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In 1728, a Danish explorer named Vitus Bering sailed through what is now the Bering Strait.
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In 1778, England sent explorer Captian James Cook to Alaska. He made maps of Alaska that were used for the next hundred years.
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Russia's first colony in Alaska, let alone the U.S., was founded in 1784 at Three Saints Bay. One tribe, the Tlingit tribe, was very angry, causing a battle in 1804.
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In 1867, Russia finally gave up Alaska. Russia had to choose between Canada and the U.S., and Russia did not like Canada, so they sold it to the U.S. for $7.2 million- or about 2 cents per acre!
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Gold was discovered in Alaska by George Carmack and Skookum Mason. Tents turned into cities overnight!
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The first railroad in Alaska was called the Alaska Railrod. It begins in Seward and ends in Fairbanks.
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During World War II, many people traveled to Alaska searching for safety. Demand for statehood began to grow, so at last Alaska became a state; the 49th state.
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On the Good Friday of 1964, a horrible earthquake shook Alaska; it's measurment on the Richter scale (a scale that measures the strength of an earthquake) being 9.2, and the highest measurment possible is 10.0!
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An Exxon Corporation oil tanker hit a reef in Prince William Sound, spilling 11 million gallons of oil and killing animals.
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A track from a three-toed dinosaur was found in July, 2005. It was found in Denali National Park, estimated to be 70 million years old.
