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Alaska
State (pop., 1997 est.: 609,000) of the U.S., lying at the extreme northwest of N. America. It is the largest in area of the U.S. states and covers 591,004 sq mi (1,530,700 sq km), most of it in land. Facing Siberia across the Bering Strait and Sea to the west, it has the highest point on the continent, Mt. McKinley. Its capital is Juneau. The original inhabitants, Indians and Eskimos, are thought to have migrated over the Bering Land Bridge as well as from the Arctic. The first European settlement was established in the late 18th cent. by Russian fur traders on Kodiak Island. Hudson's Bay Co. traders were also interested in the same area, and Russian-Canadian trade rivalry lasted well into the 19th cent. In 1867 W. Seward negotiated Alaska's sale from the Russians to the U.S., and the subsequent discovery of gold stimulated Amer. settlement. Alaska was a U.S. Territory from 1912 until it was admitted as the 49th state in 1959. Its economy has become increasingly centered on oil and natural gas: since the opening of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in 1977, Alaska has become second only to Texas in the U.S. production of crude oil.


glass
Solid material, typically a mix of inorganic compounds, usually transparent or translucent, hard, brittle, and impervious to the natural elements ("vitreous properties"). It is made by cooling molten ingredients fast enough so no visible crystals form. A poor conductor of heat and electricity, glass takes on colors when certain metal oxides are included in the mix. Most glass breaks easily. Obsidian is a naturally occurring glass. Everyday glass ("soda-lime" or "soda-lime-silica") is made of silica (silicon dioxide), soda (sodium carbonate), and limestone (calcium carbonate), with magnesia (magnesium oxide) for sheet glass or alumina (aluminum oxide) for bottle glass. Fused silica is an excellent glass but expensive because of pure silica's very high melting point. Borosilicate glass (Pyrex) is used for cookware and laboratory glassware because it expands very little when heated. Lead crystal is used for fine tableware. It has a heavy feel and a sparkle due to its high refraction index. Even more specialized glasses include optical, photosensitive, metallic, and fiber-optic. Since glass has no sharp melting point, most types can be shaped while hot by many techniques, mostly blowing or molding. See also volcanic glass.


Alamo
18th-cent. mission in San Antonio, Texas, site of a historic resistance in 1836 by a small group of Texans besieged by a Mexican army during the Mexican War. The abandoned mission was occupied occasionally by Spanish troops, who named it the Alamo ("cottonwood") after the surrounding trees. At the start of the Texas war for independence in Dec. 1835, volunteers occupied the Alamo and vowed to fight to the death any attempt to recapture it. In Feb. 1836 a Mexican army of several thousand began a siege that lasted 13 days. The Texas force ...

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