ALASKA

The flag of Alaska consists of eight gold stars, forming the Big Dipper and the North Star, on a dark blue field. It was designed in 1927 by a 13-year-old Alaska Native residing in Seward, for a contest to create a flag for the then-Alaska Territory. Up to that time, Alaskans had flown only the U.S. flag since the territory was purchased from Russia in 1867.