Top 10 Alaska facts

1650 BC. The woolly mammoth was the last among mammoth species. They have vanished from Europe and southern Siberia about 10,000 years ago, but a small population survived on the St. Paul Island, Alaska, up until 3750 BC, and the small mammoths of Wrangel Island survived until 1650 BC. They were still around when the Egyptian Pyramids were being built.

Sea otters. Alaska was colonized by Russian fur traders. Rather than hunting by themselves, the Russians forced the Aleuts to do the work for them. Many of Aleuts had been removed from their home islands and sent as far south as California to hunt sea otter.

Alaska. The Great Kobuk Sand Dune is located 65 km behind Arctic circle. Summer temperature may reach as high as 29°C! The 30 meters high dune is one of Alaska curiosities. There are 3 sets of dunes in the Kobuk Valley national park - Great Kobuk, Little Kobuk and Hunt River Dune that together cover 40 square km, and comprise the largest active Arctic dune field in North America.

Eaters of raw meat. The word Eskimo is an offensive term that has been used historically to describe the Inuit throughout their homeland, Inuit Nunangat, in the arctic regions of Alaska, Greenland and Canada, as well as the Yupik of Alaska. The origin of the word Eskimo is a matter of some contention, but it is generally understood to be of Algonquian origin. It was long thought to mean “eaters of raw meat.”

Yukon, having 1,979 mil (3,185 km), is just 223 miles shorter than Mississippi. Despite its length, there are only four vehicles-carrying bridges across the river.

Two. It's Hawaii and Alaska. Hawaii is also the only state not located in the Americas.

Denali in Alaska. The tallest mountain from base to summit. Using that measurement, Denali is taller than Mount Everest. Denali rises about 18,000 feet (5,500 meters) from its base, which is a greater vertical rise than Everest's 12,000-foot rise (3,700 meters) from its base at 17,000 feet (5,200 meters). But Denali and Everest are both dwarfed by Mauna Kea in Hawaii. When measured from the ocean floor to its summit, that mountain is 33,476 feet (10,204 meters) tall. However, only 13,803 feet (4,207 meters) rise above sea level.

Pingo is a mound of earth-covered ice. Frozen water creates it. These terrain forms are created in areas of long-term permafrost. Most of them lie in the Mackenzie delta.

$7.2M. The looming U.S. Civil War delayed the sale, but after the war, Secretary of State William Seward quickly took up a renewed Russian offer and on March 30, 1867, agreed to a proposal from the Russian Minister in Washington, Edouard de Stoeckl, to purchase Alaska for $7.2 million.

Balto was a sled dog who led his team on the final leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome, in which diphtheria antitoxin was transported to combat an outbreak of the disease. After the mission's success, Balto and the Norwegian Gunnar Kaasen, who drove the sled, became celebrities.