Alaska

In 1867, the United States bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. That worked out to about two cents an acre.

Critics laughed and called it "Seward's Folly" after Secretary of State William Seward, who pushed the deal through. They thought America had just bought a giant, useless icebox.

Indigenous peoples had been living on this land for thousands of years before that sale ever happened. Tlingit, Yupik, Inupiat, Aleut, and Athabascan communities built thriving societies along the coasts and rivers long before any Russian fur traders showed up in the 1700s.

The "folly" label didn't stick for long. In 1896, gold was discovered in the Klondike region, and about 100,000 prospectors stampeded north through Alaskan ports like Skagway and Dyea. That wave of newcomers transformed the territory, but it devastated Indigenous communities who were pushed off their traditional lands.

During World War II, Japan invaded Alaska's Aleutian Islands in June 1942. The Battle of Attu in May 1943 became the only land battle fought on North American soil during the entire war. American troops fought for 19 days in brutal cold to take the island back.

Then on Good Friday 1964, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake shook south-central Alaska for over four minutes. It's still the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in North America. Tsunamis and landslides killed 139 people, and entire towns like Valdez had to be completely rebuilt on higher ground.

Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. It's also the biggest by far, with enough room to fit Texas inside it twice, and it's home to Denali, the tallest peak in North America at 20,310 feet.

In Juneau, walk right up to the Mendenhall Glacier and grab king crab legs at Tracy's King Crab Shack. Ride the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway in Skagway, the same route gold rush stampeders climbed.

Cruise through Glacier Bay to watch humpback whales breach and icebergs crack into the sea. And try reindeer sausage from a street cart in Anchorage.