The earliest immigrants to North America, more than 10,000 years ago, likely came to Alaska via a land bridge across what is now the Bering Strait. The Russian fur traders who arrived during the 1700s found Aleuts, Eskimos, and Indians already established there. Despite more than a century of Russian sovereignty over the area, however, few Russians came, and those that did returned to the mother country with the purchase of Alaska by the US in 1867. Virtually all other migration to Alaska has been from the continental US—first during the gold rush of the late 19th century and most recently during the oil boom of the 1970s. Between 1970 and 1983, Alaska's net gain from migration was 78,000, but Alaska suffered net losses in domestic migration of over 37,500 from 1985 to 1990, and 21,000 between 1990 and 1998.
Mobility is a way of life in Alaska. Urbanization increased with migration during the 1980s; the urban population increased from 64.5% in 1980 to 67.5% of the total population in 1990. In the 1990s, migration added 17,000 people to the state. In 1998, Alaska admitted 1,008 immigrants. Between 1995 and 1998, the population increased 2.1%. In the period 1995–2000, 95,562 people moved into the state and 126,060, for a net loss of 30,498 people.