April 3, 2026
Why Is Alaska Part of the US? The Geography of America's Strangest State
Alaska is separated from the contiguous United States by 500 miles of Canadian territory. Its western tip is 55 miles from Russia. It has more coastline than all other US states combined. It is more than twice the size of Texas. And yet, since January 3, 1959, it has been the 49th state of the Union. The story of how a frozen Russian territory became America's largest state involves imperial ambition, gold, Cold War paranoia, and a purchase price that was mocked for over a century before it was vindicated.
Russian America: How It Started
Russia's claim to Alaska began in 1741, when Danish-born explorer Vitus Bering — sailing under the Russian flag — reached the Alaskan coast. Russian fur traders followed, establishing settlements along the southern coast to harvest sea otter pelts, which fetched enormous prices in Chinese markets. The Russian-American Company, a state-chartered monopoly, governed the territory from its capital at Sitka.
But Russia's grip was always tenuous. The colony was expensive to supply, thousands of miles from Moscow, and difficult to defend. The indigenous Tlingit people resisted Russian expansion, destroying the original Sitka settlement in 1802. By the mid-1800s, Russia was financially weakened from the Crimean War and feared that Britain — which controlled neighboring Canada — might simply seize Alaska in the next conflict. Selling it to the United States seemed like a way to get paid for something Russia expected to lose anyway.
Seward's Folly: The $7.2 Million Gamble
On March 30, 1867, US Secretary of State William Seward signed the Treaty of Cession with Russian Minister Eduard de Stoeckl, purchasing Alaska for $7.2 million — roughly two cents per acre. The American press was merciless. Newspapers called it "Seward's Folly," "Seward's Icebox," and "Walrussia." Critics saw a vast frozen wasteland with no roads, no railroads, and no obvious economic value.
Seward saw something different. He was an expansionist who believed the United States should dominate the Pacific rim. Alaska gave America a foothold in the Arctic, a buffer against British Canada, and access to fisheries and natural resources that hadn't yet been catalogued. He was right — but it took decades for the investment to pay off.
For 17 years after the purchase, Alaska had no formal government at all. It was administered by the Army, then the Navy, then the Treasury Department. It wasn't until 1884 that Congress organized it as a civil district — and even then, it had no legislature and no representation. Alaska was treated as a territorial afterthought, a frozen appendage that most Americans forgot they owned.
Gold Changes Everything
In 1896, gold was discovered in the Klondike region of Canada's Yukon Territory — and the fastest route to the goldfields was through Alaska. The Klondike Gold Rush brought an estimated 100,000 prospectors through Alaskan ports, transforming Skagway and Juneau from fur-trading outposts into boomtowns overnight. Gold was subsequently found in Alaska itself — at Nome in 1899 and Fairbanks in 1902.
The gold rush proved that Alaska had economic value far beyond fur. It also brought infrastructure: steamship lines, telegraph cables, and eventually the Alaska Railroad, completed in 1923. The population surged. Suddenly, the "folly" didn't seem so foolish. By the early 1900s, Alaska's mineral output alone had exceeded the original purchase price many times over.
World War II and the Cold War: Strategic Necessity
Alaska's strategic importance became impossible to ignore during World War II. In June 1942, Japan invaded and occupied two Alaskan islands — Attu and Kiska — in the Aleutian chain. It was the first foreign occupation of American soil since the War of 1812. The US military poured resources into Alaska, building the Alaska Highway (a 1,700-mile road through Canada connecting Alaska to the lower 48), airfields, and military bases. By war's end, Alaska had been transformed from a remote territory into a critical defense installation.
The Cold War cemented this role. Alaska sits directly across the Bering Strait from the Soviet Union — just 55 miles at the narrowest point, between the Diomede Islands. During the nuclear standoff, Alaska was America's first line of defense. Radar installations, interceptor squadrons, and missile defense sites dotted the territory. Military spending became Alaska's largest economic driver.
Statehood: January 3, 1959
Alaska's path to statehood was long and politically contentious. Territorial residents had been petitioning for statehood since the 1910s, but Congress resisted. Southern Democrats worried that Alaska's small, progressive-leaning population would send liberal senators to Washington. Business interests — particularly the salmon canning industry — preferred territorial status because it meant less regulation and no state taxes.
The statehood movement gained momentum after WWII, when thousands of military veterans who had been stationed in Alaska lobbied for it. In 1955, Alaskans held a constitutional convention and drafted one of the most admired state constitutions in America — a document praised by political scientists for its clarity and efficiency. On January 3, 1959, President Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act, making it the 49th state. Hawaii followed just eight months later.
Alaska by the Numbers
The sheer scale of Alaska defies easy comprehension. At 663,268 square miles, it is larger than Texas, California, and Montana combined. If Alaska were its own country, it would be the 18th largest in the world — bigger than France, Spain, Germany, and Japan combined. Yet its population hovers around 733,000 — fewer people than Columbus, Ohio. The population density is roughly one person per square mile, making it by far the most sparsely populated state. Explore Alaska's full data profile.
Alaska has 6,640 miles of coastline — more than all other US states combined. It contains 17 of the 20 highest peaks in the United States. It has more than 3 million lakes, 100,000 glaciers, and the northernmost, westernmost, and (because of the Aleutian Islands crossing the 180th meridian) easternmost points in the United States. It is the only state with coastline on the Arctic Ocean.
The Answer to the Question
So why is Alaska part of the United States? Because Russia couldn't afford to keep it, a single visionary Secretary of State had the conviction to buy it, gold proved the skeptics wrong, two world wars revealed its strategic necessity, and a determined territorial population refused to stop fighting for statehood. It is a state that exists because of geography — its position between two oceans, two continents, and two superpowers made it impossible to ignore.
Alaska regularly appears as one of the most challenging states in GeoProwl's daily puzzle — its climate data, national park counts, and demographic profile are unlike any other state. Test your knowledge of all 50 states with Just States, or dive deep into the numbers on our Fast Facts index.