Alaska is the largest state in the United States, covering approximately 663,267 to 665,384 square miles (about 1.7 million square kilometers). It is about a fifth of the size of the entire contiguous United States and larger than Texas, California, and Montana combined. Alaska is so vast that it would rank as the 18th largest country in the world if it were independent. It stretches over 1,400 miles from east to west and north to south, with a coastline exceeding 34,000 miles due to its many islands. Its enormous size includes extensive wilderness, protected lands, and thousands of lakes and glaciers.