Alaska Fun Facts
Adopted in May of 1927. It is eight stars representing the big dipper on a blue background to represent the sky and the state flower of forget-me-not.
- Known as “The Last Frontier”
- Became a state in 1959 as the 49th state of the United States
- Capital is Juneau
- Largest city in Alaska is Anchorage
- State bird is the willow ptarmigan
- State flower is the forget-me-not
- State tree is the Sitka Spruce
- State gem is jade
- State land mammal is the moose
- Abbreviation is AK
- Has over 40 active volcanoes
- Home to the largest glacier in North America, called the Bering Glacier, roughly the size of Delaware.
- The name Alaska comes from the Aleut word Alyeska, or Alaxsxaq, meaning “great land’.
- Animals found in Alaska: moose, polar bears, walruses, beluga whales, black bears, dall sheep, musk oxen, caribou, Kodiak bear, albatross, eagles and loons.
- Trees found in Alaska: hemlock, pine, cedar, Sitka spruce
- Alaska’s most famous export is gold but the biggest export is the mineral zinc. Alaska is also known for exporting lumber, fish, salmon, coal and jade.
- It is believed that the first people to live in Alaska arrived approximately 13,000 years ago by either traveling on the Bering Land Bridge, a 600 mile wide stretch of land that used to connect to Russia.
- Some Russians settled in Alaska in 1784 and then sold the land to the United States in 1867 for 2 cents an acre. Gold was struck in 1872.
- Alaskan inhabitants include indigenous people including the Inuit, Tlingit, Haida, Aleuts, Athabascans and Yup-ik.
Click the photo below to see some of our Alaska products!
