Alaska

Alaska is the 49th state of the United States. It was admitted on January 3, 1959. The population of the state is 626,932, as of 2000, according to the census. The name "Alaska" is most likely derived from the Aleut word Alyeska, meaning great country, mainland or great land. It is bordered by Yukon Territory and British Columbia, Canada to the east, the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south, the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Chukchi Sea to the west, and the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean to the north. Alaska is the largest state by area in the United States. It is larger in area than all but 18 of the world's nations.

Boroughs and census areas

Alaska has no counties in the sense used in the rest of the country. Instead, the state is divided into 27 census areas and boroughs. The difference between boroughs and census areas is that boroughs have an organized area-wide government, while census areas are artificial divisions defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. Areas of the state not in organized boroughs compose what the government of Alaska calls the unorganized borough. Borough-level government services in the unorganized borough are provided by the state itself.

Related Topics:
Counties - 27 census areas and boroughs - Borough - United States Census Bureau - Unorganized borough

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