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Why did Russia sell Alaska to the US?

Why did the third most powerful empire in the world at that time have to sell its vast colony?

Tsar’s Decision

Some researchers believe that the first Russian settlement in Alaska was founded in the 17th century. Its name was originally Alaxsxaq, in the vernacular, later Russian explorers switched from this word. city ​​of Alyaska.

In 1648, a few boats in the Russian explorer Semyon Dezhnyov’s caravan washed up on the Alaskan coast due to hurricanes, who landed and settled there. In 1725, Tsar Peter the Great commissioned explorer Vitus Bering to explore the Alaskan coast, as Russian merchants were very interested in the tusks of walruses, the skins of sea otters and seals here. However, few Russians were interested in settling this new territory, where there were no resources.

After the Crimean War (1853-1856), the Russian empire collapsed economically. Therefore, the tsar needed money to modernize and rebuild the country and he had to do this as quickly as possible.

Alaska was Russia’s only foreign territory at the time. Although it brought fame to the empire, as a “colony” nation, the expense of protecting this 500,000 square-mile land many considered worthless made The tsar decided to give it up. And the question now is to whom should Russia sell Alaska?

Sell ​​to whom?

Why did Russia sell Alaska to the US?  - Photo 1.

The check used to pay for the purchase of Alaska had a face value of $7.2 million.

There are two forces that Russia thinks of when “offering” this land. The first candidate is the UK. In 1867, Britain still dominated Canada directly, selling to this empire would make sense as Alaska is bordered by two Canadian provinces of Yukon and British Columbia, which could easily be incorporated into Canada without much trouble. from both sides.

However, Russia and Great Britain were rivals at that time. During the Crimean War, Britain was one of the first nations to try to stop Russian expansion, support the Ottoman Empire, and side with the Allies. Therefore, it is not possible to let England own the land too close to Russia.

On the other hand, even if the two empires were not rivals, Great Britain would not want to find more territory in the Pacific. Canada was already difficult enough to manage due to its size and because Canada’s coastline was to the west, Britain also had easy access to the Pacific Ocean.

There is only one other option left in selling Alaska, and that is America. Russia and the United States were allies at the time, a relationship that was further strengthened when both countries disliked the British Empire. Russia wants to sell its remote and hard-to-defend Alaskan region to the United States, rather than risk losing it in a conflict with a competitor like Britain.

There was only one small problem that delayed the Alaska trade, and that was the outbreak of the American Civil War (1861–1865). After the war ended, the United States was stable enough to start negotiating a sale.

A team of surveyors from Russia was sent to Alaska to assess the natural resources, determine the value of the sale and set a price of 10,000,000 USD for the land. Even so, most of them, there is an opinion that Russia should not sell the colony, and should instead question the reform of the country in order to develop.

But the tsar ignored the advice of the survey team and forwarded the assessment to the US government.

Became the 49th state of the US

Why did Russia sell Alaska to the US?  - Photo 2.

The signing ceremony of the agreement to cede Alaska between the two delegations of Russia and the United States.

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area and the 10th richest state in terms of per capita income.

Alaska is one of only two states (the other being Hawaii) not bordering any other US state. The state closest to Alaska is Washington, but it is also 800km apart, across Canada.

After much negotiation, on October 8, 1867, the territory of Russia, Alyaska was sold to the United States for $7.2 million (2 cents per acre), or about $111 million, if adjusted for inflation. This number seems too small compared to the vast land with an area of ​​​​586,412 square miles (equivalent to 1,517,733 km2). After this sale, many Russians remained in Alaska for a while and then returned to Russia.

The Americans assumed that the wealthy Alaska had migrated into the territory, but after realizing it was necessary to invest a lot of money to exploit the resources here, some left, leaving the population of the capital Sitka had only a few hundred people left. In 1880, gold was discovered in Alaska, in what is now Juneau. So people flocked and a town was formed that year.

In 1898, gold was found again in Porcupine Creek. In just three years, 100,000 people have migrated to Alaska and the Yukon in search of fortune.

According to the 2019 census, Alaska is currently inhabited by 731,545 people. Much of Alaska is covered with snow and ice year round. There are especially huge oil reserves here. However, the creatures in Alaska are thought to be very rare, existing from primitive times to the present, so the government is currently not allowing mining expansion.

If we look at the value of Alaska now, we can see that this is a very good deal for the US government.

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