 Map Alaska The name Alaska is probably derived from an Aleut word meaning "great land," which originally referred to the Alaska Peninsula. Alaska is called the Last Frontier, because of its opportunities and many lightly settled regions, and the Land of the Midnight Sun, because the sun shines nearly around the clock during Alaskan summers. Anchorage is Alaskaâs largest city, and Juneau is the state capital.
The Coast Ranges region is an area of high mountains, great valleys, and many islands. It extends about 1,900 km (about 1,200 mi) along Alaskaâs Pacific coast and is generally narrower than about 300 km (about 200 mi). It can be divided, in turn, into the subregions of southeastern Alaska, south central Alaska, and southwestern Alaska.
Southeastern Alaska, often called the Alaska Panhandle, or Panhandle, is a narrow, mountainous strip of the mainland between British Columbia and the Pacific Ocean. It is fringed by the Alexander Archipelago, a group of 1,100 islands. Between the islands and the mainland is part of the Inside Passage, a deep natural waterway used by vessels traveling along the coast. The islands of the archipelago are the tops of submerged mountains, whose peaks rise steeply about 900 to 1,500 m (about 3,000 to 5,000 ft) above the water. On the mainland the Boundary Range rises abruptly from the waterâs edge, and varies in elevation from 1,500 to more than 3,000 m (5,000 to more than 10,000 ft).
In the northern section of the Alaska Panhandle and in adjoining areas of Canada are the Saint Elias Mountains, which reach 5,489 m (18,008 ft) above sea level at Mount Saint Elias, one of the highest peaks in North America.
The fjords along the coast are deep, narrow inlets that have been gouged out by glaciers and then partly submerged by the sea. Glaciers in Alaska number more than 100,000. Vast glaciers occur in the mountains northwest of Juneau. At Glacier Bay the huge Muir Glacier towers 60 m (200 ft) above the water. At the foot of Mount Saint Elias is the Malaspina Glacier, which covers an area larger than Rhode Island. The Malaspina Glacier is the largest piedmont glacier in North America. A piedmont glacier occurs at the foot of a mountain range and consists of a large number of valley glaciers that coalesce. Just north of the Saint Elias Mountains are the volcanic Wrangell Mountains, which include Mount Wrangell, Mount Sanford, and Mount Drum.
South central Alaska extends around the Gulf of Alaska from the Malaspina Glacier to the Alaska Peninsula. It is bounded on the north and west by the Alaska Range, a belt of mountains 80 to 100 km (50 to 60 mi) wide that is connected with the Saint Elias Mountains on the east. The Alaska Range includes Mount McKinley, whose south peak is the highest point in North America at 6,194 m (20,320 ft). The coastal section of south central Alaska resembles that of the Panhandle. North of Cook Inlet, broad river flats lead inland to the Susitna and the Matanuska river valleys, which comprise the only extensive lowland area in the Pacific Mountains region.
Southwestern Alaska is composed of the narrow Alaska Peninsula, the Aleutian Islands, and Kodiak Island. The backbone of the peninsula is the volcanic, heavily glaciated Aleutian Range, which continues through the Aleutian Islands to the Kamchatka Peninsula. With more than 50 active volcanoes, the Aleutians are the site of frequent eruptions, including in recent years Mount Veniaminov and Mount Augustine in lower Cook Inlet. From time to time major eruptions shake the area. Novarupta Volcano and Katmai Volcano, at the base of the Alaska Peninsula, erupted in 1912 and created the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. The Aleutian Islands, or Aleutians, are an extension of the Aleutian Range and divide the Bering Sea from the Pacific Ocean. Cape Wrangell, in the Aleutians, is the westernmost point in the United States. Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the United States. The Pribilof Islands, also part of Alaska, lie in the Bering Sea northeast of the Aleutian Islands.
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