Military Family Resource Guide - 2010 - Keep Trees

ALASKA hIStORY
Alaska is young, both as a state and
geologically. After the dinosaurs were
gone and glaciers covered the land, not
much was growing.
As the sheets of ice began to melt off
and the boreal tundra and forests began to
take root, people started trekking through
from Asia by land and sea.
Sometime between 12,000 and
15,000 years ago people began to stay
instead of just passing through.
The heritage of the first people of
Alaska is a story of true survival and
adaptation. Alaska Natives fared better
for thousands of years with the harsh
climate and conditions than they did
when Europeans and western influence
took hold in the 18th century.
Despite conflicts and cultural impacts,
Alaska Natives survived and persisted
through the Russian period and the purchase
of Alaska by the United States.
Over the years settlement continued
to grow and in 1867 William H. Seward
arranged for the U.S. to purchase Alaska
from Russia. The price was $7.2 million,
less than 2 cents per acre. View the
check used for the purchase, which is
now in the National Archives, online at
www.ourdocuments.gov. To locate it, click
on the “100 Milestone Documents” button
and scroll down to the “Check for the
Purchase of Alaska (1868)” button.
The gold rush in the 19th century
paved the way for further change. Early
20th-century Alaska brought more people
and expansion. Eventually natural
resources were developed and the territory
became a state in 1959.
Today Alaska is the most sparsely
populated state with a high standard of
living. When you factor in the vast wilderness
and personal freedoms Alaskans
enjoy, it becomes priceless.
GOVeRnMent
Alaska has more than 300 communities,
less than half of which are incorporated,
but all fall within the boundaries of
the state’s boroughs.
Alaska is divided into 16 organized boroughs
and one unorganized borough. The
county form of government found in most
states is similar to the boroughs, except for
law enforcement which is either local or
state in Alaska.
Three of the boroughs are unified
home-rule boroughs; Anchorage, Juneau
and Sitka. They have consolidated local
governments for the communities within
their respective boundaries.
The other 13 boroughs are nonunified
home-rule boroughs or secondclass
boroughs. These boroughs include
a regional government which in most
instances complements the city governments
within borough boundaries.
The sole unorganized borough does
not function like an organized borough,
but encompasses about half the state’s
Al A s k A 2008 Po P u l At i o n est i m At es
land mass and about 13 percent of
the state’s population, divided into 11
federal census areas. The unorganized
borough is neither a political subdivision
nor a municipal corporation, but it serves
as a way to deliver federal monies and
state services with local involvement. In
1991 and 1992, the state developed
model borough boundaries to divide
the one unorganized borough into 19
new boroughs. As yet, none have been
incorporated or formed into organized
boroughs.
Alaska has 246 federally-recognized
tribal governments and Metlakatla is the
only community in the state organized
under federal law.
Alaska has no statewide sales tax and
no personal state income tax. State government
is mainly financed by revenues
from oil, investments and the federal
government.
Visit www.alaska.gov to learn more
about Alaska’s government, its boroughs
and communities.
Alaska’s population .......................................679,720
Five Largest Boroughs
Municipality of Anchorage .................................284,994
Fairbanks north Star Borough ...............................89,896
Matanuska-Susitna Borough. ................................82,515
Kenai peninsula Borough ...................................52,990
city & Borough of Juneau ...................................30,427
Ten Largest Communities
Anchorage ...............................................284,994
Juneau ....................................................30,427
Fairbanks .................................................30,367
Sitka. ......................................................8,615
Ketchikan ..................................................7,508
Wasilla. ....................................................7,176
Kenai ......................................................7,134
Kodiak .....................................................5,974
Bethel .....................................................5,665
palmer .....................................................5,559
so u r c e: Al A s k A DePArtm ent o F lA b o r & Wo r k F o r c e DeveloP m ent
2010 • MILITARY FAMILY RESOURCE GUIDE 5