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.
In Alaska, the Americans foresaw a potential for gold, fur and fisheries, as well as more trade with China and Japan. The Americans worried that England might try to establish a presence in the territory, and the acquisition of Alaska – it was believed – would help the U.S. become a Pacific power.
Before the Russians, the land belonged to the indigenous tribes who had inhabited the land for thousands of years. These were the Yupik and the Inupiat.
The purchase added 586,412 sq mi (1,518,800 km2) of new territory to the United States for the cost of $7.2 million in 1867. In modern terms, the cost was equivalent to $140 million in 2021 or $0.39 per acre.
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.
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.
The purchase of Alaska in 1867 marked the end of Russian efforts to expand trade and settlements to the Pacific coast of North America, and became an important step in the United States rise as a great power in the Asia-Pacific region.
Secretary of State William H. Seward agreed to purchase Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million on March 30, 1867.
After first landing in Alaska in 1741, Vitus Bering claimed the Alaskan country for the Russian Empire. Russia later confirmed its rule over the territory with the Ukase of 1799 which established the southern border of Russian America along the 55th parallel north.
$7,200,000 in 1867 is worth $146,839,135.14 today
The dollar had an average inflation rate of 1.95% per year between 1867 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 1,939.43%.
Alaskan Russian, known locally as Old Russian, is a dialect of Russian, influenced by Eskimo–Aleut languages, spoken by Alaskan Creoles. Today it is prevalent on Kodiak Island and in Ninilchik (Kenai Peninsula), Alaska; it has been isolated from other varieties of Russian for over a century.
Yes, you can technically see Russia from Alaska. However, from Little Diomede Island. On a clear day you may be able to see the Diomede Islands directly across from Wales, Alaska. In the picture below you can actually see the Diomede Islands, which from this vantage point – the bigger island is actually Russia.
In 1909, Alaska and Hawaii, although they would not become states until nearly fifty years later, were already under American sovereignty. Alaska's purchase from Russia was negotiated by Secretary of State William H. Seward in 1867 and Hawaii was annexed in 1898.
The peak population of the Russian colonies was about 4,000 although almost all of these were Aleuts, Tlingits and other Native Alaskans. The number of Russians rarely exceeded 500 at any one time.
The narrowest distance between Alaska and Russia is only 55 miles, separated only by the Bering Strait. Thus Alaska is closer to Russia than the United States. What is this?
The name "Alaska" (Russian: Аля́ска, tr. Alyáska) was introduced in the Russian colonial period when it was used to refer to the Alaska Peninsula. It was derived from an Aleut-language idiom, alaxsxaq, meaning "the mainland" or, more literally, "the object towards which the action of the sea is directed".
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.
Actually, it's real history — back in the early 19th century, Russia owned significant chunks of what is today California. Back in the 1800's, Russia's presence in Northern California was part of the country's broad effort to trade and settle across the West Coast.
By the early 18th century, Russia had vastly expanded through conquest, annexation, and the efforts of Russian explorers, developing into the Russian Empire, which remains the third-largest empire in history.
The U.S. bought Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867 for $7.2 million. At the time the purchase was derided as “Seward's Folly,” but today it's common to compare the purchase price with Alaska's gross state product of $45 billion and claim it a resounding success.
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.
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.
Alaska is the 49th state of the United States. However, it was a part of Russia till 1867. 154 years ago, Russia had to sell Alaska to America at a meagre price of $7.2 million. But now, the estimated GDP of Alaska is estimated to be around $50 billion.
Russia wanted to sell its Alaska territory, which was remote and difficult to defend, to the U.S. rather than risk losing it in battle with a rival such as Great Britain. Negotiations between Seward (1801-1872) and the Russian minister to the U.S., Eduard de Stoeckl, began in March 1867.
In 1867, the United States bought Alaska from Russia. A few years later, British Columbia joined Canada.