Alaska's History and Culture

Although Alaska's statehood is relatively brief, the state's history is long and colorful. Dinosaurs once roamed the Great Land, followed by bison and woolly mammoths. The first humans in Alaska are thought to have arrived about 20,000 years ago, crossing the Bering Land Bridge from what is now Siberia. The first humans to stay in Alaska are thought to have arrived more than 10,000 years ago and are the ancestors of today's Alaska Natives.

The first Europeans to see Alaska were those on Vitus Bering's 1741 Russian exploration. More Russians soon arrived, moving across the Aleutian Islands, Kodiak Island and then to the Inside Passage, where they set up a government at Sitka. Along the way, they forced Aleuts into slave labor harvesting sea otters for their pelts. Other explorers included the English and Spanish.

The United States and Russia signed a treaty on March 30, 1867, to transfer Alaska to the United States. The deal was completed the following Oct. 18, when the Americans raised the Stars and Stripes over Sitka.

The Klondike gold rush began in July of 1897 when two ships docked in San Francisco and Seattle carrying miners returning from the Yukon with bags of gold. The press was alerted and papers carried the story to the masses. Soon, miners of all shapes and sizes, called "stampeders", were on their way to the gold fields. Within six months, approximately 100,000 gold-seekers set off for the Yukon. Only 30,000 completed the trip.

Most stampeders knew little or nothing about where they were going, so pamphlets were available to help them on their way. Many of the pamphlets contained little or no real information and made outrageous claims of wealth to be had by everyone. Outfitters sprang up overnight that were happy to sell the stampeders whatever they needed to get started. This included food, clothing, tools and camping, mining and transportation equipment. Helping the outfitters in this regard were the Northwest Mounted Police who required all stampeders to have one year's supply of goods before they allowed them across the border into Canada. This was roughly one ton of goods per person. Towns such as Seattle made fortunes outfitting the miners.

Alaska Natives, who make up 15 percent of the state's population, maintain many traditions, such as whaling, subsistence hunting and fishing, and old ways of making crafts and art. Native heritage history and culture can be found in such diverse places as Ketchikan, Anchorage and Kotzebue, as well as in hundreds of villages where people live in traditional ways.

But while Native culture, as a whole, may define much of Alaska's appearance, the state contains a broad mixture of cultures. In Anchorage, for example, the school district has found that its student body comes from homes that speak 83 languages.

Make up of the state
According to the 2000 census of Alaska's 626,932 people, the population can be described this way:

• White, 434,534, or 69.31 percent of the population
• American Indian or Alaska Native, 98,043, or 15.64 percent
• Two or more races, 34,146, or 5.45 percent
• Asian, 25,116, or 4.00 percent
• Black or African American, 21,787, or 3.48 percent
• Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 3,308, or 0.53 percent
• Some other race, 9,997, or 1.60 percent

In addition, the census says, 25,852 Alaska residents, or 4.12 percent, described themselves as Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

Totems are symbolic representations of animals or humans. Each tribal family's heritage is crafted into the totemic design of representative Alaskan wildlife such as the wolf or eagle.

Europeans gave the name "totem pole" to the carved wooden poles made by the Northwest Indian tribes such as the Tlinkit Indians. Since they had no written language, the Tlinket used the totems for recording family historical events. Totem poles are read from the bottom up. The order of the crests tells a story of a particular potlatch or other important event. Poles were built for different reasons: to show that one owed a debt to another; as wall supports or as part of the entrance to a home; as a memorial and a container for the cremated remains of a person; to commemorate special occasions, such as a potlatch, wedding or battle. The height of the pole was a sign of wealth and power.

Alaska Native culture is beautifully illustrated through the arts. Various indigenous groups are known for their special talents and distinct styles of carving or weaving, or for their unique tribal dances or drumming.

Visitors to Alaska can experience performances of traditional music and dance, and see numerous examples of both ancient and modern Native art in villages, galleries, and museums.

Look for the Silver Hand
Handcrafted items found in galleries and shops of Native artwork make very special gifts and are a wonderful way to remember your trip to Alaska. Be sure to look for the "Silver Hand" emblem when you shop: it's a guarantee that the piece you want was made by an Alaska Native craftsperson or artist. The "Made in Alaska" symbol ensures that the piece was in fact crafted here, and, wherever possible, made with native materials.

Dog sledding, more popularly called mushing, traces its roots back to the Eskimos of the 15th century. It remained a primary mode of winter transportation in Alaska's bush country until pilots began flying air routes in the 1920's.

Alaskans have been racing dogs since the early 1900's. The All Alaska Sweepstakes race began in 1908 traveling between Nome and Candle. Today, the most famous race in the sport, the Iditarod, takes place every March. It begins in Anchorage and ands Nome, following an old supply route. It is said to have been inspired in part, by the famous Serum Run of 1925.

Nome was stricken with a diphtheria epidemic in 1925. Isolated by winter wilderness with no feasible way of getting in or out of Nome, the residents sent an urgent plea for help via wireless transmitter. The only possible way to get the serum to Nome was by dog sled.

Mushers departed from Nome and Nenana and relayed the serum from one team to the next until they were able to rendezvous 250 miles from Nome. Leonhard Seppala, the greatest musher at the time, helped deliver 300,000 units of serum in time to save the village.

Today, mushing is mostly a recreational sport. Some mush for sheer pleasure while others compete in a wide variety of races. Races range from sprint mushing to long distance events such as the Yukon Quest and Iditarod. During the month of March, the whole state of Alaska tunes in to daily updates on the progress of the Iditarod racers.