Around The World
Alaska Timeline
Travel through our timeline of major events in Alaska's history.
30,000-10,000 B.C.
Asian tribes migrate across a land bridge linking Asia and Alaska. About 10,000 B.C., Aleuts, Eskimos and Indians settle in Alaska.1741 A.D.
The first Russian ships arrive; Russia claims the land. Trappers establish a fur trade.1867
U.S. Secretary of State William Seward convinces the government to buy Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. The purchase is ridiculed as "Seward's folly."
GETTY IMAGES
1896
Gold is discovered in the Klondike River, sparking the Klondike Gold Rush. Tens of thousands of treasure-seekers pour into Alaska.1923
President Warren G. Harding drives the last spike in the Alaska Railroad, connecting southern harbors like Seward and Whittier to Alaska's interior.1942
During World War II, the Japanese capture two Aleutian islands. The next year, U.S. forces retake them.1959
Alaska becomes the 49th state in the Union.1964
The Good Friday Earthquake strikes Alaska. It is the most powerful quake ever recorded in North America.
KAREN KASMAUSKI—GETTY IMAGES
1977
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline is completed. Oil flows from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.1989
The Exxon Valdez tanker spills 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound, polluting about 1,300 miles of coastline. Cleanup takes more than three years.
MELINA MARA—WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES