Valdez (Alaska)
| Valdez | |||
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 Valdez |
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| Location in Alaska | |||
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| Basic data | |||
| Foundation : | 1898 | ||
| State : | United States | ||
| State : | Alaska | ||
| Borough : | Unorganized Borough | ||
| Coordinates : | 61 ° 8 ′ N , 146 ° 21 ′ W | ||
| Time zone : | Alaska ( UTC − 9 / −8 ) | ||
| Residents : | 3,977 (as of 2010) | ||
| Population density : | 6.9 inhabitants per km 2 | ||
| Area : | 717.6 km 2 (approx. 277 mi 2 ) of which 574.9 km 2 (approx. 222 mi 2 ) is land |
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| Height : | 30 m | ||
| Area code : | +1 907 | ||
| FIPS : | 02-82200 | ||
| GNIS ID : | 1412465 | ||
| Website : | www.ci.valdez.ak.us | ||
Valdez [ vælˈdiːz ] is a city in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area on Prince William Sound in the US state of Alaska .
history
The place was named after the Spanish Naval Minister Antonio Valdés y Fernández Bazán. At the end of the 19th century, a port was built in Valdez for the prospectors who were pushing into Alaska and using the Valdez Trail .
In 1964, Valdez was almost completely destroyed by the Good Friday quake and a tidal wave that followed immediately . After the disaster, the city was quickly rebuilt.
The city is important as Alaska's most important ice-free port and the end point of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline that runs across the entire state . Gained notoriety of the place as the namesake of the oil tanker Exxon Valdez , in 1989 near wrecked and an oil spill caused flowed into the sea at about 42 million liters of crude oil. However, no oil reached the urban area.
economy
The city lives primarily from the handling of oil from Prudhoe Bay and thus above all from the oil company ExxonMobil , which is also the largest employer in Valdez.
