Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is also known as the "land beyond the gods" and the "home of Alcyoneus (the bane of Hades/Pluto)".
Geography[]
It is situated in the northwest of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Straight. Approximately half of Alaska's 710,231 residents live within the Anchorage area. Alaska is the least densely populated state of the U.S.
History[]
Alaska was purchased from Russia on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million. At the time, public opinion wasn't really favorable to it, the headlines things saying things about it like: "the most expensive popsicle in history". The land went through several administrative changes before becoming a territory on May 11, 1912, and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959.
The Heroes of Olympus[]
The Son of Neptune[]
Before the events of the series, Hazel and Marie Levesque, her mother, had so much bad luck, that Gaea was able to convince her to move to Alaska. Pluto appeared to her to warn her that he couldn't protect them as Alaska was out of the reach of the gods, but Marie ignored his warnings and moved anyway. They moved into a small house. It is also in Alaska that Hazel first sees Arion, a magical horse. Gaea started using her powers to take over Marie and forced Hazel to bring her son, Alcyoneus, back to life off the shores of Alaska on a phantom island that the townsfolk said didn't exist. It is also in Alaska that Hazel and her mother die trying to stop the rising of Alcyoneus.
Years later in the 1980s, the Fifth Cohort, led by Michael Varus, traveled to Alaska in an attempt to control the Prophecy of Seven. This ends in disaster however as the entire cohort is killed by Alcyoneus and Camp Jupiter lost a large amount of Imperial Gold and the symbol of the camp, an eagle.
Around 70 years after her death, a revived Hazel returns to Alaska with her friends Frank Zhang and Percy Jackson, along with Arion. They travel to the base of Alcyoneus in order to free the god of death, Thanatos. They set him free, but Alcyoneus cannot be killed in his territory (Alaska), so Arion pulls him 10 miles into Canada where he is finally defeated and the Imperial Gold weapons and the eagle are returned to Camp Jupiter.
Trivia[]
- Alaska is the only U.S. state who touches both a Canadian province (British Columbia) and a territory (Yukon).
- Alaska is both the western most and eastern most state in the United States, with the western most of the Aleutian islands crossing the international date line into the Eastern Hemisphere.
- Alaska is one of two states, along with Louisiana, to not have counties. Instead Alaska has boroughs, census areas, and city boroughs.
- Alaska was purchased by the United States as part of a discontinued plan to buy North America’s arctic regions, other land masses considered were Canada, Greenland, and Iceland.