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119-819: The Gwichʼin people have been present in Alaska , Yukon, and the Northwest Territories since time immemorial . In 1921, chiefs and headmen representing the Gwichʼin (then known as the Loucheux) population in the Mackenzie-Delta signed Treaty 11 , but unresolved differences arose between the interpretation of aboriginal and treaty rights by the Gwichʼin and by Canada, and many obligations were never fulfilled. To provide certainty and clarity of rights to land ownership, and to ensure various rights and benefits to

238-458: A moment magnitude of 9.2 (more than a thousand times as powerful as the 1989 San Francisco earthquake ). The time of day (5:36 pm), time of year (spring) and location of the epicenter were all cited as factors in potentially sparing thousands of lives, particularly in Anchorage. Alaska suffered a more severe megathrust earthquake on July 11, 1585, estimated at magnitude 9.25, which remains

357-409: A territory on May 11, 1912. It was admitted as the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959. Abundant natural resources have enabled Alaska— with one of the smallest state economies—to have one of the highest per capita incomes , with commercial fishing , and the extraction of natural gas and oil, dominating Alaska's economy . U.S. Armed Forces bases and tourism also contribute to

476-678: A 1996 vote. After Alaska was given statehood in 1959, Juneau's population increased as well as the growth of state government. After construction of the Alaska Pipeline in 1977, the state budget was flush with oil revenues, and it expanded programs for the people. The growth slowed considerably in the 1980s. In 2005, the state demographer projected slow growth in the borough for the next twenty years. Cruise ship tourism has expanded rapidly, from approximately 230,000 passengers in 1990 to nearly 1,000,000 in 2006, as cruise lines have built more and larger ships. They sail to Juneau seven days

595-399: A convoy to Valdez. On the advice of military and civilian leaders, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared all of Alaska a major disaster area the day after the quake. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard deployed ships to isolated coastal communities to assist with immediate needs. Bad weather and poor visibility hampered air rescue and observation efforts the day after the quake, but on Sunday

714-469: A longer coastline than all the other U.S. states combined. At 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km ) in total area, Alaska is by far the largest state in the United States. Alaska is more than twice the size of the second-largest U.S. state (Texas), and it is larger than the next three largest states (Texas, California, and Montana) combined. Alaska is the seventh largest subnational division in

833-813: A massive underwater landslide, resulting in the deaths of 32 people between the collapse of the Valdez city harbor and docks, and inside the ship that was docked there at the time. Nearby, a 27-foot (8.2 m) tsunami destroyed the village of Chenega , killing 23 of the 68 people who lived there; survivors out-ran the wave, climbing to high ground. Post-quake tsunamis severely affected Whittier , Seward , Kodiak, and other Alaskan communities, as well as people and property in British Columbia, Washington , Oregon , and California . Tsunamis also caused damage in Hawaii and Japan . Evidence of motion directly related to

952-560: A poor man's Lahaina ". The fishing industry is a major part of the Juneau economy, while not as strong as when a halibut schooner fleet generated considerable profits. The city was recently the 49th most lucrative U.S. fisheries port by volume and 45th by value. In 2004 it took in 15 million pounds of fish and shellfish, valued at 21.5 million dollars, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service . While

1071-508: A population of 31,275 there is a per capita of about 28 people per business. Juneau's only power utility is Alaska Electric Light & Power (AEL&P). Most of the electricity in the borough is generated at the Snettisham Hydroelectric facility in the southern end of the borough, accessible only by boat or plane. In April 2008, an avalanche destroyed three transmission towers, forcing AEL&P to supply almost all of

1190-670: A population that was genetically separate from other native groups present elsewhere in the New World at the end of the Pleistocene . Ben Potter, the University of Alaska Fairbanks archaeologist who unearthed the remains at the Upward Sun River site in 2013, named this new group Ancient Beringian . The Tlingit people developed a society with a matrilineal kinship system of property inheritance and descent in what

1309-576: A reward to any local native in Alaska who could lead him to gold-bearing ore. A local native arrived with some ore, and several prospectors were sent to investigate. On their first trip to Gold Creek, they found deposits of little interest. However, Pilz sent Joe Juneau (the cousin of Milwaukee co-founder Solomon Juneau ) and Richard Harris back to the Gastineau Channel, directing them to Snow Slide Gulch (the head of Gold Creek). According to

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1428-649: A total of 50 Aleut civilians and eight sailors were interned in Japan. About half of the Aleuts died during the period of internment. Unalaska / Dutch Harbor and Adak became significant bases for the United States Army , United States Army Air Forces and United States Navy. The United States Lend-Lease program involved flying American warplanes through Canada to Fairbanks and then Nome ; Soviet pilots took possession of these aircraft, ferrying them to fight

1547-407: A village, albeit made up mostly of tents and shacks rather than buildings. It was the first European American settlement founded in the territory after the United States purchased Alaska . By the autumn of 1881, the village had a population of over 100 and was known as Rockwell, after Lt. Com. Charles Rockwell; later it was known as Harrisburg after prospector Richard Harris. On December 14, 1881, it

1666-414: A week over a longer season than before, but the cruising tourism is still primarily a summer industry. It provides few year-round jobs but stimulates summer employment in the city. In 2010, the city was recognized as part of the "Playful City USA" initiative by KaBOOM! , created to honor cities that ensure their children have great places to play. Juneau is larger in area than the state of Delaware and

1785-692: Is a social center for the Tlingit, Haida , and Tsimshian of Southeast Alaska. Although the Russians had a colony in the Alaska territory from 1784 to 1867, they did not settle in Juneau. They conducted extensive fur trading with Alaskan Natives of the Aleutian Islands and Kodiak . The first European to see the Juneau area was Joseph Whidbey , master of the Discovery during George Vancouver 's 1791–95 expedition . He and his party explored

1904-797: Is based on the testimony of Chukchi geographer Nikolai Daurkin, who had visited Alaska in 1764–1765 and who had reported on a village on the Kheuveren River, populated by "bearded men" who "pray to the icons ". Some modern researchers associate Kheuveren with Koyuk River . The first European vessel to reach Alaska is generally held to be the St. Gabriel under the authority of the surveyor M. S. Gvozdev and assistant navigator I. Fyodorov on August 21, 1732, during an expedition of Siberian Cossack A. F. Shestakov and Russian explorer Dmitry Pavlutsky (1729–1735). Another European contact with Alaska occurred in 1741, when Vitus Bering led an expedition for

2023-884: Is bordered by Canada's Yukon and British Columbia to the east (making it the only state to border only a Canadian territory ); the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south and southwest; the Bering Sea , Bering Strait , and Chukchi Sea to the west; and the Arctic Ocean to the north. Alaska's territorial waters touch Russia's territorial waters in the Bering Strait, as the Russian Big Diomede Island and Alaskan Little Diomede Island are only 3 miles (4.8 km) apart. Alaska has

2142-433: Is called Áak'w ("Little lake", áa 'lake,' -kʼ 'diminutive') in Tlingit. The Taku River , just south of Juneau, was named after the cold t'aakh wind, which occasionally blows down from the mountains. Juneau is unique among U.S. state capitals in that there are no roads connecting the city to the rest of the state or to the contiguous United States. Honolulu , Hawaii , is the only other state capital which

2261-492: Is divided into boroughs . Delegates to the Alaska Constitutional Convention wanted to avoid the pitfalls of the traditional county system and adopted their own unique model. Many of the more densely populated parts of the state are part of Alaska's 16 boroughs, which function somewhat similarly to counties in other states. Unlike county-equivalents in the other states, the boroughs do not cover

2380-569: Is home to Mount Shishaldin , which is an occasionally smoldering volcano that rises to 10,000 feet (3,000 m) above the North Pacific. The chain of volcanoes extends to Mount Spurr , west of Anchorage on the mainland. Geologists have identified Alaska as part of Wrangellia , a large region consisting of multiple states and Canadian provinces in the Pacific Northwest , which is actively undergoing continent building . One of

2499-629: Is known for its massive reserves of crude oil and contains both the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska and the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field . The city of Utqiaġvik , formerly known as Barrow, is the northernmost city in the United States and is located here. The Northwest Arctic area , anchored by Kotzebue and also containing the Kobuk River valley, is often considered part of this region. The respective Inupiat of

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2618-455: Is maintained by the Office of History and Archaeology. The survey's inventory of cultural resources includes objects, structures, buildings, sites, districts, and travel ways, with a general provision that they are more than fifty years old. As of 31 January 2012 , more than 35,000 sites have been reported. Alaska is not divided into counties , as most of the other U.S. states, but it

2737-555: Is not connected by road to the contiguous United States. The absence of a road network is due to the extremely rugged terrain surrounding the city. In turn Juneau is a de facto island city in terms of transportation; all goods coming in and out must be transported by plane or boat, in spite of the city's location on the Alaskan mainland. Downtown Juneau sits at sea level with tides averaging 16 feet (5 m), below steep mountains about 3,500 to 4,000 feet (1,100 to 1,200 m) high. Atop

2856-516: Is now Southeast Alaska , became the capital of Russian America . It remained the capital after the colony was transferred to the United States. The Russians never fully colonized Alaska, and the colony was never very profitable. Evidence of Russian settlement in names and churches survives throughout southeastern Alaska. In 1867, William H. Seward , the United States Secretary of State under President Andrew Johnson , negotiated

2975-617: Is owned and managed by the U.S. federal government as public lands, including a multitude of national forests , national parks, and national wildlife refuges . Of these, the Bureau of Land Management manages 87 million acres (35 million hectares), or 23.8% of the state. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service . It is the world's largest wildlife refuge, comprising 16 million acres (6.5 million hectares). Of

3094-532: Is proportionally the second highest of any U.S. state, at over 15 percent, after only Hawaii. The name "Alaska" ( Russian : Аля́ска , romanized :  Aljáska ) was introduced during the Russian colonial period when it was used to refer to the Alaska Peninsula . It was derived from an Aleut-language idiom , alaxsxaq , meaning "the mainland" or, more literally, "the object towards which

3213-527: Is technically part of the continental U.S. , but is not usually included in the colloquial use of the term; Alaska is not part of the contiguous U.S. , often called " the Lower 48 ". The capital city, Juneau , is situated on the mainland of the North American continent but is not connected by road to the rest of the North American highway system. The largest lake in Alaska is Lake Illiamna . The state

3332-406: Is the seventh-largest subnational division in the world . It is the third-least populous and most sparsely populated U.S. state, but is, with a population of 736,081 as of 2020 , the continent's most populous territory located mostly north of the 60th parallel , with more than quadruple the combined populations of Northern Canada and Greenland . The state contains the four largest cities in

3451-618: Is the largest glacier in North America, covering 2,008 square miles (5,200 km ) alone. There are no officially defined borders demarcating the various regions of Alaska, but there are five/six regions that the state is most commonly broken up into: The most populous region of Alaska contains Anchorage , the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and the Kenai Peninsula . Rural, mostly unpopulated areas south of

3570-530: Is the northernmost and westernmost state in the United States, but also has the most easterly longitude in the United States because the Aleutian Islands extend into the Eastern Hemisphere . Alaska is the only non- contiguous U.S. state on continental North America; about 500 miles (800 km) of Canadian territory consisting of British Columbia (in Canada ) separates Alaska from Washington . It

3689-614: Is today Southeast Alaska, along with parts of British Columbia and the Yukon . Also in Southeast were the Haida , now well known for their unique arts. The Tsimshian people came to Alaska from British Columbia in 1887, when President Grover Cleveland , and later the U.S. Congress, granted them permission to settle on Annette Island and found the town of Metlakatla, Alaska . All three of these peoples, as well as other indigenous peoples of

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3808-650: The Exxon Valdez hit a reef in the Prince William Sound, spilling more than 11 million gallons (42 megalitres) of crude oil over 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of coastline. Today, the battle between philosophies of development and conservation is seen in the contentious debate over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the proposed Pebble Mine . Located at the northwest corner of North America , Alaska

3927-650: The Alaska Peninsula are considered part of the Southwest, with the Aleutian Islands often (but not always) being grouped in as well. While primarily part of Southwest Alaska when grouped economically, the Aleutian islands are sometimes recognized as an alternate group from the rest of the region due to the geographic separation from the continent. More than 300 small volcanic islands make up this chain, which stretches more than 1,200 miles (1,900 km) into

4046-699: The Alaska Purchase (referred to pejoratively as Seward's Folly) with the Russians for $ 7.2 million. Russia's contemporary ruler Tsar Alexander II , the Emperor of the Russian Empire , King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland , also planned the sale; the purchase was made on March 30, 1867. Six months later the commissioners arrived in Sitka and the formal transfer was arranged; the formal flag-raising took place at Fort Sitka on October 18, 1867. In

4165-631: The Alaska Purchase . The region is dominated by the Alexander Archipelago as well as the Tongass National Forest , the largest national forest in the United States. It contains the state capital Juneau , the former capital Sitka , and Ketchikan , at one time Alaska's largest city. The Alaska Marine Highway provides a vital surface transportation link throughout the area and country, as only three communities ( Haines , Hyder and Skagway ) enjoy direct connections to

4284-669: The Alaska Range and west of the Wrangell Mountains also fall within the definition of South Central, as do the Prince William Sound area and the communities of Cordova and Valdez . Also referred to as the Panhandle or Inside Passage , this is the region of Alaska closest to the contiguous states. As such, this was where most of the initial non-indigenous settlement occurred in the years following

4403-579: The Alaskan panhandle . Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of what was then the District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900. On July 1, 1970, the City of Juneau merged with the City of Douglas and the surrounding Greater Juneau Borough to form the current consolidated city-borough , which ranks as the second- largest municipality in

4522-480: The Aleutian Low draws warm and moist air from the south, bringing ample snow- or rainfall, and even in summer, winds will tend to blow onshore. The strength and frequency of the rainfall depends on several factors, including the presence of El Niño (more mild and rainy weather) or La Niña (colder and drier periods due to the presence of an anticyclone in the Gulf of Alaska ). Conversely, offshore winds from

4641-586: The Auke ( A'akw Kwáan ) and Taku tribes, who had inhabited the surrounding area for thousands of years. The A'akw Kwáan had a village and burying ground here. In the 21st century it is known as Indian Point. They annually harvested herring during the spawning season. Since the late 20th century, the A'akw Kwáan, together with the Sealaska Heritage Institute , have resisted European-American development of Indian Point, including proposals by

4760-546: The Juneau Trail System , a series of wilderness trails which are easy to extremely difficult to hike. The Juneau area is in a transition zone between a humid continental climate ( Köppen Dfb ), a subarctic climate ( Köppen Dfc ), and an oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb/Cfc ), depending on the isotherm used. The city's climate is heavily influenced by the proximity of the Pacific Ocean , specifically

4879-686: The Juneau mining district prior to World War II included the Treadwell Mine , the Alaska-Juneau Mine , and the Alaska-Gastineau Mine . By 1906, after the decline of whaling and the fur trade, Sitka which was the original capital of Alaska, had become less important and the territorial legislature moved the seat of government to Juneau in accordance with a 1900 federal law. Juneau was the largest city in Alaska during

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4998-548: The National Park Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). They consider it to be sacred territory, both because of the burying ground and the importance of the point in their traditions of gathering sustenance from the sea. They continue to gather clams , gumboot chitons , grass, and sea urchins , as well as tree bark for medicinal uses. The city and state supported

5117-667: The National Wildlife Refuge system , parts of 25 rivers to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system , 3.3 million acres (13,000 km ) to National Forest lands , and 43.6 million acres (176,000 km ) to National Park land . Because of the Act, Alaska now contains two-thirds of all American national parklands. Today, more than half of Alaskan land is owned by the Federal Government . In 1989,

5236-694: The Sealaska Heritage Institute in documenting the 78 acres (32 ha) site, and in August 2016, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places . "It is the first traditional cultural property in Southeast Alaska to be placed on the register." Descendants of the indigenous cultures include the Tlingit people . Native cultures have rich artistic traditions expressed in carving, weaving, singing, dancing, and in oral lore. Juneau

5355-418: The public record in Alaska. The state is divided into 34 recording districts which are centrally administered under a state recorder . All recording districts use the same acceptance criteria, fee schedule, etc., for accepting documents into the public record. Whereas many U.S. states use a three-tiered system of decentralization—state/county/township—most of Alaska uses only two tiers—state/borough. Owing to

5474-439: The 1830s and 1840s. The Tlingit arranged for an Orthodox priest to come to their Juneau settlement. In 1890, about 700 people converted, following chief Yees Gaanaalx and his wife of Auke Bay . The Orthodox Church Missionary Society supported the Tlingit in furnishing and constructing a church for the large congregation. The St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church was completed in 1894 and has maintained an important presence among

5593-469: The 29th the situation improved and rescue helicopters and observation aircraft were deployed. A military airlift immediately began shipping relief supplies to Alaska, eventually delivering 2,570,000 pounds (1,170,000 kg) of food and other supplies. Broadcast journalist, Genie Chance , assisted in recovery and relief efforts, staying on the KENI air waves over Anchorage for more than 24 continuous hours as

5712-675: The Alaska Division of Emergency Services to respond to any future disasters. The 1968 discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay and the 1977 completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System led to an oil boom. Royalty revenues from oil have funded large state budgets from 1980 onward. Oil production was not the only economic value of Alaska's land. In the second half of the 20th century, Alaska discovered tourism as an important source of revenue. Tourism became popular after World War II when military personnel stationed in

5831-609: The Alaska Trollers Association, United Fishermen of Alaska, United Southeast Alaska Gillnetters Association, and the Southeast Alaska Seiners Association. Real estate agencies, federally funded highway construction, and mining are still viable non-government local industries. Alaska Seaplanes, an airline, has its headquarters in Juneau. As of the 2010 census, there were 1,107 businesses with operations in Juneau borough; with

5950-455: The Federal and Territorial Building was transferred to the new state and became its capitol . The Alaska Governor's Mansion was commissioned under the Public Building Act in 1910. The mansion was designed by James Knox Taylor in the Federal style . Construction was completed in 1912. The territorial governor at the time was the first governor to live in the mansion, and he held the first open house for citizens on January 1, 1913. The area of

6069-558: The German invasion of the Soviet Union . The construction of military bases contributed to the population growth of some Alaskan cities. Statehood for Alaska was an important cause of James Wickersham early in his tenure as a congressional delegate. Decades later, the statehood movement gained its first real momentum following a territorial referendum in 1946. The Alaska Statehood Committee and Alaska's Constitutional Convention would soon follow. Statehood supporters also found themselves fighting major battles against political foes, mostly in

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6188-420: The Gwichʼin people, the Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement was signed as a modern treaty on April 22, 1992. In September 2023, the Biden administration cancelled oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge , for which Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee, thanked the administration. The Gwitch'in Tribal Council represents the four Gwitch'in communities in

6307-470: The Gwitch'in Settlement Area of the Northwest Territories , known as Designated Gwich'in Organizations (DGOs): Gwitch'in communities in Alaska and Yukon are not members of the Gwitch'in Tribal Council. Although not a full self-government, the Gwichʼin Tribal Council has authority over planning and conservation within its jurisdiction, and exercises full ownership of various lands and organizations. These holdings include subsurface rights to certain parcels in

6426-415: The NWT, as well as the Gwichʼin Development Corporation and Gwichʼin Settlement Corporation. An additional Yukon Transboundary Agreement extends some of these rights into a part of neighbouring Yukon, provided that other First Nations in that jurisdiction are co-operated with. Alaska Alaska ( / ə ˈ l æ s k ə / ə- LASS -kə ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on

6545-407: The North Slope and of the Northwest Arctic seldom consider themselves to be one people. Southwest Alaska is a sparsely inhabited region stretching some 500 miles (800 km) inland from the Bering Sea. Most of the population lives along the coast. Kodiak Island is also located in the Southwest. The massive Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta , one of the largest river deltas in the world, is here. Portions of

6664-507: The Pacific Northwest Coast , experienced smallpox outbreaks from the late 18th through the mid- 19th century , with the most devastating epidemics occurring in the 1830s and 1860s, resulting in high fatalities and social disruption. Some researchers believe the first Russian settlement in Alaska was established in the 17th century. According to this hypothesis, in 1648 several koches of Semyon Dezhnyov 's expedition came ashore in Alaska by storm and founded this settlement. This hypothesis

6783-415: The Pacific Northwest. In 1789, a Spanish settlement and fort were built in Nootka Sound . These expeditions gave names to places such as Valdez , Bucareli Sound , and Cordova . Later, the Russian-American Company carried out an expanded colonization program during the early-to-mid-19th century. Sitka , renamed New Archangel from 1804 to 1867, on Baranof Island in the Alexander Archipelago in what

6902-439: The Pacific Ocean. Some of these islands fall in the Eastern Hemisphere, but the International Date Line was drawn west of 180° to keep the whole state, and thus the entire North American continent, within the same legal day. Two of the islands, Attu and Kiska , were occupied by Japanese forces during World War II. According to an October 1998 report by the United States Bureau of Land Management , approximately 65% of Alaska

7021-408: The Rev. Samuel Young, in his book Alaska Days with John Muir , Juneau and Harris decided to explore their party's campsite at the creek head in the summer of 1879. They found nuggets "as large as peas and beans" there, in Harris' words. On October 18, 1880, the two men marked a 160-acre (650,000 m ) town site and soon a mining camp sprang up. Many miners arrived within a year and the camp became

7140-401: The Russian Navy aboard the St. Peter . After his crew returned to Russia with sea otter pelts judged to be the finest fur in the world, small associations of fur traders began to sail from the shores of Siberia toward the Aleutian Islands. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1784. Between 1774 and 1800, Spain sent several expeditions to Alaska to assert its claim over

7259-418: The Tlingit, Serbians, and other Europeans who follow Orthodox traditions. The iconostasis has six large panels which were sent from Russia . Prospector and placer miner John Lemon operated at the time in what is today the Lemon Creek area. The neighborhood which developed there was given his name by early settlers, several other landmarks in Juneau have also been named for him. Major mining operations in

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7378-436: The U.S. Congress but also within Alaska. Statehood was approved by the U.S. Congress on July 7, 1958; Alaska was officially proclaimed a state on January 3, 1959. On March 27, 1964, the massive Good Friday earthquake killed 133 people and destroyed several villages and portions of large coastal communities, mainly by the resultant tsunamis and landslides. It was the fourth-most-powerful earthquake in recorded history, with

7497-449: The United States by area and is larger than either Rhode Island or Delaware . Downtown Juneau is nestled at the base of Mount Juneau and it is across the channel from Douglas Island . As of the 2020 census , the City and Borough had a population of 32,255, making it the third-most populous city in Alaska after Anchorage and Fairbanks . Juneau experiences a daily influx of 21,000 people or more from visiting cruise ships between

7616-434: The United States by area , including the state capital of Juneau . The state's most populous city is Anchorage , and approximately half of Alaska's residents live within its metropolitan area . Indigenous people have lived in Alaska for thousands of years, and it is widely believed that the region served as the entry point for the initial settlement of North America by way of the Bering land bridge . The Russian Empire

7735-406: The United States, with 2,716.7 square miles (7,036 km ) being made up of land and 538.3 square miles (1,394 km ) consisting of water (16.54%). The central (downtown) area of Juneau is at 58°18′00″N 134°24′58″W  /  58.30000°N 134.41611°W  / 58.30000; -134.41611 . The City and Borough of Juneau includes Douglas Island , which is a tidal island to

7854-446: The action of the sea is directed". Numerous indigenous peoples occupied Alaska for thousands of years before the arrival of European peoples to the area. Linguistic and DNA studies done here have provided evidence for the settlement of North America by way of the Bering land bridge . At the Upward Sun River site in the Tanana Valley in Alaska, remains of a six-week-old infant were found. The baby's DNA showed that she belonged to

7973-403: The airport (1981–2010 normals), but ranging from 55 to 92 inches (1,400 to 2,340 mm), depending on location. Most of it will occur in fall and winter, some falling as snow from November to March. Records have been officially kept at downtown Juneau from January 1890 to June 1943, and at Juneau International Airport since July 1943. The coldest temperature ever officially recorded in Juneau

8092-439: The area. In April 2008, a series of massive avalanches outside Juneau heavily damaged the electrical lines providing Juneau with power, knocking the hydroelectric system offline and forcing the utility to switch to a much more expensive diesel system. Juneau shares its eastern border with the Canadian province of British Columbia . It is the only U.S. state capital which borders another country. Alaska State Parks maintains

8211-419: The bottom of this section lists the 100 largest cities and census-designated places in Alaska, in population order. Juneau, Alaska Juneau ( / ˈ dʒ uː n oʊ / JOO -noh ; Tlingit : Dzánti K'ihéeni [ˈtsʌ́ntʰɪ̀ kʼɪ̀ˈhíːnɪ̀] ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau , is the capital of the U.S. state of Alaska , located along the Gastineau Channel and

8330-452: The capital. In the 1970s, voters passed a plan to move the capital to Willow , a town 70 miles (110 km) north of Anchorage. But pro-Juneau people there and in Fairbanks persuaded voters also to approve a measure (the FRANK Initiative) requiring voter approval of all bondable construction costs before building could begin. Alaskans later voted against spending the estimated $ 900 million. A 1984 "ultimate" capital-move vote also failed, as did

8449-419: The capitol took less than two years, and the building was dedicated as the Federal and Territorial Building on February 14, 1931. It was designed by Treasury Department architects in the Art Deco architectural style . The building was originally used by the federal government to house the federal courthouse and the post office for the territory. Alaska gained statehood in 1959 and under the Alaska Statehood Act ,

8568-494: The ceremony, 250 uniformed U.S. soldiers marched to the governor's house at "Castle Hill", where the Russian troops lowered the Russian flag and the U.S. flag was raised. This event is celebrated as Alaska Day , a legal holiday on October 18. Alaska was loosely governed by the military initially and was administered as a district starting in 1884, with a governor appointed by the United States president. A federal district court

8687-503: The city of Douglas and the surrounding Greater Juneau Borough to form the current municipality, which accounts for the population jump between the 1970 and 1980 censuses. As of the census of 2020, there were 31,275 people, 12,922 households. The population density was 11.9 people per square mile (4.6 people/km ), making it the least densely populated state capital. There were 12,922 housing units at an average density of 4.0 units per square mile (1.5 units/km ). The racial makeup of

8806-504: The city proper and the communities of Eagle River, Chugiak, Peters Creek, Girdwood, Bird, and Indian. Fairbanks has a separate borough (the Fairbanks North Star Borough ) and municipality (the City of Fairbanks). The state's most populous city is Anchorage , home to 291,247 people in 2020. The richest location in Alaska by per capita income is Denali ($ 42,245). Yakutat City , Sitka, Juneau, and Anchorage are

8925-404: The city/borough was 64.7% White (62.5% Non-Hispanic White ), 1.0% African American , 10.1% Native American or Alaska Native , 6.7% Asian , 1.3% Pacific Islander , and 14.3% from two or more races. 7.0% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 2.6% reported speaking Tagalog at home, and 2.4% reported speaking Spanish. The median income for a household in the city/borough

9044-429: The community, disseminating information about shelters and prepared food rations, passing messages of well-being between loved ones, and helping to reunite families. In the longer term, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led the effort to rebuild roads, clear debris, and establish new townsites for communities that had been completely destroyed, at a cost of $ 110 million. The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center

9163-410: The contiguous North American road system. The Interior is the largest region of Alaska; much of it is uninhabited wilderness. Fairbanks is the only large city in the region. Denali National Park and Preserve is located here. Denali , formerly Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain in North America and is also located here. The North Slope is mostly tundra peppered with small villages. The area

9282-462: The damage done by the earthquake to the city. The team, called the Engineering and Geological Evaluation Group, was headed by Ruth A. M. Schmidt , a geology professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage . The team of scientists came into conflict with local developers and downtown business owners who wanted to immediately rebuild; the scientists wanted to identify future dangers to ensure that

9401-524: The earthquake was also reported from Florida and Texas . Alaska had never experienced a major disaster in a highly populated area before and had very limited resources for dealing with the effects of such an event. In Anchorage, at the urging of geologist Lidia Selkregg , the City of Anchorage and the Alaska State Housing Authority appointed a team of 40 scientists, including geologists, soil scientists, and engineers, to assess

9520-609: The east. It shares a western maritime border, in the Bering Strait , with Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug . The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean lie to the north, and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south. Technically, it is a semi-exclave of the U.S., and is the largest exclave in the world. Alaska is the largest U.S. state by area, comprising more total area than the following three largest states of Texas , California , and Montana combined, and

9639-466: The economy; more than half of the state is federally-owned land containing national forests , national parks , and wildlife refuges . It is among the most irreligious states , one of the first to legalize recreational marijuana , and is known for its libertarian-leaning political culture, generally supporting the Republican Party in national elections. The Indigenous population of Alaska

9758-413: The federal courthouse, and a post office. It also housed the territorial legislature and other territorial offices, including that of the governor. Today, Juneau is the home of the state legislature and the offices of the governor and lieutenant governor . Some executive branch offices have moved certain functions to Anchorage and elsewhere in the state. The Gastineau Channel was a fishing place for

9877-481: The four largest cities in the U.S. by area . As reflected in the 2020 United States census , Alaska has a total of 355 incorporated cities and census-designated places (CDPs). The tally of cities includes four unified municipalities, essentially the equivalent of a consolidated city–county . The majority of these communities are located in the rural expanse of Alaska known as " The Bush " and are unconnected to that contiguous North American road network. The table at

9996-619: The inter-war years, passing Fairbanks in population by the 1920 census . Anchorage became the largest city in terms of population in 1950 . In 1911, the United States Congress authorized funds for construction of a capitol building for the Alaska Territory . World War I delayed construction and there were difficulties purchasing the necessary land. Citizens of Juneau donated some of the required funds, and construction began on September 8, 1929. Construction of

10115-546: The interior are normally dry but may have extreme variations in temperature. Temperatures vary relatively little over the year. Winters are mild by Alaskan standards, with the average temperature of January slightly below freezing and highs often above 32 °F (0.0 °C); summers are rather cool but occasionally may get warm. Temperatures above 75 °F (23.9 °C) or below 10 °F (−12.2 °C) are not unheard of but are rare. Precipitation falls on an average 230 days per year, averaging 62.27 inches (1,580 mm) at

10234-432: The largest private landowner in Alaska in advertisements and other communications. Provisions of ANCSA allowing the corporations' land holdings to be sold on the open market starting in 1991 were repealed before they could take effect. Effectively, the corporations hold title (including subsurface title in many cases, a privilege denied to individual Alaskans) but cannot sell the land. Individual Native allotments are sold on

10353-629: The local economy is the tourism industry, which generates most income in the summer months. In 2005, nearly an estimated one million cruise ship passengers visited Juneau between May and September. That figure is now 1.65 million per year for the season ending in October 2023. On the other hand, former politician Bill Ray , who previously lived in Juneau and represented Juneau in the Alaska Legislature , said: "Juneau doesn't go forward. They've prostituted themselves to tourism. It looks like

10472-637: The low population density, most of the land is located in the Unorganized Borough . As the name implies, it has no intermediate borough government but is administered directly by the state government. In 2000, 57.71% of Alaska's area has this status, with 13.05% of the population. Anchorage merged the city government with the Greater Anchorage Area Borough in 1975 to form the Municipality of Anchorage, containing

10591-464: The mansion is 14,400 square feet (1,340 m ). It has ten bathrooms, six bedrooms, and eight fireplaces. It is the governor's residence when in Juneau on official business. In June 1923, President Warren G. Harding became the first president to visit Alaska. Harding visited the Governor's Mansion while Territorial Governor Scott Bone , who was appointed by Harding, was in office. Harding spoke from

10710-464: The months of May and September. The city is named after a gold prospector from Quebec , Joe Juneau , although it was once called Rockwell and then Harrisburg (after Juneau's co-prospector, Richard Harris ). The Tlingit name of the town is Dzántik'i Héeni ("Base of the Flounder's River", dzánti 'flounder,' –kʼi 'base,' héen 'river'), and Auke Bay just north of Juneau proper

10829-808: The most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history, and the second most powerful earthquake recorded in world history. The Good Friday earthquake lasted 4 minutes and 38 seconds. Six hundred miles (970 km) of fault ruptured at once and moved up to 60 ft (18 m), releasing about 500 years of stress buildup. Soil liquefaction , fissures, landslides, and other ground failures caused major structural damage in several communities and much damage to property. Anchorage sustained great destruction or damage to many inadequately earthquake-engineered houses, buildings, and infrastructure (paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other human-made equipment), particularly in

10948-724: The mountains is the Juneau Icefield , a large ice mass from which about 30 glaciers flow; two of them, the Mendenhall Glacier and the Lemon Creek Glacier, are visible from the local road system. The Mendenhall Glacier has been gradually retreating; its front face is declining in width and height. The Alaska State Capitol in downtown Juneau was built as the Federal and Territorial Building in 1931. Prior to statehood, it housed federal government offices,

11067-559: The northwest extremity of North America . Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii . Alaska is also considered to be the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost (the Aleutian Islands cross the 180th meridian into the eastern hemisphere) state in the United States. It borders the Canadian territory of Yukon and the province of British Columbia to

11186-522: The often remote and roadless locations. The University of Alaska , as a land grant university , also owns substantial acreage which it manages independently. Another 44 million acres (18 million hectares) are owned by 12 regional, and scores of local, Native corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971. Regional Native corporation Doyon, Limited often promotes itself as

11305-412: The open market. Various private interests own the remaining land, totaling about one percent of the state. Alaska is, by a large margin, the state with the smallest percentage of private land ownership when Native corporation holdings are excluded. The Alaska Heritage Resources Survey (AHRS) is a restricted inventory of all reported historic and prehistoric sites within the U.S. state of Alaska; it

11424-502: The porch of the mansion explaining his policies and met with attendees. During World War II , more than 50 Japanese citizens and Japanese Americans residing in Juneau were evacuated to the internment camps inland as a result of Executive Order 9066 —which authorized the forced removal of all ethnic Japanese away from their homes and businesses on the West Coast of the United States . The removal of Juneau's Japanese community during

11543-404: The port of Juneau has comparatively little seafood processing compared to other towns of this size in Alaska, hundreds of commercial fishing boats sell their fish to plants in nearby Sitka, Hoonah , Petersburg and Ketchikan . The largest fleets operating from Juneau are the gillnet and troll salmon fleets. Juneau has many of the commercial fishing associations in Alaska. The associations include

11662-428: The rebuilt infrastructure would be safe. The team produced a report on May 8, 1964, just a little more than a month after the earthquake. The United States military, which has a large active presence in Alaska, also stepped in to assist within moments of the end of the quake. The U.S. Army rapidly re-established communications with the lower 48 states, deployed troops to assist the citizens of Anchorage, and dispatched

11781-668: The region in July–August 1794. Early in August he viewed the length of Gastineau Channel from the south, noting a small island in mid-channel. He later recorded seeing the channel again, this time from the west. He said it was unnavigable, being filled with ice. After the California gold rush, miners migrated up the Pacific Coast and explored the West, seeking other gold deposits. In 1880, Sitka mining engineer George Pilz offered

11900-602: The region returned home praising its natural splendor. The Alcan Highway , built during the war, and the Alaska Marine Highway System , completed in 1963, made the state more accessible than before. Tourism has become increasingly important in Alaska, and today over 1.4 million people visit the state each year. With tourism more vital to the economy, environmentalism also rose in importance. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980 added 53.7 million acres (217,000 km ) to

12019-514: The remaining land area, the state of Alaska owns 101 million acres (41 million hectares), its entitlement under the Alaska Statehood Act . A portion of that acreage is occasionally ceded to the organized boroughs presented above, under the statutory provisions pertaining to newly formed boroughs. Smaller portions are set aside for rural subdivisions and other homesteading-related opportunities. These are not very popular due to

12138-555: The several landslide zones along Knik Arm . Two hundred miles (320 km) southwest, some areas near Kodiak were permanently raised by 30 feet (9 m). Southeast of Anchorage, areas around the head of Turnagain Arm near Girdwood and Portage dropped as much as 8 feet (2.4 m), requiring reconstruction and fill to raise the Seward Highway above the new high tide mark. In Prince William Sound , Port Valdez suffered

12257-470: The state's entire land area. The area not part of any borough is referred to as the Unorganized Borough . The Unorganized Borough has no government of its own, but the U.S. Census Bureau in cooperation with the state divided the Unorganized Borough into 11 census areas solely for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation. A recording district is a mechanism for management of

12376-522: The voice of calm from her temporary post within the Anchorage Public Safety Building. She was effectively designated as the public safety officer by the city's police chief. Chance provided breaking news of the catastrophic events that continued to develop following the magnitude 9.2 earthquake, and she served as the voice of the public safety office, coordinating response efforts, connecting available resources to needs around

12495-714: The war is memorialized by the Empty Chair Memorial , which was dedicated in July 2014 in the city's Capital School Park neighborhood. Robert Atwood , who was then the publisher of the Anchorage Times and an Anchorage "booster", was an early leader in efforts to move the capital to Fairbanks, which many in both cities resisted. Some supporters of a move wanted a new capital to be at least 30 miles (48 km) from Anchorage and Fairbanks, to prevent either city from having undue influence. Juneau has continued as

12614-529: The warm Alaska Current , and the Coast Mountains that form a natural orographic barrier for incoming air. As a result, the weather is mild and moist, which, as in other parts of the Alaska Panhandle , allows the growth of temperate rainforests . Like other cities in S.E. Alaska, Juneau does not have permafrost . There are two prevalent types of wind in Juneau. Particularly in winter,

12733-496: The west of mainland Juneau. Douglas can be reached via the Juneau-Douglas Bridge . An unpopulated section of the city is located on Admiralty Island near its northern end. As in the rest of Southeast Alaska, the Juneau area is susceptible to damage caused by natural disasters . The 2014 Palma Bay earthquake caused widespread outages to telecommunications in the area due to damage to a fiber-optic cable serving

12852-476: The world . If it was an independent nation, it would be the 18th largest country in the world; almost the same size as Iran . With its myriad of islands, Alaska has nearly 34,000 miles (55,000 km) of tidal shoreline. The Aleutian Islands chain extends west from the southern tip of the Alaska Peninsula . Many active volcanoes are found in the Aleutians and in coastal regions. Unimak Island , for example,

12971-520: The world's largest tides occurs in Turnagain Arm , just south of Anchorage, where tidal differences can be more than 35 feet (10.7 m). Alaska has more than 409,000 natural lakes at least one hectare or bigger. Marshlands and wetland permafrost cover 188,320 square miles (487,700 km ) (mostly in northern, western and southwest flatlands). Glacier ice covers about 28,957 square miles (75,000 km ) of Alaska. The Bering Glacier

13090-570: Was $ 90,126. The per capita income for the city/borough was $ 45,607. 7.2% of the population was below the poverty line. The primary employer in Juneau is government including the state government, federal government (which has regional offices here, especially for resource agencies), municipal government (which includes the local airport, hospital, harbors, and school district), and the University of Alaska Southeast . State government offices and their indirect economic impact comprise approximately one-quarter of Juneau's economy. A large contributor to

13209-585: Was a promotion with Mattel to draw "attention to new wild cards in [the] game". For Juneau's cooperation, Mattel donated $ 15,000 "to the Juneau Community Foundation in honor of the late Mayor Greg Fisk ." According to the United States Census Bureau , the borough has an area of 3,255 square miles (8,430 km ). In land area, Juneau (proper) is the largest state capital and the second-largest city overall in

13328-480: Was decided at a miners' meeting of 72 persons to name the settlement Juneau, after prospector Joe Juneau. Likely due to the pressure of European encroachment, some Tlingit appealed to the Russian Orthodox Church . It held services in northern Tlingit settlements in local languages as early as 1800 and 1824. One of its priests translated scripture and liturgy into the Tlingit language during

13447-512: Was extremely limited or unavailable until statehood took effect in 1959. Starting in the 1890s and stretching in some places to the early 1910s, gold rushes in Alaska and the nearby Yukon Territory brought thousands of miners and settlers to Alaska. From 1879 to 1920, Alaska produced a cumulative total of over $ 460,000,000 ($ 6,691,927,500 inflation-adjusted) of mineral production. Alaska was officially incorporated as an organized territory in 1912. Alaska's capital, which had been in Sitka until 1906,

13566-416: Was for several decades, the country's largest city by area. (Sitka surpassed it in 2000 when it incorporated.) Juneau is the only U.S. state capital on an international border: it is bordered on the east by Canada. It is the U.S. state capital whose namesake was most recently alive: Joe Juneau died in 1899. The city was temporarily renamed UNO, after the card game , on April 1, 2016 (April Fool's Day). It

13685-492: Was formed as a direct response to the disaster. Federal disaster relief funds paid for reconstruction as well as financially supporting the devastated infrastructure of Alaska's government, spending hundreds of millions of dollars that helped keep Alaska financially solvent until the discovery of massive oil deposits at Prudhoe Bay . At the order of the U.S. Defense Department , the Alaska National Guard founded

13804-408: Was headquartered in Sitka. For most of Alaska's first decade under the United States flag, Sitka was the only community inhabited by American settlers. They organized a "provisional city government", which was Alaska's first municipal government, but not in a legal sense. Legislation allowing Alaskan communities to legally incorporate as cities did not come about until 1900, and home rule for cities

13923-779: Was moved north to Juneau . Construction of the Alaska Governor's Mansion began that same year. European immigrants from Norway and Sweden also settled in southeast Alaska, where they entered the fishing and logging industries. During World War II , the Aleutian Islands Campaign focused on Attu , Agattu and Kiska , all of which were occupied by the Empire of Japan . During the Japanese occupation, an American civilian and two United States Navy personnel were killed at Attu and Kiska respectively, and nearly

14042-482: Was the first to actively colonize the area beginning in the 18th century, eventually establishing Russian America , which spanned most of the current state and promoted and maintained a native Alaskan Creole population. The expense and logistical difficulty of maintaining this distant possession prompted its sale to the U.S. in 1867 for US$ 7.2 million (equivalent to $ 157 million in 2023). The area went through several administrative changes before becoming organized as

14161-402: Was −22 °F (−30.0 °C) on February 2, 1968, and January 12, 1972, while the hottest was 90 °F (32.2 °C) on July 7, 1975. The normals and record temperatures for both downtown and the airport are given below. See or edit raw graph data . Juneau first appeared on the 1890 U.S. Census. It was formally incorporated in 1900, and on July 1, 1970, the city of Juneau merged with

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