [[TinaFey Russian one]].),[[note]]Currently, that is; for a few years in the 1830s and 40s, the capital of UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}} was in [[MotorCity Detroit]], also on the border with (then-British) Canada; this was moved for reasons of logistics and fear of British invasion.[[/note]] and is the one of the two state capitals that cannot be accessed by land. To reach Juneau, you must fly or take a boat in.