They were born in 1959, some 3,000 miles apart, near twins as different as the sea and sky they both claim in ample measure. Conceived during war and raised in a time of remarkable change, these last stars on our flag grew, excelled and today represent diversity as broad as the American experience.

In a half-century of life as the United States' 49th and 50th states, respectively, Alaska and Hawaii have become the envy of the other 48 for their diverse beauty and abundant if differing natural resources (Alaska's oil, Hawaii's tropical sun).

In just five decades, Hawaii's population has more than doubled to almost 1.3 million. In the same period, Alaska, which despite its vastly larger size started with far fewer inhabitants, has tripled to 686,000.

Whether it's pineapples or power, salmon or mahi-mahi -- or the seemingly limitless seashores and whale-watching both provide -- the last two states to enter the union today are supplying energy, agricultural products and premiere vacation destinations to their mainland brothers, all while celebrating their 50th anniversary of statehood.

THE LAST FRONTIER

The battles for statehood by Alaska and Hawaii began decades before their eventual success in 1959, but it was their strategic locations in World War II that really got the ball rolling toward statehood in Washington, D.C.

Alaska got there first, on Jan. 3, 1959 -- the first new state since Arizona and New Mexico joined the union in 1912.

Purchased from the Russian Empire in 1867 for 2 cents per acre, Alaska became an organized territory May 11, 1912.

Most people familiar with American history are aware of the Japanese sneak attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. But far fewer know of another attack -- an actual invasion on U.S. soil -- farther to the north in June 1942, when more than 5,000 Japanese forces landed on Alaska's remote Aleutian Islands of Kiska, Agattu and Attu, and weren't driven out until 1943.

Even before the Aleutian invasion, Congress -- in the wake of Pearl Harbor and the realization that America's West Coast was vulnerable to further Japanese aggression -- approved funding for the Alaska-Canadian Highway in February 1942. Although it has since been shortened, the original Alcan Highway -- completed that same year -- stretched 1,680 miles, from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, through the Yukon Territory to Delta Junction, Alaska.

Save for a major pipeline, a burgeoning cruise industry and the introduction of chain hotels, restaurants and the ubiquitous Wal-Mart, much of Alaska's 571,065 square miles remains as it was prior to statehood. About half the population lives in the Anchorage area, but a third of the state falls above the Arctic Circle, where the population remains sparse.

Boasting the largest state park system, at 3.2 million acres, the Last Frontier also claims 17 National Park System parks, preserves, monuments and other units spanning 54 million acres. Today, 65 percent of Alaska's land is federally managed.

For fossil fuel advocates, the 1968 Prudhoe Bay oil find sparked the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, completed in 1977, and a modern-day energy bonanza that continues to this day and results in every Alaskan receiving annual dividends ranging from $500 to $2,000.

Regardless of the continuing debate between conservationists and development advocates, the past half-century has witnessed ``tremendous changes'' in the state, according to historian, author and former University of Alaska professor Claus M. Naske.

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