Yakutat (Yakutat City and Borough)
The borough covers an area about six times the size of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, making it one of the largest counties (or county equivalents) in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 662, same number as previous census. As of 2010, it was Alaska's least populous borough or census area, and the ninth-least populous county nationwide. The population had declined from 680 in 2000.
The Borough of Yakutat was incorporated as a non-unified Home Rule Borough on September 22, 1992. Yakutat was previously a city in the Skagway–Yakutat–Angoon Census Area (afterwards renamed as the Skagway–Hoonah–Angoon Census Area).
The U.S. Census Bureau has defined the former City of Yakutat as a census-designated place within the borough. The only other significant population center in the borough is the community of Icy Bay, the site of the Icy Bay Airport, in the west-central part of the borough.
The original settlers in the Yakutat area are believed to have been Eyak-speaking people from the Copper River area. Tlingit people migrated into the area and assimilated the Eyak before the arrival of Europeans in Alaska. Yakutat was only one of a number of Tlingit and mixed Tlingit-Eyak settlements in the region. The others have been depopulated or abandoned.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, English, French, Spanish and Russian explorers came to the region. The Shelikhov-Golikov Company, precursor of the Russian-American Company, built a fort in Yakutat in 1795 to facilitate trade with the Alaska Natives in sea-otter pelts. The settlement became known as New Russia, Yakutat Colony, or Slavorossiya. When the Russians cut off access to the fisheries nearby, a Tlingit war party attacked and destroyed the fort in 1805.
By 1886, after the 1867 Alaska Purchase by the United States from the Russian Empire, the black sand beaches in the area were being mined for gold. In 1889 the Swedish Free Mission Church opened a school and sawmill in the area.
From 1903 the Stimson Lumber Company constructed a cannery, another sawmill, a store, and a railroad. Many people moved to the current site of Yakutat to be closer to work at the Stimson cannery, which operated through 1970.
During World War II, the USAAF stationed a large aviation garrison near Yakutat and built a paved runway. The troops were withdrawn after the war. The runway is still in use as Yakutat Airport, which offers scheduled airline service.
Fishing is the largest economic activity in Yakutat.
Map - Yakutat (Yakutat City and Borough)
Map
Country - United_States
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Indigenous peoples have inhabited the Americas for thousands of years. Beginning in 1607, British colonization led to the establishment of the Thirteen Colonies in what is now the Eastern United States. They quarreled with the British Crown over taxation and political representation, leading to the American Revolution and proceeding Revolutionary War. The United States declared independence on July 4, 1776, becoming the first nation-state founded on Enlightenment principles of unalienable natural rights, consent of the governed, and liberal democracy. The country began expanding across North America, spanning the continent by 1848. Sectional division surrounding slavery in the Southern United States led to the secession of the Confederate States of America, which fought the remaining states of the Union during the American Civil War (1861–1865). With the Union's victory and preservation, slavery was abolished nationally by the Thirteenth Amendment.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| USD | United States dollar | $ | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| EN | English language |
| FR | French language |
| ES | Spanish language |