Alaska, USA

Alaska is the largest U.S. state, stretching from the temperate rainforests of the Southeast Panhandle across vast interior river basins to Arctic tundra and the Aleutian Islands. Juneau is the capital, while Anchorage is the largest city and principal transportation and commercial center. Alaska’s mountains, glaciers, volcanoes, boreal forests and long coastlines support exceptional wildlife and communities separated by great distances. The state’s history is rooted in the homelands of many Alaska Native peoples and later shaped by Russian colonization, the 1867 U.S. purchase and statehood in 1959. Alaska had about 738,700 residents in 2025, and its economy draws on oil and gas, fishing, mining, tourism, transportation and military activity.