The History of Alaska (история Аляски)
Municipal Educational Institution
Lyceum № 130 “RAVES”
Exam paper.
The History of Alaska.
Student:
Protopopova N.S., M-111
Teacher:
Shipulina O.N.
Barnaul, 2005
Contents:
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………….……3
1. Origins of Alaska’s Groups……………………………………………………………………..…………4
The Eskimos
The Aathabascans
Aleuts
The Northwest Coast Indians
2. From the Russian Empire to the USA……………………………………………………………7
3. Alaska today………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8
Geography
Government
Business
Transport
4. The most important dates in the history of Alaska……………………….…………11
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..17
The list of literature………………………………………………………………………………………….…18
Introduction.
Undoubtedly, the history is one of the most interesting and most important
sciences. It incorporates experience of each person and all mankind. The
history acquaints us with process of development of a mankind. Behind acts
and decisions of separate people, behind actions of weights there is a
bright, many-sided and unique image of the world, different continents, the
countries and people. To understand history of the Native land, it is
necessary to understand world history. In the exam paper I will tell about
history of Alaska – history, which connects two great powers - Russia and
the USA. The purpose of the given work is to study political and social
life of Alaska, its daily life, material, spiritual and religious culture.
I will tell about the reasons and consequences of historical events of
Alaska, I will cite statistical data. To be prepared of this exam paper I
used the educational and scientific literature and materials of periodic
printed editions.
1. Origins of Alaska’s Native Groups.
No one knows exactly when people first found the land that would be called
Alaska. Some anthropologists believe that people migrated from Asia to
North America 40,000 years ago. Others argue it was as recent as 15,000
years ago.
Whenever, the consensus is that they came from Asia by way of a northern
land bridge that once connected Siberia and Alaska.
That land bridge, now recalled as Beringia, was the first gateway to
Alaska. But these first visitors were hardly tourists intent on exploring
new worlds. Rather they were simply pursuing their subsistence way of life
as they followed great herds of grazing mammals across the grassy tundra
and gentle steppes of Beringia.
Some groups settled in the Arctic. Others traversed the mountain passes to
other parts of Alaska. While still others migrated through Alaska,
continuing on to distant lands--perhaps as far as South America.
Those who made Alaska their permanent home make up the state’s four major
anthropological groups: Eskimos, Aleuts, Athabascans, and Northwest Coast
Indians.
While all four groups shared certain basic similarities--all hunted, fished
and gathered food--they developed distinctive cultures and sets of skills.
The Eskimos:
Flexible Residents of the Arctic.
The Eskimos were primarily a coastal people, setting along the shores of
the Arctic and Bering seas.
For millennia they lived a simple, subsistence life--much as they still do
today--by harvesting the fish and mammals of the seas, the fruits and game
of the land. Somehow they learned how to thrive despite the demanding
conditions of the Arctic.
Their sense of direction was keen, almost uncanny. Travelling in a straight
line, sometimes through snowstorms and whiteouts, they found their way
around the mostly featureless terrain by noting wind direction, the
position of the stars, the shape and size of a snowdrift. And they were
resourceful. In a land where the summer sun stays at eye-level for weeks on
end, never setting below the horizon, the Eskimos fashioned the first sun-
visor--which also doubled as a snow mask to protect their eyes from the
wind-driven snow.
The Athabascans:
Nomads of the Interior.
Like the Eskimos, the Athabascans were skilful hunters, but they depended
more on large land mammals for their subsistence--tracking moose and
migrating caribou.
When it came to fishing, the Athabascans were absolutely ingenious, snaring
fish with hooks, lures, traps and nets that are the fascination of modern
day anglers who visit their camps.
Generally nomadic, they lived in small, simply organized bands of a few
families, and whenever possible pitched their camps in the sheltered white
spruce forests of the Interior. Some adventurous tribes, however, wandered
all the way to the Southwest United States to become kin to the Navajos and
Apaches.
Aleuts:
Born of the Sea.
For the Aleuts, life centred on the sea as they distributed themselves
among the 70-some islands in the Aleutian chain across the North Pacific.
Life here was somewhat more benign that in the Arctic, though wind storms
were sometimes strong enough to blow rocks around.
Since their food supply was rich, varied and readily available, the Aleuts
had time to develop a complex culture. Evidence indicates that they
practiced surgery and that their elaborate burial rituals included
embalming. Instruments utensils, even their boats were made with amazing
beauty and exact symmetry. And everything was fashioned for a specific
purpose--the Aleuts used 30 different kinds of harpoon heads for different
species of game!
Skilled navigators and sailors, the Aleuts had the dubious distinction of
being the first to encounter the white man...Russian fur traders who took
them as slaves to harvest the fur seals in the Pribilofs.
The Northwest Coast Indians:
High Society of Alaska’s southeast.
The milder, more temperate climate and an unlimited supply of salmon and
other seafood’s enabled the Northwest Coast Indians to evolve a way of life
quite different from the Eskimos, Aleuts and Athabascans. They settled in
year-round permanent villages, took slaves and lived their lives according
to the strict rules, rituals, and regulations of their respective clans.
Their artwork was nothing less than masterful...beautiful blankets, finely
woven cedar bark and spruce root baskets magnificent totem creations.
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. Anchorage, the state's biggest city, has
many Alaska influences but is also sometimes called Los Anchorage for its
Lower 48-style architecture and mannerisms. Most residents of Alaska were
born outside the state, and when they came to Alaska they brought their own
traditions and desires.
There are European influences as well. Petersburg, in the Inside Passage,
has a strong Scandinavian heritage. Cordova and Valdez bear names bestowed
by a Spanish explorer; Cook Inlet is named for a British explorer; Russians
left a legacy of the Orthodox Church in much of the state.
2. From the Russian Empire to the United States of America.
The first written accounts indicate that the first Europeans to reach
Alaska came from Russia. Vitus Bering sailed east and saw Mt. St. Elias.
The Russian-American Company hunted otters for their fur. The colony was
never very profitable, because of the costs of transportation.
At the instigation of U.S. Secretary of State William Seward, the United
States Senate approved the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 on
9 April 1867, and the United States flag was raised on 18 October of that
same year (now called Alaska Day). The first American governor of Alaska
was W?odzimierz Krzy?anowski. The purchase was not popular in the
continental United States, where Alaska became known as "Seward's Folly" or
"Seward's Icebox". Alaska celebrates the purchase each year on the last
Monday of March, calling it Seward's Day.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act into United
States law on 7 July 1958 which paved the way for Alaska's admission into
the Union.
The name "Alaska" is most likely derived from the Aleut word for "great
country" or "mainland." The natives called it "Alyeska", meaning "the great
land." It is bordered by the 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.
In 1976, the people of Alaska amended the state's constitution,
establishing the Alaska Permanent Fund. The fund invests a portion of the
state's mineral revenue, including revenue from the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline
System, 'to benefit all generations of Alaskans.' In June 2003, the fund's
value was over $24 billion.
Over the years various vessels have been named USS Alaska, in honor of the
state.
During World War II outlying parts of Alaska were occupied by Japanese
troops. It was the only part of the United States to have land occupied
during the war.
3. Alaska today.
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