Connections across Continents #1

The Alaska Purchase

The check used to pay for Alaska

        Alaska was bought from Russia in 1867. Russia sold Alaska to prevent a war with Britain over the territory because the former was sure that they would lose if such a battle took place. Russia would rather sell the land and get compensation than have it taken from them in a war, so they approached both Britain and the United States to see if either were interested. Britain showed little interest and so the US bought Alaska from Alexander II for $7.2 million. 586,412 square miles were gained in the purchase but it wasn't until 1896 that Alaska was seen as valuable land.

        This connects to what was happening at Europe at the time because many leading countries were expanding their boarders and dominion. Most notable would be the British takeover of Africa. Britain wanted to lay as many claims to territory in Africa as they could because Africa was rich in material goods, providing an easy source of wealth for Britain. Likewise in Alaska, there were rich gold deposits ready for the claims, which the United States discovered in 1896 during the great Klondike gold strike.

Painting of the Alaska Purchase negotiation