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North Slope Borough
 The
North Slope Borough is the largest borough in Alaska, over 15% of the
total land area. It consists primarily of the north and northeastern
coast of Alaska, including the Brooks Range, north of the Arctic Circle.
It lies at approximately 69° 00' N Latitude, 154° 00' W Longitude . The
community is located in the Barrow Recording District. The area
encompasses 87,861 sq. miles of land and 5,963 sq. miles of water.
Inupiat Eskimos have lived in the
region for centuries, active in trading between Alaskan and Canadian
bands. Atqasuk was a source of coal during World War II. Oil exploration
in the 1960s led to the development of the huge reserves in Prudhoe Bay
and, subsequently, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in the 1970s. The Borough
incorporated in 1972. Today, oil operations support between 4,000 and
5,000 oil company and support service employees in the region. After the
passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971,
families from Barrow re-settled the abandoned villages of Atqasuk and
Nuiqsut.
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