Alaska: Why America's Largest State Is Also Its Most Important

Alaska is the largest U.S state by a wide margin at approximately 660 000 square miles it is more than twice the size of the next largest state Texas but while Alaska is mostly lauded for its size the state is also incredibly important to the United States for a number of reasons in fact it might be the most important state the U.S has here's why [Music] welcome to geography by Jeff Alaska is not often thought about in the daily lives of most Americans it's pretty far away relatively small in terms of population and has only ever really talked about when we talk about the sheer size of it but Alaska actually has a lot going for it not only for the people who live there but for the United States as a whole in today's episode we're going to explore why Alaska could be the most important state to the United States but before we get to today's episode if you enjoy my content be sure to check out the podcast that I co-host with geography Professor Hunter shobi each week we bring you a fun-filled episode rooted in geography and you can listen to every episode right here on YouTube Apple podcast Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts [Music] Alaska has kind of a long and winding history when it comes to How It ultimately ended up in the hands of the United States while those of us who live in the United States take for granted that our largest state has always been there the reality is that we're not for a particular set of circumstances Alaska would very likely remain with Russia or be a part of Canada today Alaska of course has always been inhabited by various indigenous tribes that still largely exist today but during the Age of Exploration the first Europeans began making inroads into the general area in fact it's theorized that Russian explorers could have arrived on the shores of Alaska in the mid-1600s regardless of whether Russian explorers made it to Alaska that long ago they certainly were the first to make it in the 1700s this began Russia's American Colonial Ambitions the First full Russian settlement was founded in 1784 on Kodiak Island Russia's colonies in Alaska however were never very profitable most of Russia's population centers were and still are based on the western part of their country near Europe which was very far away from the new Alaskan colonies given the transportation Technologies available at the time and not only that but Alaska was also very inhospitable during the mid 1700s and 1800s the world was Far colder than it is today and this led to an Alaska that was much more difficult to live in but Russia wasn't the only European power with eyes on Alaska at the time the Spanish and British also believed that the area should belong to them the Spanish held that the entire region was theirs based on a proclamation made in the 1400s but no Spanish colonies or forts were ever founded in Alaska likewise the British would establish a few trading colonies in the mid-1700s but mostly focused their efforts on the rest of British Canada including their ongoing dispute with the United States over the Oregon Country by the 1860s the Russian government was ready to abandon its colony in Alaska over hunting severely reduced the fur-bearing animal population and compensation from British and Americans made it unprofitable for the Russian Empire this combined with the difficulties of supplying and protecting such a distant Colony reduced interest in the territory not least Russia at the time was feeling like the Alaska territory would eventually fall into Britain's hands if they didn't do something so they opted to sell the territory to the United States instead in 1867 the United States and Russia formalized the sale of the Alaska territory for a total of 7.2 million dollars Alaska as a U.S territory would exist as a military colony of sorts with the military running the state between 1867 and 1884. from then the U.S president would appoint a governor to oversee the territory cities within Alaska were not even able to be formally Incorporated until the year 1900 and it would take another 59 years for Alaska to become a full state with the passing of the Alaska statehood act the United States bought Alaska at the low low price of about 11 dollars per square mile that's an incredible deal and while Alaska is still not very populated and exists very far away from the rest of the United States it's still incredibly important for the country as a whole but before we get into exactly why Alaska is so important if you're enjoying this video hit that subscribe button more fun geography videos or just a single click away [Music] foreign scientists certainly weren't predicting the kind of ramp and climate change we're beginning to experience today though some scientists were sounding the alarm as early as 1820 it's turned out to be an incredibly wise investment in terms of future resource Gathering but that's not to say climate change will be good for Alaska quite the contrary according to the National Climate assessment created by the U.S Global change research program Alaska is heating at a rate twice as fast as the rest of the United States this has already caused widespread Glacier melt reduced sea ice reduced permafrost leading to the drunken Forest effect and of course an overall drier climate that leads to larger and more dangerous wildfires but there are some potentially huge benefits to the United States at large if climate change were to cause serious disruption to the rest of the country the biggest being agriculture as it turns out owning Alaska during the age of climate change could lead to a new breadbasket for the United States current climate change models are predicting that the traditional Bread Basket regions of the country such as the California Central Valley and the the Midwest will become drier making growing a vast quantity of crops very challenging but Alaska a huge State already with quite a lot of water could pose as a potential solution between now and the year 2100 the amount of days Alaska is expected to be able to farm food will double this means that food that normally wouldn't have been able to be grown in Alaska due to the amount of time required in warmer weather will suddenly become much more viable grains such as barley and wheat could become a large Agricultural Product for Alaska just as it becomes less viable in the South and not only will the growing days double but the amount of land available to grow on will expand more than 100 times Fairbanks for example can't grow much today but over the next few decades it could become an agricultural Hub shipping food all across the world thankfully for Alaska it's already in a very strategically opportune area for moving things around quickly foreign [Music] generation from Alaska will be very important for the United States in the future Alaska is hugely important for the United States strategic operations today the whole state of Alaska and its biggest city of Anchorage are both located near the North Pole and because of this despite what many Maps would have us believe Alaska is located very close to a number of the world's most important countries including those that compete directly with the U.S if we were to draw a straight line the distance between Anchorage and Beijing is 3970 miles Moscow 4 342 miles Tokyo 3457 miles and Berlin at 4523 miles to put this in perspective the straight-line distance from Washington DC to Moscow is nearly 4 900 miles Los Angeles to Beijing is over 6 200 miles because of these shorter distances the U.S military has a huge Force stationed in Alaska year round as you watch this video over 22 Air Force Army Navy and Marine Corps Personnel along with 4 700 Guardsmen and reservists are operating within Alaska today and with Alaska's strategic location the U.S military can deploy almost anywhere in the northern hemisphere in very little time but while Alaska is definitely important for military strategy Alaska is also very important for Consumer logistics for the same reasons as we previously covered there exists a huge Freight terminal for Air Cargo in Anchorage according to the U.S Department of Transportation over 1.6 million tons of freight flew through Alaska in 2021 that's an incredible amount of freight California which has a population about 55 times larger than Alaska had about 2.1 million tons of freight go through it bottom line shipping Freight through Alaska cuts down on travel costs quite a bit and while Air Freight transportation is incredibly important receding ice in the Arctic Ocean will also yield new potential trade routes in international waters close to the North Pole the prospect of a maritime Link in the Arctic between Japan China and the United States is growing and will only increase the Strategic importance of Alaska to the United States [Music] while Alaska is important for the United States in terms of military logistics and future agriculture the state today is in a bit of a bad situation since 2010 the state has suffered from rather anemic growth in fact the state is expected to lose population over the coming decades which is never something a state wants to see much of this lack of growth is due to the fact that the current economy of Alaska is incredibly dependent on natural resource development the biggest of which is the state's oil industry and unfortunately for Alaska that well is kind of running dry according to recent State plans the state's current intake of revenue from oil is about 1 8 as much as it was in 2012. for a state with no sales tax no income tax and very few taxes overall this doesn't bode well for the state's solvency into the future this is compounded by the current system where the state of Alaska actually pays its current residence based on its expected income from the oil industry so not only are alaskans not accustomed to paying taxes but they actually expect money from their state every year luckily for Alaska the state is just so incredibly important to the US that if it weren't to get into any serious trouble Uncle Sam would absolutely make sure it stays afloat Alaska is the United States Secret superpower while the state is not a secret of course the power and importance of the state will help solidify America's security and dominance well into the future and for those of us living in the United States we should all feel lucky that the US owns it and not Russia I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about Alaska's importance to the United States if you did please subscribe to my channel and if you want to watch more of my videos you can do so here thanks for watching see you next time

Channel: Geography By Geoff

Views: 501,545

Keywords: Alaska, alaska geography, alaska's importance, also, america, geography, geography by geoff, geography facts, geography now, geography quiz, geography youtube, history, real life lore, russia, the most important state, united states geography, us population distribution, usa best state, usa most important state, world geography, youtube videos about geography

Id: Qp-gfVwmRnU

Length: 10min 6sec (606 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 20 2023