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Location:
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State of Alaska, United States of America
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Status:
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Admission to Statehood: January 3, 1959
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Capital City:
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Juneau
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Main Cities:
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Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks, Sitka, Ketchikan, Wasilla
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Population:
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626,932; 48th, 12/00
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Area:
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656,425 sq. mi, 1st largest - 458 Million Acres
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Currency:
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1 US dollar = 100 cents
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Languages:
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English, Spanish, and over 30 others
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Religions:
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Protestant, Roman Catholic, Judaism
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The flag of Alaska: The flag of Alaska consists of eight gold stars, forming the Big Dipper and the North Star, on a dark blue field. It was designed in 1927 by Benny Benson, a 13-year-old Alaska Native residing in Seward, for a contest to create a flag for the then-Alaska Territory. Benson's design, one of 142 entries submitted by Alaskan schoolchildren in grades 7–12, noted:
"The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaskan flower. The North Star is for the future state of Alaska, the most northerly in the union. The Dipper is for the Great Bear—symbolizing strenth (sic)."
The design was chosen unanimously and adopted as the territorial flag that year, and became the state flag upon statehood in 1959. The flag's symbolism is also described in the state song, "Alaska's Flag".
"Alaska's Flag" is the state song of Alaska. The original lyrics were written by Marie Drake with a second verse added later by Carol Beery Davis. The music was composed by Elinor Dusenbury. Its lyrics honor the flag of Alaska:
Eight stars of gold on a field of blue—
Alaska's flag. May it mean to you
The blue of the sea, the evening sky,
The mountain lakes, and the flow'rs nearby;
The gold of the early sourdough dreams,
The precious gold of the hills and streams;
The brilliant stars in the northern sky,
The Bear—the Dipper—and, shining high,
The great North Star with its steady light,
Over land and sea a beacon bright.
Alaska's flag—to Alaskans dear,
The simple flag of a last frontier.
A Native lad chose the Dipper's stars
For Alaska's flag that there be no bars
Among our culture. Let it be known
Through years the Native's past has grown
To share life's treasures, hand in hand,
To keep Alaska our Great-Land;
We love the northern midnight sky,
The mountains, lakes and streams nearby.
The great North Star with its steady light
Will guide all cultures, clear and bright,
With nature's flag to Alaskans dear,
The simple flag of the last frontier.
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The flag is a piece of cloth, often flown from a pole or mast, generally used for signalling or identification. The design of a flag displayed in another form is also referred to as a flag. The first flags were used to assist military coordination on battlefields, and flags have evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signalling and identification, especially in environments where communication is similarly challenging (such as the maritime environment where semaphore is used).
National flags are potent patriotic symbols with varied wide-ranging interpretations, often including strong military associations due to their original and ongoing military uses. Flags are used in messaging or advertising, or for decorative purposes, though at this less formal end the distinction between a flag and a simple cloth banner is blurred. The study of flags is known as vexillology, from the Latin vexillum meaning flag or banner.
Although flag-like symbols have been used by ancient cultures for thousands of years, the origin of flags in the modern sense is a matter of dispute. Some believe flags originated in China, while others hold that the Roman Empire's vexillum was the first true flag. Originally, the standards of the Roman legions were not flags, but symbols like the eagle of Augustus Caesar's Xth legion; this eagle would be placed on a staff for the standard-bearer to hold up during battle. But a military unit from Scythia had for a standard a dragon with a flexible tail which would move in the wind; the legions copied this; eventually all the legions had flexible standards — our modern-day flag.
During the Middle Ages, flags were used mainly during battles to identify individual leaders: in Europe the knights, in Japan the samurai, and in China the generals under the imperial army.
From the time of Christopher Columbus onwards, it has been customary (and later a legal requirement) for ships to carry flags designating their nationality; these flags eventually evolved into the national flags and maritime flags of today. Flags also became the preferred means of communications at sea, resulting in various systems of flag signals; see International maritime signal flags.
Beginning in the 17th century, European knights were replaced by centralized armies, and flags became the means to identify not just nationalities but also individual military units. Flags became much more elaborate, and were seen as objects to be captured or defended. Eventually these flags posed too much danger to those carrying them, and by World War I these were withdrawn from the battlefields, and have since been used only at ceremonial occasions.
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