Russia controlled most of the area that is now Alaska from the late 1700s until the mid-1800s, when the fur trade began to fail for ecological and commercial reasons, and Russia decided to focus its efforts to the east.
Defeat in the Crimean War further reduced Russian interest in this region. Russia offered to sell Alaska to the United States in 1859, believing the United States would off-set the designs of Russia's greatest rival in the Pacific, Great Britain.
There are two main reasons. First, Canada wasn't its own country in 1867. Second, Great Britain controlled the Canadian colonies. Russia did not want to sell Alaska to its rival.
On March 30, 1867, the United States reached an agreement to purchase Alaska from Russia for a price of $7.2 million. The Treaty with Russia was negotiated and signed by Secretary of State William Seward and Russian Minister to the United States Edouard de Stoeckl.
In 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia for a price of $7.2 million. This guide provides access to digital materials at the Library of Congress, links to external websites, and a print bibliography.
That sum, amounting to just $113 million in today's dollars, brought to an end Russia's 125-year odyssey in Alaska and its expansion across the treacherous Bering Sea, which at one point extended the Russian Empire as far south as Fort Ross, California, 90 miles from San Francisco Bay.
The United States acquired an area over twice as large as Texas, but it was not until the great Klondike Gold Rush in 1896 that Alaska generally came to be seen as a valuable addition to U.S. territory. The seal fishery was one of the chief considerations that induced the United States to purchase Alaska.
The Alaskan Purchase
Today, Alaska is, of course, worth much more than that. The state encompasses 586,412 square miles or more than 375 million acres. 2 Even at a cost of just $100 per acre, that would equate to more than $37 billion. Plus, the state churns out hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil each year.
The treaty — setting the price at $7.2 million, or about $125 million today — was negotiated and signed by Eduard de Stoeckl, Russia's minister to the United States, and William H.
On March 30, 1867, the two parties agreed that the United States would pay Russia $7.2 million for the territory of Alaska. For less that 2 cents an acre, the United States acquired nearly 600,000 square miles.
Because the USA bought it from Russia, not Canada (which didn't exist as an independent country in 1867). Russia did not want to sell it to their rival - the United Kingdom of Great Britian and Ireland and wouldn't have been able to defend it from the UK. (the US$ 7.2 million dollar check from the US to Russia).
The Ultimate Road Trip
Driving to Alaska through Canada offers unparalleled scenery, national parks to explore, activities for every level of adventurer, and opportunities to learn about Canada and Alaska's Indigenous cultures.
Alaska is about one-fifth the size of the entire Lower 48. If you combined the area of Texas, California, and Montana, it would still be less than the size of Alaska.
By the 1850s, Russian interest in Alaska began to wane as a consequence of changing economic prospects and geopolitical concerns. The fur trade in sea otter pelts, which had been profitable in Russian America for more than a century, slumped for both ecological and commercial reasons.
Though mocked by some at the time, the 1867 purchase of Alaska came to be regarded as a masterful deal. The treaty enlarged the United States by 586,000 square miles, an area more than twice the size of Texas, all for the bargain price of around two cents an acre.
Russia was a much smaller country at the time when Columbus reached America, and even smaller earlier when the Vikings discovered America. So nowhere near Alaska at that time. In fact, at those times Russia did not control any part of Asia. It was only in Europe.
$7,200,000 in 1867 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $148,431,405.41 today, an increase of $141,231,405.41 over 156 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 1.96% per year between 1867 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 1,961.55%.
ALASKA: From Eskimo word "alakshak”, meaning peninsula; also said to mean "great lands." ARIZONA: Many authorities attribute the meaning to a word meaning arid zone or desert.
The state of Alaska possesses vast reserves of coal, oil, natural gas, zinc, and lumber.
Alaska's incentive program dates back to 1976, and it's called the Permanent Fund Dividend. How much do you get paid to live in Alaska, though? In the past, citizens have qualified for up to $1,600 for simply living in Alaska, and in 2022 the amount was $3,284.
The Louisiana Purchase has been described as the greatest real estate deal in history. In 1803 the United States paid France $15 million for the Louisiana Territory--828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River.
Alaska has also large deposits of oil, gas, and rare earth minerals. Some 13 percent of the world's untapped oil reserves and 30 percent of the world's undiscovered gas reside in the U.S. state. [2] Since 1959, Alaska has produced $180 billion worth of oil, or 85 percent of the state budget.
The nearest points between mainland Alaska and Russia are the western tip of Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska and the Southern point of Cape Dezhnev in Russia — with a distance of roughly 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) between the two points.
Without the U.S. purchase there was general agreement Alaska could have been contested between the Russian and British empires. Had the Russians maintained control, during the Cold War Alaska might have functioned as a Soviet nuclear base, further raising tensions with the U.S.