circa 1950: A typical scene of the Aleutian Islands with a volcanic cone in the background
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Alaska was controversially purchased by the US from Russia in 1867.
Critics called the transaction "Seward's Folly" after US Secretary of State William Seward.
Alaska was officially made the 49th state in January 1959.
Russia sold the territory known as Alaska to the US in 1687, but Indigenous people have been living on that land for thousands of years.
One commonly accepted theory was that the first people traveled to North America from Asia via the Bering Land Bridge, although more recent discoveries suggest they made their way by sea.
Russia began colonizing Alaska and other parts of North America in the late 1700s, establishing Russian America and making money off the fur trade. But by the 1860s, the fur trade had declined due to over-hunting.
US critics dubbed the purchase "Seward's Folly," named for then-Secretary of State William Seward because they felt the land, which they called an "icebox," was useless. The transaction was also made against the wishes of some Native Alaskans, who argued it wasn't Russia's land to sell, according to the Alaska Native Foundation.
Three decades later, the Klondike Gold Strike brought thousands of migrants to the territory.
Alaska officially became a state 92 years after the transaction, in January 1959, making it the 49th state. Hawaii became the 50th state that same year.
It's also the location of President Donald Trump's high-stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday. As well as a symbolic choice, considering the state's history with Russia, it's also a practical one: It's the closest US state to Russia, and Putin, who is subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for war crimes, can step foot there without fear of arrest.
These vintage photos show what Alaska looked like before it became part of the United States.
Late 1800s: This is the town of Unalaska, on the island of the same name. It is still the main population center of the Aleutian Islands.The town of Unalaska, on Unalaska Island, in the last years of the 19th Century. The town was founded in 1700s as the first headquarters of the Russian-American Company in Alaska. A Russian Orthodox church bears witness to this in the lower left.
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1880: A view of Sitka, Alaska. This city was under Russian rule until 1867.Sitka, Alaska The Russian settlement of Sitka in Alaska, circa 1880. From the Continent Stereoscopic Company of New York.
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1880: Alaska was populated by many Native tribes for thousands of years. Today, the two biggest tribes are the Yup'ik and the Tlingit.Stereoscopic image showing a group portrait of northwestern Native American Alaskans, Alaska, circa 1880. The image is one half of a stereoscopic image.
Circa 1880: Sheldon Jackson, an American minister, traveled to Alaska after the United States purchased it in 1867. Here he is in Haines, Alaska.American clergyman Sheldon Jackson (second right, 1834-1909) with men and Government reindeer in Haines, Alaska, circa 1880. Following the Alaska Purchase, Presbyterian minister Jackson committed himself to the Christian spiritual, educational, and economic wellbeing of the Alaskan people; image is one half of a stereoscopic image
1884: These two Inuit children were part of the exploration of the Kobuk River in northern Alaska.Northern Alaska Exploring Expedition, 1884-1886. Two Inuit children in front of tent, one holding a rifle. Exploration of the Kobuk River and northern parts of Alaska, led by Lieutenant George M. Stoney of the U.S. Navy. Specimens were collected for the United States National Museum. Artist Unknown.
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1887: A ship sails the Salmon River under the watchful eyes of the mountaintops.Departure Bay, Salmon River Valley, Alaska, United States of America, 1887.
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1890: A canoe called Brown Bear carries a funeral party to the docks at Wrangell Island.Totem poles visible in the grounds of Chief Shakes house as a Tlingit canoe - named 'Brown Bear' - carrying a funeral party arrives at Fort Wrangel on Wrangell Island in the Alexander Archipelago, Alaska, 1890. Chief Shakes is a leadership title bestowed by the Tlingit, the northernmost peoples of the northwest coast of North America, residing on the islands and coastal lands of southern Alaska.
William H. Partridge/Graphic House/Archive Photos/Getty Images
1895: Even decades after the US purchased Alaska from Russia, structures built by the Russians remained for years, like this Russian Orthodox Church.A wood-built Russian Orthodox Church, dating from when the region was under Russian rule (from 1799 to 1867) in St. Michael, Alaska, circa 1895.
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1896: The Klondike Gold Rush started in 1896. Thousands of prospectors trekked through the Chilkoot Pass, seen here, leading from Dyea, Alaska, to Bennett Lake, Canada.Long line of gold prospectors climb the stairs cut into the ice on the Chilkoot Trail through Chilkoot Pass during the Klondike Gold Rush. The temporary tent settlement called The Scales sits on a flat below the stairs, 1896.
1897: This is what Juneau looked like in 1897, nine years before it was chosen as the territory's capital in 1906.Juneau, Alaska, circa 1897.
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1897: Prospectors continued searching for gold for the rest of the Klondike Gold Rush, which ended in 1899. The Nome Gold Rush then lasted from 1899 to 1909.Photographic prints of four prospectors posed on a trail, Alaska. Dated 1897
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1897: Sailing through the icy waters of Glacier Bay, which is now a national park, could be dicey.Steamer "Queen", Glacier Bay, Alaska', circa 1897. From "A Tour Through the New World America", by Prof. Geo. R. Cromwell.
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Source: National Park Service
1899: Totem poles like this one, seen outside an Alaskan lodge, tell the story of the family or tribe that constructed the pole.A totem pole guards the entrance to an eloborately decorated Northwest Indian Lodge House, Alaska, 1899.
E.H. Harriman/Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG/Getty Images
1900: According to the handwritten note on this photo, this was the first log cabin built in Nome, Alaska, amid the gold rush.Klondike Goldrush: The first log cabin built in Nome, Alaska. 1900
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1900: Reindeer have been inextricably linked with the Arctic and those that live in and around it for thousands of years — but they're not indigenous to Alaska. They were introduced from Siberia.Two men and two women with reindeer hitched to sleds, 1900
Michael Maslan/Corbis/VCG/Getty Images
1926: Photographer Frank Kleinschmidt and his family moved to Alaska during the gold rush. This is his wife holding two huge Alaskan king crabs.Mrs Frank Kleinschmidt holds up two giant Alaskan crabs during her husband's expedition into the arctic wilderness, Cook's Inlet, Alaska, May 31, 1926
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1929: A mother carries her child on Nunivak Island. Today, the entire island only has one town, Mekoryuk.CIRCA 1929: Child is Joe Moses, Woman and child, Nunivak
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1949: A group of Alaskan teenagers play what looks like an extreme version of a seesaw.1940s 1950s alaskan children and teens playing a game of jumpboard a kind of seesaw game arctic kotzebue alaska USA June 01, 1949
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1950: By 1950, the city of Ketchikan had begun calling itself the Salmon Capital of the World.circa 1950: A street in Ketchikan, Alaska, the self-styled Salmon Capital of the World.
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1950: Two explorers take in the views of the Aleutian Islands, nine years before Alaska became a state.circa 1950: A typical scene of the Aleutian Islands with a volcanic cone in the background
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1955: This photo of a group of Indigenous Alaskans was taken 70 years ago.
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1958: Signs on the famous Alaska Highway mark the distances to other cities and states. Can you find yours?