Map of Alaska and Bering Sea

Alaska is the northernmost and westernmost state of the U.S.A., it is also the largest state of the Union. It is separated from Asia by the 82-km wide Bering Strait. Alaska was bought from Russia in 1867. Juneau is the capital and Anchorage is the largest city. In America, it is bordered by the Canadian Territory of Yukon and the province of British Columbia.

Russian explorers reached Alaska in the 18th century by crossing the Bering Strait, named after Vitus Bering, the Danish sailor sent by Tsar Peter the Great in the 1720s to claim it as a new Russian territory. Russia sold it to the United States in 1867.