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AlaskaOfficial language(s) English Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Area Ranked 1st - Total 663,267sq.mi. (1,717,854 km²) - Width 808miles(1,300 km) - Length 1,479miles(2,380 km) - % water 13.77 - Latitude 54°40'N to 71°50'N - Longitude 130°W to 173°E Population Ranked 47th - Total (2000) 626,932 - Density 1.09/sq.mi. 0.42/km² (50th) Elevation - Highest point Mount McKinley 20,321feet (6,194 m) - Mean 10,039feet (3,060 m) - Lowest point 0feet (0 m) Admission to Union January 3, 1959 (49th) Governor Frank Murkowski (R) U.S. Senators Ted Stevens (R) Lisa Murkowski (R) Time zones - east of 169° 30' Alaska: UTC-9/DST-8 - west of 169° 30' Aleutian: UTC-10/DST-9 Abbreviations AK US-AK Web site www.state.ak.us Alaska (IPA: [əˈlæskə]) is a U.S. state, located on the northwest tier of North America. It is by far the largest state in area, but one of the least populated. It is the 49th state, having been admitted to the Union on January 3, 1959. The name "Alaska" is most likely derived from the Aleut Alyeska, meaning "great country", "mainland" or "great land". Alaska is one of the two U.S. states not bordered by another state, Hawaii being the other. It is the only non-contiguous state in North America; about 500 miles (800 km) of Canadian territory separate Alaska from Washington. Alaska is thus an exclave of the United States that is part of the continental U.S. but is not part of the contiguous U.S. It is also the only mainland state whose capital city is accessible only via ship or air. No roads connect Juneau to the rest of the state. It is bordered by 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. Alaska is (by an extremely wide margin) the largest state by area in the United States. It is larger in area than all but 18 of the world's nations. Alaska is the largest state in the United States in terms of land area at 570,374 square miles (1,477,261km²), being more than twice as large as Texas, the next largest state. If a map of Alaska were superimposed upon a map of the Continental United States, Alaska would overlap Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico and Colorado, and if the state's westernmost point were superimposed on San Francisco, California, its easternmost point would be in Jacksonville, Florida. Alaska also has more coastline than all of the contiguous U.S. combined. One scheme for describing the state's geography is by labeling the regions: South Central Alaska is the southern coastal region and contains most of the state's population. Anchorage and many growing towns, such as Palmer, and Wasilla, lie within this area. Petroleum industrial plants, transportation, tourism, and two military bases form the core of the economy here. The Alaska Panhandle, also known as Southeast Alaska, is home to many of Alaska's larger towns including Juneau, tidewater glaciers and extensive forests. Tourism, fishing, forestry and state government anchor the economy. The Alaska Interior is home to Fairbanks. The geography is marked by large braided rivers, such as the Yukon River and the Kuskokwim River, as well as Arctic tundra lands and shorelines. The Alaskan Bush is the remote, less crowded part of the state, encompassing 380 native villages and small towns such as Nome, Bethel, Kotzebue and, most famously, Barrow, the northernmost town in the United States. Check out the following recipes that are tagged "Alaska":
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