Alaska Case

Alaska is the largest state in the U.S. with 586,412 square miles of land; this is twice the size of Texas. Alaska does not share a border with another state in the U.S. Alaska eastern border is shared with Canada. Alaska is about 500 miles Northwest of Washington. There are only 3 miles between Russia and the Alaskan Islands.

Alaska is separated into 5 regions - South Central, South Eastern, Interior, South Western, and Arctic. Alaska is divided into boroughs. Boroughs are similar to counties in the other states. Less populated areas of Alaska are Unorganized Boroughs, meaning that don't have their own government.

In the south central region you will find the city of Anchorage. Anchorage is the most populated city in Alaska. Its also one the largest cities in the U.S. Alaska has the 4 largest cities in the U.S. - Anchorage, Juneau, Yakutat City, and Sitka. The south central region border the coast of the Gulf of Alaska and Canada.

The south eastern region also known as the Panhandle is west of the British Columbia, Canada. Here you can see Tongass National Forest the largest forest in the U.S with 16.8 million acres of land. The south eastern region has over 1,000 islands, 1 rainforest, and the state capital Juneau.

The interior region covers most of the states wilderness land. Many mountain ranges are located in this region. One of them being Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in the U.S. at 20,320 feet high. This region has 2 popular cities; Fairbanks the second largest U.S. city and North Pole. North Pole is a Christmas themed tourist town. It's actually about 1,700 miles from the North Pole.

The south western region sits along the coast of the Arctic Sea. Much of this area has soil that is permanently frozen this called the arctic tundra. There is very little plant life growing here because of the frozen soil. This is also where the Alaskan Pipeline is located. The pipeline is used to transfer petroleum to different parts of Alaska.

Alaska has over 3 million lakes putting Minnesota's "Land of 10,000 Lakes" to shame. Alaska also has 3,000 rivers and almost 34,000 miles of coastline. The Yukon River starts in Canada and runs 1,875 miles into Alaska making it the third longest river.

Alaska has half of the world's glaciers. Glacier ice covers 16,000 square miles of land and 1,200 square miles of tidal zone including 2,250 square miles in the Bering Glacier.

On the flip side is the "Ring of Fire" an area in Alaska with over 100 volcanoes and volcanic fields. Alaska has more volcanoes than any other state.