History & Culture
Chronological Timeline
| 20,000 - 10,000 BC | Asian tribes migrate across the Bering land bridge linking Asia and Alaska |
| 10,000 BC | Aleuts, Eskimos and Indians settle in Alaska |
| 1728 | Captain Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator, sails through the Bering Strait |
| 1741 | Captain Bering discoveres the Alaska mainland |
| 1778 | Captain Cook reaches King Island, Norton Sound and Unalaska |
| 1784 | Russians establish the first white settlement in Alaska, on Kodiak Island |
| 1825 | Anglo-Russian treaty establishes Alaska’s borders |
| 1853 | Russian explorer-trappers find oil seeps in Cook Inlet |
| 1857 | Coal mining begins at Coal Harbor on the Kenai Peninsula |
| 1865 | Last shot of the Civil War fired in Alaskan waters |
| 1867 | U.S. purchases Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million |
| 1878 | Salmon-canning industry begins in Southeast Alaska |
| 1880 | Gold discovered near Juneau |
| 1884 | Congress passes Organic Act, allowing the first local government |
| 1891 | First oil claims staked in Cook Inlet area |
| 1897 | Klondike gold rush begins |
| 1898 | Nome gold rush begins |
| 1900 | State capital established in Juneau |
| 1902 | E.T. Barnette discoveres gold and names his settlement Fairbanks |
| 1904 | Underwater cables from Seattle to Sitka, and from Sitka to Valdez, link Alaska to the "outside" |
| 1906 | Alaskans elect their first delegate to the U.S. Congress |
| 1911 | Operation of the Kennecott Copper Mine begins, at the time it is the largest copper mine in the world |
| 1912 | Alaska becomes U.S. territory |
| 1913 | First Alaska Territorial Legislature convenes The first law passed grants women the right to vote |
| 1914 | City of Anchorage established as a construction campsite |
| 1916 | First bill for Alaska statehood introduced in Congress |
| 1917 | Mt. McKinley National Park established |
| 1920 | Anchorage organizes city government |
| 1923 | The Alaska Railroad from Seward to Nome is completed |
| 1929 | U.S. Navy begins 5-year survey to map parts of Alaska |
| 1932 | Radio telephone communications established in Juneau, Ketchikan and Nome |
| 1940 | Fort Richardson established Construction begins on Elmendorf Air Force Base |
| 1942 | Japan bombs Dutch Harbor and invades Aleutians |
| 1953 | Oil well drilled near Eureka on Glenn Highway marks the beginning of Alaska's modern oil history First Alaskan television broadcast by KENI in Anchorage |
| 1955 | Constitutional Convention opens at University of Alaska |
| 1956 | Constitution of Alaska written and approved |
| 1958 | President Eisenhower signs statehood bill |
| 1959 | Statehood proclaimed, Alaska becomes 49th U.S. state |
| 1963 | Alaska Marine Highway System begins |
| 1964 | Good Friday earthquake in Southcentral Alaska, it is the largest recorded earthquake in North America |
| 1967 | Fairbanks flood causes millions of dollars of damage and forces thousands out of their homes |
| 1968 | Large oil reserves discovered near Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope |
| 1969 | Sale of North Slope oil leases brought the state $900 million in one day |
| 1971 | Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act signed into law, giving Natives rights to 44 million acres of Alaska’s land and creating Native village and regional corporations |
| 1973 | Congress passes the TransAlaska Pipeline Authorization Act |
| 1976 | Voters approve constitutional amendment establishing Alaska Permanent Fund |
| 1977 | TransAlaska Pipeline completed from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez |
| 1980 | Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act established, placing about a fourth of the state’s land in the National Park System |
| 1982 | Beginning of Permanent Fund Dividend Program, distributing Permanent Fund earnings to Alaska residents |
| 1985 | Libby Riddles is the first woman to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race |
| 1986 | Economic recession due to collapse in oil prices and Alaska oil revenues |
| 1987 | New military build-up in Alaska begins when the first troops of the new Sixth Infantry Division begin to arrive in Fairbanks |
| 1989 | The Exxon Valdez, a 987-foot oil tanker, grounds spilling 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound, it is the largest oil spill in U.S. history The Permanent Fund passes the $10 billion mark |
| 1990 | Oil prices temporarily double after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait |
| 1991 | Congress closes the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil development |
| 1992 | Most of the Exon Valdez oil-spill cleanup is completed at a cost of more than $2 billion |
| 1996 | One of the most devastating fires in state history destroys homes and property in Southcentral near Big Lake |
| 2003 | The minimum wage jumps from $5.65 to $7.15, giving Alaska the highest minimum wage on the West Coast |
| 2006 | Sarah Palin takes office as Alaska’s first woman governor |
| 2008 | Governor Palin is the Republican Party’s vice-presidential nominee |
| 2009 | 50th Anniversary of Alaska Statehood |
