Alaska History and Timeline for Kids documents the major events that occurred in the largest state in the United States of America.
Once known as "Seward's Folly," it has been home to many different gold rushes and now holds the distinction as the last frontier. It is known for its chilly weather, beautiful scenery, native population, wildlife, and oil reserves.
Early Alaskan history was influenced by the native population as well as the Russians who reside just across the Bering Strait.
Timeline
1728: The Danish Explorer Vitus Bering, documents the waterway between Asia and North America. This strait is given his name, the Bering Strait.
1741: Vitus Bering returned to Alaska to continue his exploration of the area. He makes the first discovery in Alaska when he landed on modern-day Kayak Island.
1742: First scientific report on the North Pacific fur seal.
1743: Concentrated hunting of sea otters by Russia begins.
1744: Juan Perez is ordered by Spain to explore the west coast and discovers Prince of Wales Island, Dixon Sound.
1776: At the time of the American Revolution, the British Empire was continuing to expand in the Pacific Ocean. Captain James Cook leads an expedition to search for the Northwest Passage.
1778: Captain James Cook sailed into what would become named the Cook Inlet. He sailed up the western coast of Alaska through the Bering Strait and into the Arctic Ocean. Cook had to turn back rather quickly due to ice blocking his way.
1780: Rats migrate to Alaska on what became known as Rat Island when a Japanese whale ship runs aground near the western portion of the Aleutian Islands.
1784: Russia establishes its first settlement in Alaska on Kodiak Island.
1786: Gerassim Pribilof discovers the rookeries on the islands now known as the Pribilofs.
1791: George Vancouver leaves England to explore Alaska's coast; Alejandro Malaspina explores the Pacific Northwest coast for Spain.
1792: Catherine II grants a limited monopoly of furs in Alaska to Grigorii Shelikov.
1795: The first Russian Orthodox Church was established at Kodiak.
1799: Alexander Baranov establishes the Russian post known today as Old Sitka; Tzar Paul I grants exclusive trading rights to the Russian American Company
1800s
1802: Tlingits drive Russians from Old Sitka; few Russians survive.
1804: Russians return to Sitka and attack Tlingit Kiksadi fort on the Indian River. Russians lose the battle, but Natives are forced to flee. Baranov reestablishes the Russian settlement at the modern site of Sitka, Alaska.
1805: Yurii Lisianski sails to Canton with the first Russian cargo of furs to be sent directly to China.
1824: Russians begin exploration of mainland Alaska, which leads to the discovery of the Nushagak, Kuskokwim, Yukon, and Koyukuk Rivers.
1847: Fort Yukon was established by the Hudson's Bay Trading Company.
April 1867: William Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska for 7.2 million dollars in gold. It became known as "Seward's Folly".
1869: The Sitka Times, Alaska's first newspaper, is published.
1872: Gold was discovered near Sitka.
1878: The future Sheldon Jackson Junior College opens in Sitka. The first canneries in Alaska were established at Klawock and Sitka.
1888: The Alaskan Gold Rush led to many people pouring into the large Northern state. During the year of 1888, more than 60,000 people arrived in Alaska to search for gold.
1898: Special legislation extends the Homestead Act of 1862 to Alaska. This provision allows settlers to stake a claim for 160 acres of public land for development as a homestead.
1897 - 1900: The Klondike Gold Rush begins and brings in over 100,000 prospectors to look for gold.
1900s
1900: The Capital of Alaska was moved from Sitka to Juneau.
1907: President Theodore Roosevelt establishes the Tongass National Forest.
1912: Territorial status won for Alaska, providing for Legislature; Alaska Native Brotherhood organizes in Southeast; Mount Katmai explodes, forming the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.
1923: President Warren E. Harding comes to Alaska to drive the last spike in the Alaska Railroad.
1924: Congress extends citizenship to all Indians in the United States. Tlingit William Paul, Sr. is the first Native elected to the Alaska Legislature. Start of airmail delivery to Alaska.
1925: A diphtheria epidemic hits Nome, Alaska. Due to harsh weather conditions, proper medicine that would save lives could not be shipped into the area by plane. So Alaskans formed 20 dog-sled teams that raced from Nenana to Nome in just five days. They did this while enduring record-cold temperatures and hurricane-force winds. Two dogs are memorialized for their life-saving work: Togo and Balto.
1932: Radio telephone communications were established in Juneau, Ketchikan, and Nome.
1941: World War 2 begins. Alaska is located closest to Japan and Russia.
1942: Japan invades the Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska. The Americans would be unable to remove the presence of Japanese troops for an entire year.
1943:
- January 1943: A US convoy of 70 ships moved to the Aleutian theater.
- January 12, 1943: Army forces occupy Amchitka, Aleutian Islands.
- January 30, 1943: Naval Station, Akutan Harbor, Fox Island, Alaska, is established.
- February 18, 1943: Two cruisers and four destroyers bombard Japanese installations at Holtz Bay and Chichagof Harbor, Attu, Aleutian Islands.
- February 24, 1943: Naval Air Facility, Amchitka, Alaska, is established.
- March 1, 1943: Naval Auxiliary Air Facility, Annette Island, Alaska, is established.
- March 26, 1943: Battle of the Komandorski Islands
- March 27, 1943: The Japanese convoy to reinforce Aleutian encountered the enemy fleet and turned back.
- April 26, 1943: A task group of 3 cruisers and 6 destroyers bombards Japanese installations at Attu, Aleutian Islands.
- May 10, 1943: US troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands.
- May 15, 1943: Naval Air Station, Adak, Aleutian Islands, is established.
- May 31, 1943: The Japanese end their occupation of the Aleutian Islands as the US completes the capture of Attu.
- June 8, 1943: Naval Air Facility, Attu, Aleutian Islands, is established.
- June 29, 1943: Naval Auxiliary Air Facility, Shemya, Alaska, is established.
- July 14, 1943: Destroyers bombard Kiska, Aleutian Islands. Naval Operating Base, Adak, Aleutian Islands, is established.
- July 22, 1943: A naval task force consisting of 2 battleships, 5 cruisers, and 9 destroyers bombard the Kiska area, Aleutian Islands.
- July 28, 1943: The Japanese evacuate Kiska undetected by the Allies.
- August 1, 1943: Army aircraft initiate daily bombings of Kiska, Aleutian Islands.
- August 2, 1943: Naval task groups consisting of 2 battleships, 5 cruisers, and 9 destroyers bombard Kiska, Aleutian Islands. Kiska is bombarded 10 times between this date and 15 August.
- August 15, 1943: Naval task force under Commander North Pacific Force lands United States Army and Canadian troops at Kiska, Aleutian Islands. Kiska is found to have been evacuated by the Japanese.
- August 22, 1943: Allied forces declare Kiska is deserted by Japanese forces.
- December 21, 1943: Naval aircraft from Attu, Aleutian Islands, bomb the Paramushiro- Shimushu area, Kurile Islands.
1944: Alberta Schenk Adams wrote an influential piece in the Nome Nugget that draws attention to and condemns the Jim Crow laws in Alaska that had Alaskan Natives and Caucasians sitting in separate sections of a theater. This would be the beginning of the end of segregation in Alaska.
February 1945: Elizabeth Peratrovich would also join the cause against discrimination. She delivers an influential speech that would lead to the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Bill of 1945.
1959: Alaska becomes the 49th state. This occurs almost 100 years after William Seward purchased the territory from Russia.
1964: A massive earthquake hits Alaska, kills 130 people, and causes millions of dollars of damage.
1968: Oil is discovered in Prudhoe Bay. Immediately, plans begin to build a pipeline.
1971: The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was passed in 1971. This gives Alaskan Natives land and capital. It also established the Native Corporations.
1980: The Alaskan National Interest Lands Conservation Act was passed in 1980. This creates a large public land system in Alaska. Over 100 million acres are set aside for preservation and protection throughout Alaska.
1989: 11 million gallons of crude oil spill along 1,500 miles of coastline. The cleanup lasts for 3 years.
1998: The unemployment rate is at a record low at 5.8%; the moose is adopted as Alaska's official state land mammal.
2000s
2000: Alaska becomes the 47th most populous state.
2001: Delegates from 62 Alaska tribes sign an agreement formalizing tribal relations with the state.
2008: Sarah Palin is nominated as the Vice Presidential nominee to serve alongside of John McCain. Though they would lose the election, Palin become a populists and would help lead the movement that would become known as the Tea Party.
2009: Sarah Palin resigns as governor with nearly 2 years left in her term.
2010: Alaska loses two leaders who shaped the state over the last 40 years. Former Governor Wally Hickel passes away at age 90 on May 7, 2010. Ted Stevens, who served as Alaska's U.S. Senator from 1968 until 2008, is killed in a plane crash with four others near Dillingham on August 9.
March 12, 2020: The first case of Coronovirus is announced in the State of Alaska.
March 18, 2020: Alaska places restrictions on businesses opening due to COVID-19