Alaska is one of the two U.S. States not bordered by another state, Hawaii being the other. It is the only non-contiguous state in North America; about 500 miles (800 km) of CanadaCanadian territory separate Alaska from Washington. Alaska is thus an exclave of the United States that is part of the Continental United Statescontinental U.S. but is not part of the contiguous U.S. (The other two exclaves of the United States are the Northwest Angle of Minnesota, and Point Roberts, Washington.) Alaska is also the only state whose capital city is accessible only via Water transportship or aviationair. No roads connect Juneau City and Borough, AlaskaJuneau to the rest of the state. It is bordered by YukonYukon Territory and British Columbia, Canada to the east, the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south, the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Chukchi Sea to the west, and the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean to the north. Alaska is the largest state in the United States in terms of land area (it is larger in area than all but 18 of the world's nations) at 570,380 square miles (1,477,261 km sq), over twice as large as Texas, the next largest state. If a map of Alaska were http://www.uaf.edu/asgp/k12/birds_eye_view/ch2/story2-3.htm superimposed upon a map of the Continental United States48 contiguous states, Alaska would overlap Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico and Colorado, and if the state's westernmost point were superimposed on San Francisco, California, its easternmost point would be in Jacksonville, Florida. Alaska also has more coastline than all of the contiguous U.S. combined. One scheme for describing the state's geography is by labeling the regions: *South Central Alaska is the southern coastal region and contains most of the state's population. Anchorage, AlaskaAnchorage and many growing towns, such as Palmer, AlaskaPalmer, and Wasilla, AlaskaWasilla, lie within this area. Petroleum industrial plants, transportation, tourism, and two military bases form the core of the economy here. *The Alaska Panhandle, also known as Southeast Alaska, is home to many of Alaska's larger towns including the state capital Juneau, tidewater glaciers and extensive forests. Tourism, fishing, forestry and state government anchor the economy. *The Alaska Interior is home to Fairbanks, AlaskaFairbanks. The geography is marked by large braided rivers, such as the Yukon River and the Kuskokwim River, as well as Arctic tundra lands and shorelines. *The Alaskan Bush is the remote, less crowded part of the state, encompassing 380 native villages and small towns such as Nome, AlaskaNome, Bethel, AlaskaBethel, Kotzebue, AlaskaKotzebue and, most famously, Barrow, AlaskaBarrow, the northernmost town in the United States. The northeast corner of Alaska is covered by the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which covers 19,049,236 acres (79,318 km sq). Much of the northwest is covered by the larger National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska, which covers around 23 million acres. The Arctic is Alaska's most remote wilderness. A location in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska is 120 miles from any town or village, the geographic point most remote from permanent habitation in the USA. With its numerous islands, Alaska has nearly 34,000 miles (54,700 km) of tidal shoreline. The island chain extending west from the southern tip of the Alaska Peninsula is called the Aleutian Islands. Many active volcanoes are found in the Aleutians. For example, Unimak Island is home to Mount Shishaldin, a moderately active volcano that rises to 9,980 ft (3,042 m) above sea level. The chain of volcanoes extends to Mount Spurr, west of Anchorage on the mainland. One of North America's largest tides occurs in Turnagain Arm just south of Anchorage. Tidal differences can be more than 35 feet (10.7 m). (Many sources say Turnagain has the second-greatest tides in North America, but it has since been shown that several areas in Canada have larger tides, according to an Anchorage Daily News article dated 6/23/03. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska