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6. Federal government.
7. Education.
State of Alaska
Nickname(s): The Last Frontier (official), Land of the
Midnight Sun
Motto(s): North to the Future
State anthem: Alaska's Flag
Official language None
Spoken languages English 89.7%
Native (Eskimo–Aleut [‘əl(j)u:t] and
Na-Dene languages) 5.2%
Spanish 2.9%
Demonym Alaskan
Capital Juneau [‘dgu:neu] (Джуно)
Largest city Anchorage
Before statehood Alaska Territory
Admission to Union January 3, 1959 (49th)
Governor Sean Parnell
Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell
Legislature Alaska Legislature
- Upper house Senate
- Lower house House of Representatives
U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski
U.S. House delegation Don Young
The flag of Alaska consists of eight gold stars, forming the Big Dipper
(Велика Ведмедиця) and the North Star, on a dark blue field. The Big
Dipper symbolizes a bear, an animal indigenous [ n’d d ənəs] (місцевий)
to Alaska. As depicted on the flag, its stars can be used as a guide by the
novice (початківець), to locate Polaris and determine true north. The design
was created by Benny Benson and selected from among roughly 700 entries
in a 1927 contest.
Geography. Alaska is a U.S. state situated in the northwest extremity
of the North American continent. Bordering the state to the east is the
Canadian Yukon Territory and the province of British Columbia, the Arctic
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