The Alaska Permanent Fund

Abstract

Alaska has a colorful history. It was colonized by the Russians in the late 1700s, mainly because of the fur trade. The United States bought Alaska for 7.2 million dollars in 1867, a transaction that nearly cost the then American Secretary of State, William Seward, his position. But Alaska turned out to be good value for money, being rich in natural resources. It is famous for its salmon fisheries, and one of the world’s greatest ocean fisheries, that for Alaska pollock, takes place in the waters off Alaska. And Alaska is rich in minerals; Chaplin’s famous “Gold Fever” was supposed to take place in Alaska. Oil, in some ways the modern equivalent of gold, was discovered in abundance on the north coast of Alaska in the late 1960s. Alaska is the second newest state in the American Union; it became the 59^th state in January 1959, followed by Hawaii later that year.