Today, although it still has problems with communications and agriculture, the natural beauty and mineral wealth of the country as well as its prized fishing and timber industries, makes it a desirable place. Not to mention its strategic position, being only 84 km (52 miles) from mainland Russia. Oil strikes indicate that Alaska may sit on one of the largest oil reserves in the world.

Sometimes referred to as 'the last frontier' due to its small population and large opportunities, it was an administrative territory of the US government from 1912 to 1959, when it became the 49th State.

Total landmass is 1,518,800 sq kilometres (586,412 sq miles) and is more than twice the size of Texas. It has 10,700 kilometers (6,640 miles) of rugged coastline and a wide array of scenery. The southern coast sweeps in a wide arc from the south-east, encompassing the Gulf of Alaska, to the chain of the Aleutian Islands in the west.

Moving inland, it rises steeply, particularly in the east where glaciers reach down to the sea. Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet interrupt an otherwise never-ending coastline. The Alaska Peninsula separates the southern coast from the Bering Sea, the coast of which is ice-bound for most of the year. The coast then runs northwards indented by Bristol Bay, Norton Sound and Kortzebue Sound and on to the Arctic Ocean.

Alaska can be divided into 3 regions; the mountains along the southern coast; the lowlands and hills of the interior; and the mountains and Arctic shore in the north. In the Panhandle in the south-east, the mountains form islands, due to the valleys being below sea level, the area known as the Inland Passage.

Further northwest, the mountains are wider and higher and nestle spectacular glaciers. Anchorage is Alaska's largest city and is at the head of the Cook Inlet. Inland from Anchorage is the Coast Range, a continuation of the mountain range, which runs through the rest of the US and home to Mount McKinley, at 6,194 meters (29,322 feet), the highest mountain in North America.

Volcanic activity in Alaska is frequent, the whole length of the coastal mountain ranges is geologically unstable and subject to earthquakes. The population is sparse and little damage to property or human life occurs, notwithstanding the huge quake of 1964, which flattened many parts of Anchorage.

The central lowlands are drained by several rivers, of which the Yukon is the largest. Permafrost underlays huge tracts of land and therefore they have poor drainage in summer. Gold was discovered in the valleys in 1898 and the area still produces this mineral. Fairbanks, the second largest city, is found in the Tanana Valley and is the main agricultural area in the interior. The Tanana River is a tributary of the Yukon.

The lowlands are framed on the north by the Brooks Range, a continuation of the Rocky Mountains. Elevations range between 2,800 meters (9,200 ft) in the east near the Canadian border to 900 meters (3,000 ft) in the west near the Bering Strait. The Brooks Range averages 130 km (80 miles) in width. North of the range are foothills which descend into the coastal plain. These form the North Slope and where, in 1968, oil and natural gas were discovered in immense quantities.