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Circumpolar Chronology:
1951 - 2004
- 1959
- - January 3: Alaska becomes the 49th State.
- 1964
- - March 27 (Good Friday): An earthquake with a magnitude of 8.4 on the Richter Scale hits the Anchorage area, killing 115 people and destroying hundreds of homes.
- 1967
- - November 6: Jean Gordon, the Yukon's first female member of the Territorial Council, takes her seat.
- 1968
- - July: The oil riches of Alaska's North Slope, first reported almost 100 years ago, are confirmed by a drilling program at Prudhoe Bay. The following year, a total of $990,220,590 was bid in a one-day lease sale of those properties.
- - December 18: The Alaska Native Claim Settlement Act (ANCSA) is signed into law by the President. Among the major provisions were the transfer of title to 40 million acres of land to native corporations, and a cash payment of $962.5 million.
- 1973
- - February 14: The Yukon Native Brotherhood presents a Statement of Claim to the federal government, stating their position on land claims, self-goverment and other issues which had been published in January in "Together Today For Our Children Tomorrow".
- 1975
- - March 27: The first section of pipe for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez is laid. By August, 21,600 people were working on the project. The first oil was put through the 800-mile line on June 20, 1977.
- 1979
- The Dempster Highway from Dawson to Inuvik, NWT is completed, after being under construction since 1958.
- 1980
- The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act is passed, giving subsistence harvesting preference to rural residents - this became a very controversial issue.
- 1988
- - February 3: PL 100-241, the Alaska Native Claim Settlement Act Amendments, are signed by President Regan. The amendments gave more flexibilty to the corporations managing Settlement lands.
- 1989
- - March 24: The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound.
- 1990
- - July 25: Greenland's last operating mine, the lead/zinc mine at Maarmorilik, closes.
- 1991:
- - Charles Fipke and Stewart Blusson discover diamonds north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, triggering the largest staking rush in Canada's history.
- 1993
- - May 29: The Umbrella Final Agreement is signed by representatives of the Council for Yukon Indians and the Yukon and federal governemnts, establishing the basic format for all 14 Yukon First Nations land claims agreements.
- 1999
- - April 1: Nunavut officially becomes a political entity.
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