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Alaska State...
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Alaska Boroughs
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Alaska Boroughs
The U.S. state of Alaska is not divided into counties, as are 48 other states, but it is
divided into boroughs (Louisiana is divided into parishes). Many of the more densely populated parts of the
state are part of Alaska's sixteen boroughs, which function somewhat similarly to counties in other states. |
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Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska
Kodiak Island Borough History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Kodiak
Year Organized: 1963
Square Miles: 6,463
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Court House: 710 Mill Bay Road
Borough Seat
Kodiak, AK 99615-6340
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Etymology - Origin of Borough Name
Kodiak is the ancestral land of the Koniaga, an Alutiiq nation. The original inhabitants subsisted by hunting, fishing, farming and gathering. The first Westerners to settle on the island were Russians explorers under Grigory Shelikhov, who founded a Russian settlement on Kodiak Island at Three Saints Bay, near the present-day village of Old Harbor, in 1784.
Demographics:
County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick
Facts
History of Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska
Kodiak Island has been inhabited since 8,000 B.C. and was settled by Russian fur trappers around 1792. The sea otter pelts were the primary incentive for Russian exploration at that time. Kodiak was the first capital of Russian Alaska, which moved to Sitka when Alaska was purchased by the US around 1867. Since the Aleutian Campaign of World War II, several branches of the military have maintained a presence in Kodiak. The 1960s brought growth in commercial fisheries and fish processing. The Borough was incorporated in 1963.
Kodiak Island is located on the eastern side of the Gulf of Alaska. It about 252 air miles south of Anchorage, and a 55 minute flight, and is a three hour flight from Seattle Washington. Kodiak Island is approximately 57.783330° North Latitude and -152.4° West Longitude. Kodiak Island Borough is located in the Kodiak Recording District. The area encompasses 6,559.8 sq. miles of land and 5,463.8 sq. miles of water. The climate of the Kodiak Islands is dominated by a strong marine influence. There is little or no freezing weather, moderate precipitation, and frequent cloud cover and fog. Severe storms are common from December through February yearly. Yearly precipitation is about sixty inches on the windward side of the Island, and forty inches on the leeward side. Temperatures remain within a narrow range, from 32 to 62.
The Island culture is grounded in commercial and subsistence fishing activities and is primarily non-Native. A Russian Orthodox Church seminary is based in Kodiak, one of the two existing seminaries of this kind in the US The Coast Guard comprises a significant portion of the Borough.
The Coast Guard, City, Borough, State and federal agencies also provide employment. 767 borough residents hold commercial fishing permits. Subsistence activities and sport fishing are prevalent. The Kodiak Launch Complex, a $38 million low-Earth orbit launch facility on 27 acres, was recently completed at Cape Narrow near Chiniak. The Kodiak Launch Complex, operated by the Alaska Aerospace Dev. Corp., is the only commercial launch range in the US that is not co-located with a federal facility.
Neighboring Boroughs:
- Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska - northwest
Cities and Towns:
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- Akhiok |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Kodiak
(County Seat) |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Larsen Bay |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Old Harbor |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Ouzinkie |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Port Lions |
city |
Incorporated Area |
Borough Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
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County Resource Guide
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.
Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally,
act locally." |
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