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USA is an Arctic nation through Alaska, the northernmost of its 50 states. The US bought Alaska from Russia for 7 million Dollars in 1867 it becoming the 49th state within the US in 1959.

Geographically, Alaska is far from the motherland, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada. It is bordered by the Chukchi and Bering Seas the Bering Strait between Alaska and Chukotka in Russia being the main Pacific entrance to the Arctic waters.

The capital of Alaska is Juneau, although the city of Anchorage is the most well-known and highly populated. Nearly half of the inhabitants of this Northern land reside there. Alaska is equally home to several Aboriginal peoples, in particular, the Inuit and Aleuts.

Alaska is rich in resources; petroleum and natural gas. This American state equally possesses an attraction of considerable size: Mount McKinley, the highest summit in all of North America.

In the heart of a fragile Arctic ecosystem, Alaska was the scene of one of the greatest ecological tragedies of all time: the Exxon Valdez Disaster of 1989, when the giant tanker crashed and spilled oil in the ocean.

Sources: CIA World Factbook State of Alaska

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