Bing Alaska Quiz – Test Your Knowledge of the Last Frontier
Run the trail from Anchorage to Nome across four quiz legs on history, landscapes, wildlife and culture. Every answer comes with a fact-checked field note, so you finish knowing more than when you started.
Alaska has a way of breaking every scale you bring to it. It is the biggest state by a wide margin, yet it has fewer residents than many mid-sized American cities. It holds the tallest mountain on the continent, the longest coastline in the country, and a calendar where the sun can vanish for two months in one town and refuse to set for nearly three in summer.
That is exactly why Alaska turns up so often in Bing-style trivia. The facts are surprising, they stick, and they reward people who read past the headline. With Alaska Day arriving on October 18, the anniversary of the 1867 flag transfer in Sitka, this felt like the right moment to build a proper quiz around the state. If you enjoy daily trivia like this, the Bing Homepage Quiz Daily serves a fresh topic every day.
How the Alaska Quiz Trail Works
The quiz is modeled loosely on the Iditarod, the long-distance sled dog race that crosses Alaska each March. Instead of one long list, the 20 questions are split into four legs between real Iditarod checkpoints. Your sled marker moves along the trail as you answer, and you reach the finish in Nome after the last question.
Tap once. Each question locks after your first choice, just like the real Bing quiz, so trust your instinct.
Read the field note. Every answer reveals a short explanation with the context behind the fact.
Finish in Nome. Your score earns a musher rank. Not happy with it? Restart and run the trail again.
No timer, no sign-up. Take as long as you like. The quiz runs entirely in your browser and doesn't store your answers.
The Bing Alaska Quiz
Four legs, five questions each. Pick an answer to reveal the field note.
Purchase, Statehood and War
In 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from which country?
Critics of the Alaska Purchase mocked it with which famous nickname?
Alaska officially became the 49th U.S. state in which year?
In 1943, U.S. forces fought the only World War II land battle on North American soil on which Aleutian island?
Alaska's flag, eight gold stars on a blue field, was designed in 1927 by whom?
Peaks, Rivers and Remote Capitals
A 2015 survey set the official height of North America's tallest peak, called Denali by the State of Alaska and Mount McKinley in federal use, at how many feet?
What makes Juneau unique among U.S. state capitals?
Which Alaska park is the largest national park in the United States?
Which river, flowing about 1,980 miles from Canada to the Bering Sea, is the longest in Alaska?
The northernmost city in the United States officially took back its Iñupiaq name in 2016. What is it called?
Bears, Birds and the Northern Lights
Which bird, whose feathers turn white in winter, is Alaska's state bird?
Fat Bear Week, the online contest crowning the plumpest brown bear before hibernation, features bears from which national park?
Which animal is Alaska's official state land mammal?
What actually produces the aurora borealis seen over Fairbanks?
Which small blue flower is Alaska's state flower?
Serum Runs, Pipelines and Earthquakes
The Iditarod honors a 1925 dog sled relay that rushed what to Nome?
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline carries crude oil about 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to which port?
Since 1982, eligible Alaskans have received an annual Permanent Fund Dividend. Where does that money come from?
Which phrase is Alaska's official state motto, adopted in 1967?
The Great Alaska Earthquake of March 27, 1964, had what magnitude?
Why Alaska Is Called the Last Frontier
The word Alaska comes from the Unangam Tunuu (Aleut) word Alaxsxaq, usually translated as "mainland," the term Unangax̂ people used for the land east of the Aleutian Islands. Russian traders adopted it, and the name stuck through the American purchase and statehood.
"The Last Frontier," the official state nickname, captures something different. When most of the Lower 48 had long been settled, farmed and paved, Alaska still held enormous stretches of land with no roads at all. Even today, many towns and villages can only be reached by small plane, boat or, in winter, snowmachine. The state's population of roughly 733,000 people (2020 Census) is spread across an area larger than Texas, California and Montana combined, which makes Alaska the least densely populated state in the country.
That remoteness shapes daily life. Groceries in rural communities often arrive by barge or air cargo, and weather can close a runway for days. It also explains why Alaska punches far above its weight in trivia: the gap between what people imagine and what's true is unusually wide.
Alaska by the Numbers
Bookmark this table for your next geography round. Each figure comes from a government or official source listed at the end of the article.
| Fact | Answer | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Capital | Juneau | No road connection to the rest of North America |
| Largest city | Anchorage | Home to roughly 40% of Alaskans |
| Statehood | January 3, 1959 | 49th state, months before Hawaii |
| Purchased | 1867, from Russia | $7.2 million, about two cents an acre |
| Alaska Day | October 18 | Marks the 1867 flag transfer at Sitka |
| Highest point | 20,310 ft | Tallest peak in North America |
| Nickname | The Last Frontier | Official state nickname |
| Motto | North to the Future | Adopted in 1967 |
| State bird | Willow ptarmigan | Turns white in winter |
| State flower | Forget-me-not | Colors echo the state flag |
| State tree | Sitka spruce | Dominant tree of the coastal rainforest |
| State sport | Dog mushing | Celebrated by the Iditarod each March |
The First Alaskans: Peoples and Languages
Long before Russian ships arrived in the 1740s, Alaska was home to many distinct Indigenous nations, each adapted to very different environments, from Arctic sea ice to temperate rainforest. Their knowledge of the land, sea and seasons is still central to life across the state. Major Alaska Native cultural groups include:
- Iñupiat
- Yup'ik & Cup'ik
- St. Lawrence Island Yupik
- Unangax̂ (Aleut)
- Alutiiq (Sugpiaq)
- Athabascan (Dene)
- Eyak
- Tlingit
- Haida
- Tsimshian
Alaska is home to 229 federally recognized tribes, a large share of the national total. In 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act took a different path from the reservation model used elsewhere in the U.S., settling land claims by creating regional and village Native corporations that own land and run businesses on behalf of their shareholders.
Language revitalization is another important story. In 2014, Alaska passed a law recognizing 20 Alaska Native languages as official languages of the state alongside English. Several of those languages have only a handful of fluent elders left, which is why immersion schools and community programs have become so valuable.
Quiz tip: When a question asks about a place name like Utqiaġvik or Denali, the answer is often tied to an Indigenous language. Denali comes from Koyukon Athabascan and is commonly translated as "the high one" or "the tall one."
Geographic Superlatives Worth Knowing
These are the facts that show up again and again in geography trivia. Learn them once and you'll recognize them instantly.
Northernmost, westernmost and easternmost
Alaska reaches farther north and west than any other state. Because the Aleutian Islands cross the 180th meridian, a few of them technically sit in the Eastern Hemisphere, making Alaska the easternmost state too.
The Diomede Islands
In the Bering Strait, Little Diomede (U.S.) and Big Diomede (Russia) lie roughly 2.5 miles apart. The International Date Line runs between them, so they are a calendar day apart.
17 of the 20 tallest
Most of the highest peaks in the United States, including all of the top several, stand in Alaska.
3 million+ lakes
The state is commonly estimated to hold more than three million lakes, along with tens of thousands of glaciers.
Tongass National Forest
The largest national forest in the U.S., about 16.7 million acres of temperate rainforest in Southeast Alaska.
One more to file away: Alaska's general coastline measures about 6,640 miles according to NOAA, which is longer than the coastlines of all other U.S. states combined. Include every bay, inlet and island, and the tidal shoreline jumps to more than 33,000 miles.
How to Ace Bing-Style Geography Quizzes
Bing's quizzes tend to reward curiosity more than memorization. After writing and testing many of these, here are the habits that consistently help:
- Watch for nickname-versus-motto traps. Question writers love to mix up a state's nickname, motto and slogan, as Mile Marker 19 showed.
- Check the timeline. If an answer involves a country or institution, ask whether it even existed yet. Canada in early 1867 is a perfect example.
- Know the "only" facts. Unique claims, such as the only capital with no road access, are favorites because they have exactly one right answer.
- Read every option before tapping. Distractors are often real places or real numbers from a different context, like Mount Saint Elias at 18,008 feet.
- Practice daily. Short, regular sessions build a much broader base than cramming. A new topic every day keeps it interesting.
Ready for your next round? These two keep the streak going:
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Alaska called the Last Frontier?
Alaska earned the nickname because of its vast wilderness, small population and harsh climate. Much of the state is still roadless, and it remains one of the least developed places in the United States. "The Last Frontier" is Alaska's official state nickname.
How much did the United States pay for Alaska?
The United States paid Russia $7.2 million under a treaty signed on March 30, 1867. That works out to roughly two cents per acre, one of the most consequential land deals in American history.
Is it Denali or Mount McKinley?
Both names are in use. The State of Alaska has officially used Denali since 1975. The federal government adopted Denali in 2015, then changed the federal name back to Mount McKinley through Executive Order 14172 in January 2025. The surrounding park is still Denali National Park and Preserve.
What is the capital of Alaska?
Juneau is the capital. It is the only U.S. state capital that can't be reached by road from the rest of North America, so people arrive by plane or ferry.
When did Alaska become a state?
Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the statehood proclamation.
Is this the official Microsoft Bing quiz?
No. This is an independent, Bing-style educational quiz. It doesn't award Microsoft Rewards points, but it's a great way to build the general knowledge that helps on the official quizzes.
Sources and Fact-Check Notes
Every fact in this quiz was checked against official or primary sources. Figures such as population and the Permanent Fund Dividend change over time, so we describe them generally and note the source year where it matters.
- National Park Service – Naming a Mountain (Denali National Park and Preserve)
- National Park Service – Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve
- National Park Service – Katmai National Park and Preserve
- U.S. Geological Survey – Denali elevation survey and 1964 earthquake records
- U.S. Census Bureau – QuickFacts: Alaska
- Alaska Department of Fish and Game – State symbols and wildlife profiles
- State of Alaska – Official state website
- Iditarod Trail Committee – Race history and the 1925 serum run
Spotted an error? Corrections are reviewed promptly and this page is updated with the revision date shown at the top.
This is an independent educational quiz and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Microsoft Corporation. Bing and Microsoft Rewards are trademarks of Microsoft. Quiz content is original and provided for learning and entertainment.