Early History
| 30,000-27,000 BC | 9th land bridge between Alaska and Siberia. |
| 30,000-25,000 BC | First settlers to Alaska --Indian prototype migration. |
| 23,000-7,500 BC | Wisconsin Ice Age |
| 15,000- 6000 BC | Second wave of settlers to Alaska --Esk-Aleut Migration. |
| 25,000 B-1700 AD | Over 2700 archaeological sites of human habitation in Alaska. Based on work of modern archaeologists from 1930s to present. |
| 1000-1700 AD | Kachemak Tradition/Pacific Eskimos. First Settlers in Upper Cook Inlet. |
Seventeenth Century
| 1670- 1780 | Dena'ina Athabascan Indians from interior Alaska begin to occupy the Upper Cook Inlet. |
Eighteenth Century
|
1725 |
Peter the Great sends Vitus Bering to explore the North Pacific. |
| 1728 | Aug 10, Vitus Bering sights St. Lawrence Island and one of the Diomede Islands. |
| 1733 | Bering's second expedition, with George Wilhelm Steller aboard, the first naturalist to visit Alaska. |
| 1740 | *Estimated Alaska Native population: 57,300 including Aleuts, Alutiiqs, Yupiks, Inupiats, Athabascan, Tlingit and Haida. |
| 1741 | Europeans finally discover Alaska. July 15, Alexei Chirikof, Bering's assistant, sights mainland Alaska but does not make landing. July 16, Bering sights Mt. St. Elias on Alaskan mainland and goes ashore. Dec. 8, Bering dies and is buried on Bering Island. |
| 1742 | First scientific report on the North Pacific fur seal. |
| 1743 | Concentrated hunting of sea otter by Russia begins. Russian traders establish trading posts in Western and Southcentral Alaska. |
| 1763-64 | Aleuts try to repel Russian "invaders" in Unalaska, Umnak, and Unimak. Russia responds by destroying the villages of Unalaska and Umnak. |
| 1774 | Juan Perez ordered by Spain to explore west coast; discovers Prince of Wales Island, Dixon Sound. |
| 1778 | Captain James Cook of England explores Arctic Ocean. |
| 1778-1850 | Ivan Pan'kov, Aleut Chief of Tigalla Island, first to write Aleut language and with Father John Veniaminov (St. Innocent) to translate parts of the Bible into Unangan language. |
| 1784 | First white settlement in Alaska on Kodiak Island, established by Grigorii Shelikov. |
| 1790 | Aleksandr Baranov becomes director of Russian settlement. |
| 1791 | George Vancouver leaves England to explore the coast; Alejandro Malispina explores the northwest coast for Spain. First monopoly in Alaska -- Catherine II grants a monopoly of furs in Alaska to Grigorii Shelikov. |
| 1793 | Baranov founds new ship-building outpost near present-day Seward. |
| 1795 | First Russian Orthodox Church is established in Kodiak. |
| 1799 | Czar Paul claims Alaska as Russian possession. Baranov named first Russian Governor of Alaska, establishes Russian post known as Old Sitka; trade charter grants exclusive trading rights to the Russian America Company. |
Nineteenth Century
| 1802 | Tlingit Indians massacre 20 Russian and up to 130 Aleut workers at Old Sitka. |
| 1804 | Russians return to Sitka and attack Kilsadi fort on Indian River. Russians lose the battle, however Natives are forced to flee. Baranov re-establishes trading post |
| 1805 | The first Russian cargo of furs sent directly to China arrives in Canton. |
| 1818 | Russian navy assumes authority in Alaska. |
| 1821 | Russian navy bars all foreign ships from Alaskan waters. |
| 1823 | Johnson v. M'Intosh: Private parties secured grants from tribes in 1773 & 1775. United States took later cession and granted lands. Issue: Whether Indian tribes have the power to give, and private American citizens to receive, a title which "can be sustained in the courts of this country." |
| 1824 | Russians start to explore the Nushagak, Kuskokwim, Yukon, and Koyuk Rivers. |
| 1834 | Father Veniaminov moves to Sitka |
| 1835 | United States and England obtain trading privileges in Alaska. |
| 1839 | The Dena'ina Population is decimated by smallpox |
| 1840 | Russian Orthodox Diocese formed; Father Veniaminov consecrated Bishop Innokenty; Permission is given to use Native languages in the liturgy |
| 1841 | Edward de Stoeckl assigned to the secretariat of the Russian legation in the U.S. |
| 1843 | First mission school for the Eskimos was established at Nushagak by Russian-Greek Orthodox Church |
| 1847 | Fort Yukon established |
| 1848 | Yankee whalers begin commercial whaling in Alaskan waters. Cathedral of St. Michael dedicated in New Archangel (Sitka) |
| 1853 | Russian explorer-trappers find oil seeps in Cook Inlet |
| 1857 | Coal mining begins at Coal Harbor on the Kenai Peninsula |
| 1859 | De Stoeckl returns to the U.S. from St. Petersburg with the authority to negotiate the sale of Alaska |
| 1860 | Second Russian-Orthodox Mission School established at Kwikpak |
| 1861 | Gold discovered on the Stikine River near Telegraph Creek |
| 1865, 1865-67 | Surveyors' map route for Western Union's overland telegraph line through Alaska to Siberia. Last shot of Civil War fired in Alaskan waters. |
| 1867 | The "sale" of Alaska by Russia to United States - which rightfully belonged to neither. Treaty of Purchase, Article III implies a distinction between "uncivilized tribes" and other "inhabitants of the ceded territory." The Swedish Evangelical, Moravian, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Congregational, and Roman Catholic Churches established schools throughout Alaska. |
| 1868 | Alaska designated as the "Department of Alaska" under Brevet Major General Jeff C. Davis, U.S. Army |
| 1869 | First appropriation from Congress for education in the Territory. The funds were never put into use as no agency was found to administer them. The Sitka Times, first newspaper in Alaska, established |
| 1872 | Gold discovered near Sitka and British Columbia |
| 1874 | First school in Alaska established by the Russians at Three Saints Bay-Kodiak Island |
| 1876 | Gold discovered south of Juneau at Windham Bay |
| 1877 | U.S. troops withdrawn from Alaska |
| 1878 | Salmon-canning industry started. School opens in Sitka, later to become Sheldon Jackson Junior College |
| 1880 | Gold discovered near Juneau. *Estimated Alaska Native population: 32,900 |
| 1884 | Organic Act – U.S. Congress delegates responsibility of providing education for children of all races in the Territory to the Bureau of Education in the Department of the Interior. Funds for education in Alaska appropriated to be distributed among the existing mission schools with Dr. Sheldon Jackson appointed as general agent for education in Alaska the following year. The Act also prohibited the importation, manufacture and sale of liquor in Alaska, however the Alaska Commercial Company continues to trade liquor for furs without being prosecuted. United States establishes "District of Alaska" as a legal unit. Alaska received its first code of laws. |
| 1885 | Interior Secretary assigns Bureau of Education responsibility for Alaska schools. Dr. Sheldon Jackson appointed as general agent for education in Alaska. A territorial Indian police force is established to promote "cleanliness, sobriety and good order among the Indians." |
| 1887 | Use of English in Indian Schools Society of Friends established a school at Kotzebue. Father William Duncan and Tsimshian followers found Metlakatla on Annette Island |
| 1888 | The Board of Education in Alaska was directed to prescribe a course of study for all government schools. |
| 1889 | Supplemental Report on Indian Education issued |
| 1890 | First missions established in Alaska north of Bering Strait. Large corporate salmon canneries begin to appear Reindeer herds imported into Alaska. |
| 1891 | First oil claims staked in Cook Inlet area. Congress establishes the Metlakatla, Annette Island Indian Reservation. |
| 1892 | The Alaska Forest Service System is created with the establishment of the Afognak Reserve |
| 1894 | Subsidizing of mission schools discontinued. Federal Bureau of Education took over most mission schools. |
| 1896 | Gold discovered along Klondike River and Bonanza Creek in Yukon Territory. |
| 1897 | Klondike gold rush. First shipment of halibut sent south from Juneau |
| 1898 | Richardson Trail blazed from Valdez to Canadian border, The White Pass and Yukon Railroad begins construction, Congress appropriates money for telegraph from Seattle to Sitka, Nome gold rush begins |
| 1899 | Local communities authorized to set up school boards. |
