AHC: An Alaskan Hong Kong.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, this AHC is going to be a tad difficult, but I was wondering if somewhere in Alaska, whether it's OTL's Alaska, or one with everything north of 54'40*, or even the huge-ass monstrosity from For Want of a Nail which included everything from Point Barrow all the way down to Oregon(and then some!), if there could ever be a city which functions kinda like Hong Kong in some way, even if it may not be nearly as large(Singapore has about 8 million people, IIRC); a major, major world port which also has a significant amount of other types industry and commerce along with it.

Bonus points are awarded if Alaska reaches no farther south than 54'40* and is NOT a possession of Russia at any point past 1914(yes, even a closely tied Russian client state is still eligible for bonus criteria.), and if the city in question has at least a million people.
 
If you have severe global warming that makes both the northeast and northwestern passages viable, some northerly city in Alaska would be in prime position for shipping. Maybe if the entire pole thaws then - along with the inevitable population movement to that region, and sea level rising - a city on the Bering Strait, acting as a gate to this new lake of civilisation on the north of the planet, could get a lot out of the traffic from the Pacific up into the Arctic Ocean. I imagine your POD for this would be an early and runaway industrial revolution that leads to today's levels of global warming 150 years ago. Or something.
 

NothingNow

Banned
Yeah, I've heard of it. It doesn't seem all that plausible, though, in some respects.

The most implausible part is that FDR was dead-set against it. Other than that, it seems mostly okay (I haven't read it, TBH)....

Yeah, it's actually really plausible. And a great read. That said, Sitka in it is more an Alaskan Macau than a Hong-Kong.

As for the Global port thing. Anchorage could have done it if the pipeline was better maintained, and ran into town, and mining was more seriously developed along with support operations for Elmendorf. Ted Stevens-Anchorage (PANC) is already the fifth busiest Cargo airport on the planet, so it's really just making the Port of Anchorage bigger for exporting ores and the like.
 
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