Juneau is the capital of Alaska and is not connected by road to the rest of Alaska or to the contiguous United States.
The city is in the Alaska Panhandle, on the Gastineau Channel, surrounded by mountains and the Juneau Icefield. Its location makes ordinary overland travel impossible: visitors and supplies generally arrive by airplane, ferry, cruise ship, or other boats.
Juneau began as a gold-mining settlement. Joe Juneau and Richard Harris located gold in nearby Gold Creek in 1880, and the settlement was first called Harrisburg. It later took the name Juneau, while the wider area became an important center for mining and government.
Juneau became Alaska’s territorial capital in 1906, when the capital moved from Sitka. Alaska entered the Union as the 49th state in 1959, and Juneau retained the capital. Anchorage is larger, but Juneau remains the state’s political center.