ALASKA'S HISTORY
15,000 - 4,000 BCE
First people arrived in Alaska over
Bering Land Bridge
12,000 - 10,000 BCE
Oldest confirmed prehistoric sites in Alaska
8,000 BCE
Alaska Native cultures thrive, creating art – including petroglyphs – in the southeast region
1,000 BCE
South Bering Sea and North Pacific people become North Alaska Inuit
1741
Russian Navy Officer, Vitus Bering discovered Alaska
1778
Captain James Cook sailed Alaska's coastline, including Cook Inlet, while
looking for the Northwest Passage
1867
U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million in gold, later known as
Seward's Folly
1872
Gold discovered near Sitka
1880
Pacific Coast Steamship Company offered first passenger voyage
to Alaska
1897
Start of the Klondike Gold Rush
1912
Alaska became a U.S. Territory
1913
First person stood on
Denali's true summit
ATHABASCAN, WALTER HARPER
1923
Alaska Railroad is completed. 470 miles
of track laid from Seward to Fairbanks
