module 4 Alaska and Hawaii BEFORE READING Answer these questions. a. Look at the map on p. 51. Which Alaskan city do you think is the largest? Why? b. Which city do you think is the capital? Why? c. Tell your classmates anything you know about Alaska and write down some questions regarding what you would like to know about it. Alaska in brief Alaska No. 49 among the U.S. s 50 states is decidedly unusual. It is the only state which is both in North America and not contiguous to any other state. It is also the largest in area (over 1,600,000 km2) but has the lowest population density (0.42 persons per km2): its total population is about 650,000 (less than a major U.S. city like San Francisco). Summer temperatures can reach 35° C (particularly in the Yukon Flats); winter temperatures in the interior can fall to -50° C. Rainfall along the coast can exceed 2,500 mm per year, while snowfall in mountain regions can even reach 6 m per year. Because of Alaska s high northern latitude, summer days are extremely long: at Barrow, for example, there is continuous daylight from early May to early August. Anchorage is the largest city (250,000) and the transportation centre of the entire state. The second-largest, Fairbanks (80,000), is the terminus for the Alaska Railroad and the Alaska-Canada Highway the only road leading beyond the state s borders. Fairbanks also served as construction headquarters for the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline from Prudhoe Bay in the north to Valdez in the south, completed in 1977. Alaska has the U.S. s largest percentage of Native Americans: 16%. Alaska contains the U.S. s largest national park, Wrangell-St. Elias in the southeast and also North America s highest peak, Mount McKinley, in Denali National Park in the south-central region. About 65% of the state s land belongs to the U.S. federal government in the form of parks and wildlife refuges; less than 1% is privately-owned. Most places in Alaska are accessible only by water or by Unit Athapaskan woman and daughter. air: the road and railway systems are not welldeveloped due to terrain and distance. Therefore ferry and bush plane services are plentiful, in addition to being the cheapest and most efficient ways of getting around. Even the capital Juneau (30,000), located on the panhandle strip of coastline extending down alongside Canada, is not on the road system! ACTIVITIES 1 Check which of your ideas from the Before Reading were correct. If your questions have not been answered, do some research and then report to the class. 2 Discuss any surprising information you have learnt about Alaska.