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

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 is 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 Shobe

Each week we bring you a fun-filled episode rooted in geography. And you can listen to every episode right here on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts

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, were it 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 in 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 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

overhunting severely reduced the fur-bearing animal population, and competition 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

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 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 are just a single click away. While scientists certainly weren't predicting the kind of rampant 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 breadbasket regions of the country, such as the

California Central Valley and 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

While food 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 3,970 miles

Moscow, 4,342 miles. Tokyo, 3,457 miles. And Berlin at 4,523 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 US military has a huge force stationed in Alaska year-round

As you watch this video, over 22,000 Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine Corps personnel, along with 4,700 Guardsmen and Reservists, are operating within Alaska today

And with Alaska strategic location the US 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. 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 one-eighth 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 residents 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 wanna watch more of my videos, you can do so here. Thanks for watching

See you next time