Alaska whose territory at the moment. Who sold Alaska

In 1867 Alaska ceased to be part of Russia. Until now, this page of Russian history is read diagonally by many, giving rise to a lot of myths. Like those that Catherine II sold Alaska, and Russia leased Alaska. 7 Secrets of Selling Alaska.

Russia and America

By the time Alaska was sold, friendly relations between Russia and America had reached their apogee. During the Crimean War, America repeatedly emphasized that if the conflict expanded, it would not take an anti-Russian stance. The agreement to sell Alaska was made in deep secrecy. Surprisingly, with a fairly high level of intelligence at that time, the information was not leaked to third parties. The London Times wrote with concern at the time about the mutual "mysterious sympathy" that existed between Russia and the United States. The dissatisfaction and concern of London were justified: the 1867 treaty not only made Russia and the United States the closest neighbors, but also allowed the Americans to surround British possessions in North America from all sides. At one of the dinner parties in honor of the Russian delegation, the American General Welbridge declared: “Providence has indicated that there should be two great hemispheres, Eastern and Western. The first should be represented by Russia, and the second by the United States!” Of course, it was a good diplomatic game, but the fact remains that Russia seriously supported America in its rise. The purchase of Alaska strengthened the States, the money paid for it paid off in a short time, but the strategic advantage for the United States from this deal simply cannot be overestimated.

narrow circle

The deal to sell Alaska is unique in that it was done in a very narrow circle. Only six people knew about the proposed sale: Alexander II, Konstantin Romanov, Alexander Gorchakov (Minister of Foreign Affairs), Mikhail Reitern (Minister of Finance), Nikolai Krabbe (Minister of the Navy), and Edaurd Steckl (Russian envoy to the United States). The fact that Alaska was sold to America became known only two months after the transaction. Its initiator is traditionally considered the Minister of Finance Reuters.

A year before the transfer of Alaska, he sent a special note to Alexander II, in which he pointed out the need for the strictest economy and emphasized that for the normal functioning of the empire, a three-year foreign loan of 15 million rubles was required. in year. Thus, even the lower limit of the transaction amount, indicated by Reuters at 5 million rubles, could cover a third of the annual loan. In addition, the state paid annual subsidies to the Russian-American Company, and the sale of Alaska saved Russia from these expenses. RAK did not receive a penny from the sale of Alaska.

Even before the historical note of the Minister of Finance, the idea of ​​selling Alaska was expressed by the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia Muravyov-Amursky. He said that it would be in Russia's interests to improve relations with the United States in order to strengthen its positions on the Asian coast of the Pacific Ocean, to be friends with America against the British.

Alaska was a real gold mine for Russia. In the literal and figurative sense. One of the most expensive acquisitions of Alaska was the valuable fur of the sea otter, which cost more than gold, but due to the greed and short-sightedness of the miners, by the forties of the 19th century, valuable animals were practically destroyed. In addition, oil and gold were discovered in Alaska. Oil at that time was used for medicinal purposes, while the gold found in Alaska, ironically, became one of the incentives to sell Alaska as soon as possible.

American prospectors began to arrive in Alaska, and the Russian government rightly feared that American troops would follow the prospectors. Russia was not ready for war. Giving away Alaska without getting a penny for it was imprudent to say the least.

Mormons and Creeping Colonization

Ten years before the sale of Alaska, E.A. Stekl sent a dispatch to St. Petersburg in 1857, in which he stated a rumor about the possible emigration of representatives of the religious sect of Mormons from the USA to Russian America, which the American President John Buchanan himself jokingly hinted at . Although it was only rumors, Stekl wrote with concern that in the event of a mass resettlement of American sectarians in Alaska, the Russian government would face an alternative: to offer armed resistance or give up part of its territory.

In addition, there was a "creeping colonization", which consisted in the gradual resettlement of the British and Americans in the territory of Russian America and adjacent lands. AT At the beginning of the 1860s, British smugglers began to settle on Russian territory in the southern part of Arch. Alexander, despite the formal prohibitions of the colonial administration. Sooner or later, this could lead to tension and military conflicts.

On October 18, 1867, at 3:30 p.m., the flag was changed on the flagpole in front of the house of the chief ruler of Alaska. American and Russian troops lined up at the flagpole. On a signal, two non-commissioned officers began to lower the flag of the Russian-American company. The ceremony did not lose a degree of solemnity until the flag got tangled in the ropes at the very top, and the painter did not break. By order of the Russian commissar, several sailors rushed to climb up to unravel the flag, which hung on the mast in tatters. They didn’t have time to shout from below to the sailor, who was the first to reach him, so that he would not throw the flag down, but would get down with him, when he threw it from above: the flag fell right on the Russian bayonets. Conspiracy theorists and mystics should rejoice in this place.

Eduard Stekl played a significant role in the sale of Alaska. Since 1850, he acted as chargé d'affaires of the Russian embassy in Washington, and in 1854 he took the post of envoy. Glass was married to an American woman and was deeply integrated into the upper echelons of American society. Extensive connections helped him to carry out the deal, he actively lobbied for the interests of his leadership. In order to persuade the US Senate to buy Alaska, he gave bribes and used all his connections.

Stekl was dissatisfied with his $25,000 reward and an annual pension of 6,000 rubles. Eduard Andreevich briefly arrived in St. Petersburg, but then left for Paris. Until the end of his life, he eschewed Russian society, as it did him. After the sale of Alaska, Glass fell into disrepute.

Where's the money, Zin?

The most important secret of selling Alaska lies in the question: "Where is the money?". Stekl received a check for $7,035,000 - out of the initial $7.2 million, he kept $21,000 for himself, and handed out $144,000 as bribes to senators who voted to ratify the treaty. 7 million was transferred to London by bank transfer, and already from London to St. Petersburg, the gold bars bought for this amount were transported by sea.

When converting first into pounds, and then into gold, another 1.5 million were lost, but this was not the last loss. The bark "Orkney" (Orkney), on board of which there was a precious cargo, sank on July 16, 1868 on the way to St. Petersburg. Whether there was gold in it at that time, or whether it did not leave the limits of Foggy Albion at all, is unknown. The insurance company that insured the ship and cargo declared itself bankrupt, and the damage was only partially reimbursed.

Most likely, there was no gold on Orkney. It was not found during the search operation. Where did it go - the main mystery of the sale of Alaska. There is a version that this money went to purchase materials for construction roads, but it is much more interesting to think that the money mysteriously disappeared, otherwise what kind of mystery is it?

Alexey Rudevich

On March 18/30, 1867, Alaska and the Aleutian Islands were sold by Alexander II to the United States.

On October 18, 1867, in the capital of Russian America, in common parlance - Alaska, the city of Novoarkhangelsk, an official ceremony was held to transfer Russian possessions on the American continent to the possession of the United States of America. Thus ended the history of Russian discoveries and economic development of the northwestern part of America.Since then, Alaska has been a US state.

Geography

Country name translated from Aleutian "a-la-as-ka" means "Big Land".

Alaska Territory includes into yourself Aleutian Islands (110 islands and many rocks), alexandra archipelago (about 1100 islands and rocks, the total area of ​​​​which is 36.8 thousand km²), St. Lawrence Island (80 km from Chukotka), Pribilof Islands , Kodiak Island (the second largest US island after the island of Hawaii), and huge continental part . The islands of Alaska stretch for almost 1,740 kilometers. On the Aleutian Islands there are many volcanoes, both extinct and active. Alaska is washed by the Arctic and Pacific oceans.

The continental part of Alaska is a peninsula of the same name, about 700 km long. In general, Alaska is a mountainous country - there are more volcanoes in Alaska than in all other US states. The highest peak in North America Mount McKinley (6193m altitude) is also located in Alaska.

McKinley is the tallest mountain in the United States.

Another feature of Alaska is a huge number of lakes (their number exceeds 3 million!). Swamps and permafrost cover about 487,747 km² (more than Sweden). Glaciers occupy about 41,440 km² (which corresponds to the entire territory of Holland!).

Alaska is considered a country with a harsh climate. Indeed, in most parts of Alaska, the climate is arctic and subarctic continental, with severe winters, with frosts down to minus 50 degrees. But the climate of the island part and the Pacific coast of Alaska is incomparably better than, for example, in Chukotka. On the Pacific coast of Alaska, the climate is maritime, relatively mild and humid. A warm stream of the Alaska current turns here from the south and washes Alaska from the south. The mountains hold back the northern cold winds. As a result, winters in the coastal and insular part of Alaska are very mild. Minus temperatures in winter are very rare. The sea in southern Alaska does not freeze in winter.

Alaska has always been rich in fish: salmon, flounder, cod, herring, edible shellfish and marine mammals abounded in coastal waters. On the fertile soil of these lands, thousands of plant species suitable for food grew, and in the forests there were many animals, especially fur-bearing ones. This explains why Russian industrialists sought to Alaska with its favorable natural conditions and richer fauna than in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk.

Discovery of Alaska by Russian explorers

The history of Alaska before it was sold to the United States in 1867 is one of the pages in the history of Russia.

The first people came to the territory of Alaska from Siberia about 15-20 thousand years ago. Then Eurasia and North America were connected by an isthmus located on the site of the Bering Strait. By the time the Russians arrived in the 18th century, the native inhabitants of Alaska were divided into Aleuts, Eskimos and Indians belonging to the Athabaskan group.

It is assumed that the first Europeans to see the shores of Alaska were members of the expedition of Semyon Dezhnev in 1648 , who were the first to sail along the Bering Strait from the Icy Sea to the Warm Sea.According to legend, Dezhnev's boats, which had gone astray, landed on the coast of Alaska.

In 1697, the conqueror of Kamchatka, Vladimir Atlasov, reported to Moscow that opposite the “Necessary Nose” (Cape Dezhnev) there was a large island in the sea, from where in winter the ice "foreigners come, speak their own language and bring sables ...". An experienced industrialist Atlasov immediately determined that these sables differ from the Yakut ones, and for the worse: “sables are thin, and those sables have striped tails about a quarter of an arshin.” It was, of course, not about the sable, but about the raccoon - a beast, at that time unknown in Russia.

However, at the end of the 17th century, Peter's transformations began in Russia, as a result of which the state was not up to the discovery of new lands. This explains a certain pause in the further advance of the Russians to the east.

Russian industrialists began to attract new lands only at the beginning of the 18th century, as fur stocks in eastern Siberia were depleted.Peter I immediately, as soon as circumstances allowed, began to organize scientific expeditions in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean.In 1725, shortly before his death, Peter the Great sent Captain Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator in the Russian service, to explore the sea coast of Siberia. Peter sent Bering on an expedition to study and describe the northeastern coast of Siberia . In 1728, Bering's expedition re-discovered the strait, which was first seen by Semyon Dezhnev. However, because of the fog, Bering was unable to see the outlines of the North American continent on the horizon.

It's believed that the first Europeans to land on the coast of Alaska were members of the crew of the ship "Saint Gabriel" under the command of surveyor Mikhail Gvozdev and navigator Ivan Fedorov. They were members Chukchi expedition 1729-1735 under the leadership of A. F. Shestakov and D. I. Pavlutsky.

Travelers landed on the coast of Alaska on August 21, 1732 . Fedorov was the first to mark both shores of the Bering Strait on the map. But, returning to his homeland, Fedorov soon dies, and Gvozdev finds himself in Biron's dungeons, and the great discovery of the Russian pioneers remains unknown for a long time.

The next step in the "discovery of Alaska" was Second Kamchatka expedition famous explorer Vitus Bering in 1740 - 1741 An island, a sea and a strait between Chukotka and Alaska were subsequently named after him - Vitus Bering.

The expedition of Vitus Bering, who by this time had been promoted to captain-commander, set off for the shores of America from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on June 8, 1741 on two ships: St. Peter (under the command of Bering) and St. Paul (under the command of Alexei Chirikov). Each ship had its own team of scientists and researchers on board. They crossed the Pacific Ocean and July 15, 1741 discovered the northwestern shores of America. The ship's doctor, Georg Wilhelm Steller, landed on the shore and collected samples of shells and herbs, discovered new species of birds and animals, from which the researchers concluded that their ship had reached a new continent.

Chirikov's ship "Saint Pavel" returned on October 8 to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. On the way back, the Umnak Islands were discovered, Unalaska and others. Bering's ship was carried by the current and wind to the east of the Kamchatka Peninsula - to the Commander Islands. At one of the islands, the ship was wrecked, and it was thrown ashore. Travelers were forced to spend the winter on the island, which now bears the name Bering Island . On this island, the captain-commander died without surviving the harsh winter. In the spring, the surviving crew members built a boat from the wreckage of the wrecked St. Peter and returned to Kamchatka only in September. Thus ended the second Russian expedition, which discovered the northwestern coast of the North American continent.

Russian America

The authorities in St. Petersburg reacted with indifference to the opening of Bering's expedition.The Russian Empress Elizabeth had no interest in the lands of North America. She issued a decree obliging the local population to pay a fee for trade, but did not take any further steps towards developing relations with Alaska.For the next 50 years, Russia showed very little interest in this land.

The initiative in the development of new lands beyond the Bering Strait was taken by the fishermen, who (unlike St. Petersburg) immediately appreciated the reports of the members of the Bering expedition about the extensive rookeries of the sea animal.

In 1743, Russian traders and fur hunters established very close contact with the Aleuts. In 1743-1755, 22 fishing expeditions took place, fishing on the Commander and Near Aleutian Islands. In 1756-1780. 48 expeditions were engaged in fishing throughout the Aleutian Islands, the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island and the southern coast of modern Alaska. Fishing expeditions were organized and financed by various private companies of Siberian merchants.

Merchant ships off the coast of Alaska

Until the 1770s, Grigory Ivanovich Shelekhov, Pavel Sergeevich Lebedev-Lastochkin, as well as the brothers Grigory and Pyotr Panov were considered the richest and most famous among the merchants and fur buyers in Alaska.

Sloops with a displacement of 30-60 tons were sent from Okhotsk and Kamchatka to the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. The remoteness of the fishing areas led to the fact that the expeditions lasted up to 6-10 years. Shipwrecks, hunger, scurvy, skirmishes with natives, and sometimes with the crews of ships of a competing company - all this was the everyday life of the “Russian Columbuses”.

One of the first to establish a permanent Russian settlement on Unalashka (an island in the archipelago of the Aleutian Islands), discovered in 1741 during the Second Bering Expedition.

Unalaska on the map

Subsequently, Analashka became the main Russian port in the region, through which the fur trade was carried out. The main base of the future Russian-American Company was also located here. In 1825 was built Russian Orthodox Church of the Ascension .

Church of the Ascension on Unalaska

The founder of the parish, Innokenty (Veniaminov) - Saint Innocent of Moscow , - created with the help of local residents the first Aleutian script and translated the Bible into the Aleutian language.

Unalaska today

In 1778 he arrived at Unalaska English explorer James Cook . According to him, the total number of Russian industrialists who were in the Aleuts and in the waters of Alaska was about 500 people.

After 1780, Russian industrialists penetrated far along the Pacific coast of North America. Sooner or later, the Russians would begin to penetrate deep into the mainland of the open lands of America.

The real discoverer and creator of Russian America was Grigory Ivanovich Shelekhov. A merchant, a native of the city of Rylsk in the Kursk province, Shelekhov moved to Siberia, where he made a fortune in the fur trade. Starting in 1773, the 26-year-old Shelekhov began to independently send ships to sea fishing.

In August 1784, during his main expedition on 3 ships ("Three Hierarchs", "Saint Simeon the God-bearer and Anna the Prophetess" and "Archangel Michael"), he reached Kodiak Islands where he began to build a fortress and a settlement. From there it was easier to swim to the shores of Alaska. It was thanks to the energy and foresight of Shelekhov that the foundation of Russian possessions was laid in these new lands. In 1784-86. Shelekhov also began to build two more fortified settlements in America. His settlement plans included flat streets, schools, libraries, parks. Returning to European Russia, Shelekhov put forward a proposal to start a mass resettlement of Russians in new lands.

At the same time, Shelekhov was not in the public service. He remained a merchant, industrialist, entrepreneur, acting with the permission of the government. Shelekhov himself, however, was distinguished by a remarkable state mind, perfectly understanding the possibilities of Russia in this region. No less important was the fact that Shelekhov was well versed in people and gathered a team of like-minded people who created Russian America.

In 1791, Shelekhov took as his assistant, a 43-year-old who had just arrived in Alaska. Alexandra Baranova - a merchant from the ancient city of Kargopol, who at one time moved to Siberia for business purposes. Baranov was appointed chief manager of Kodiak Island . He possessed unselfishness, surprising for an entrepreneur - managing Russian America for more than two decades, controlling multi-million sums, providing high profits to the shareholders of the Russian-American Company, which we will discuss below, he did not leave himself any fortune!

Baranov moved the company's representative office to the new city of Pavlovskaya Gavan, founded by him in the north of Kodiak Island. Now Pavlovsk is the main city of Kodiak Island.

In the meantime, Shelekhov's company forced out the rest of the competitors from the region. Myself Shelekhov died in 1795 , in the midst of their endeavors. True, his proposals for the further development of American territories with the help of a commercial company, thanks to his associates and associates, were further developed.

Russian-American Company

In 1799, the Russian-American Company (RAC) was created, which became the main owner of all Russian possessions in America (as well as in the Kuriles). She received from Paul I monopoly rights to fur trade, trade and the discovery of new lands in the northeastern part of the Pacific Ocean, designed to represent and protect Russia's interests in the Pacific Ocean with her own means. Since 1801, Alexander I and the Grand Dukes, major statesmen have become shareholders of the company.

Shelekhov's son-in-law became one of the founders of the RAC Nikolay Rezanov, whose name is known today to many as the name of the hero of the musical "Juno and Avos". The first head of the company was Alexander Baranov , which was officially named Chief Ruler .

The creation of the RAC was based on Shelekhov's proposals to create a commercial company of a special kind, capable of carrying out, along with commercial activities, also engaged in the colonization of lands, the construction of forts and cities.

Until the 1820s, the company's profits allowed them to develop the territories themselves, so, according to Baranov, in 1811 the profit from the sale of sea otter skins amounted to 4.5 million rubles, a huge amount of money at that time. The profitability of the Russian-American Company was 700-1100% per year. This was facilitated by the great demand for the skins of sea otters, their cost from the end of the 18th century to the 20s of the 19th century increased from 100 rubles per skin to 300 (sable cost about 20 times less).

In the early 1800s, Baranov established trade with Hawaii. Baranov was a real Russian statesman, and under other circumstances (for example, another emperor on the throne) The Hawaiian Islands could become a Russian naval base and resort . From Hawaii, Russian ships carried salt, sandalwood, tropical fruits, coffee, and sugar. They planned to populate the islands with Pomor Old Believers from the Arkhangelsk province. Since the local princelings were constantly at war with each other, Baranov offered patronage to one of them. In May 1816, one of the leaders - Tomari (Kaumualiya) - officially transferred to Russian citizenship. By 1821, several Russian outposts had been built in Hawaii. The Russians could also control the Marshall Islands. By 1825, Russian power was becoming stronger, Tomari became king, the children of the leaders studied in the capital of the Russian Empire, and the first Russian-Hawaiian dictionary was created. But in the end, St. Petersburg abandoned the idea of ​​making the Hawaiian and Marshall Islands Russian . Although their strategic position is obvious, their development was also economically beneficial.

Thanks to Baranov, a number of Russian settlements were founded in Alaska, in particular Novoarkhangelsk (today - Sitka ).

Novoarkhangelsk

Novoarkhangelsk in the 50-60s. XIX century looked like an average provincial town in the outskirts of Russia. It had a ruler's palace, a theater, a club, a cathedral, a bishop's house, a seminary, a Lutheran prayer house, an observatory, a music school, a museum and a library, a nautical school, two hospitals and a pharmacy, several schools, a spiritual consistory, a drawing room, an admiralty, port buildings, an arsenal, several industrial enterprises, shops, stores and warehouses. Houses in Novoarkhangelsk were built on stone foundations, the roofs were made of iron.

Under the leadership of Baranov, the Russian-American Company expanded its scope of interests: in California, just 80 kilometers north of San Francisco, the southernmost settlement of Russia in North America was built - Fort Ross. Russian settlers in California were engaged in fishing for sea otters, agriculture and cattle breeding. Trade links were established with New York, Boston, California and Hawaii. The California colony was to become the main supplier of food to Alaska, which at that time belonged to Russia.

Fort Ross in 1828. Russian fortress in California

But the hopes were not justified. In general, Fort Ross turned out to be unprofitable for the Russian-American Company. Russia was forced to abandon it. In 1841 Fort Ross was sold for 42,857 rubles to Mexican citizen John Sutter, a German industrialist who got into the history of California thanks to his sawmill in Coloma, on the territory of which a gold mine was found in 1848, which started the famous California Gold Rush. As payment, Sutter supplied wheat to Alaska, but, according to P. Golovin, he did not pay almost 37.5 thousand rubles in addition.

Russians in Alaska founded settlements, built churches, created schools, a library, a museum, shipyards and hospitals for local residents, launched Russian ships.

A number of manufacturing industries have been established in Alaska. Especially noteworthy is the development of shipbuilding. Shipbuilders have been building ships in Alaska since 1793. For 1799-1821. 15 ships were built in Novoarkhangelsk. In 1853, the first steam ship in the Pacific Ocean was launched in Novoarkhangelsk, and not a single part was imported: absolutely everything, including the steam engine, was manufactured locally. Russian Novoarkhangelsk was the first point of steam shipbuilding on the entire western coast of America.

Novoarkhangelsk

The city of Sitka (former Novoarkhangelsk) today

At the same time, formally, the Russian-American Company was not a fully state institution.

In 1824, Russia signs an agreement with the governments of the USA and England. The boundaries of Russian possessions in North America were determined at the state level.

1830 world map

It is impossible not to admire the fact that only about 400-800 Russian people managed to master such vast territories and water areas, making their way to California and Hawaii. In 1839, the Russian population of Alaska was 823 people, which was the maximum in the history of Russian America. Usually there were a few less Russians.

It was the lack of people that played a fatal role in the history of Russian America. The desire to attract new settlers was a constant and almost impossible desire of all Russian administrators in Alaska.

The basis of the economic life of Russian America remained the extraction of marine mammals. On average for the 1840-60s. up to 18 thousand fur seals were mined per year. River beavers, otters, foxes, arctic foxes, bears, sables, as well as walrus tusks were also hunted.

The Russian Orthodox Church was active in Russian America. As early as 1794 he began missionary work Valaam monk Herman . By the middle of the 19th century, most Alaska natives had been baptized. The Aleuts and, to a lesser extent, the Indians of Alaska, are still Orthodox believers.

In 1841, an episcopal see was established in Alaska. By the time Alaska was sold, the Russian Orthodox Church had 13,000 flocks here. In terms of the number of Orthodox Christians, Alaska still ranks first in the United States. The ministers of the church have made a huge contribution to the spread of literacy among the Alaska natives. Literacy among the Aleuts was at a high level - on the island of St. Paul, the entire adult population could read in their native language.

Sale of Alaska

Oddly enough, but the fate of Alaska, according to a number of historians, was decided by the Crimea, or rather, the Crimean War (1853-1856). The Russian government began to see ideas about strengthening relations with the United States as opposed to Great Britain.

Despite the fact that the Russians founded settlements in Alaska, built churches, created schools and hospitals for local residents, there was no truly deep and thorough development of American lands. After the resignation of Alexander Baranov in 1818 from the post of ruler of the Russian-American Company, due to illness, there were no leaders of this magnitude in Russian America.

The interests of the Russian-American Company were mainly limited to the extraction of furs, and by the middle of the 19th century, the number of sea otters in Alaska had sharply decreased due to uncontrolled hunting.

The geopolitical situation did not contribute to the development of Alaska as a Russian colony. In 1856, Russia was defeated in the Crimean War, and relatively close to Alaska was the English colony of British Columbia (the westernmost province of modern Canada).

Contrary to popular belief, Russians were well aware of the presence of gold in Alaska . In 1848, a Russian explorer and mining engineer, Lieutenant Pyotr Doroshin, found small placers of gold on the islands of Kodiak and Sitka, the shores of the Kenai Bay near the future city of Anchorage (the largest city in Alaska today). However, the amount of precious metal discovered was small. The Russian administration, which had before its eyes an example of the "gold rush" in California, fearing the invasion of thousands of American gold miners, preferred to classify this information. Subsequently, gold was found in other parts of Alaska. But it was no longer Russian Alaska.

Besides oil discovered in Alaska . It is this fact, however absurd it may sound, that has become one of the incentives to get rid of Alaska as soon as possible. The fact is that American prospectors began to actively arrive in Alaska, and the Russian government reasonably feared that American troops would come after them. Russia was not ready for the war, and it was completely imprudent to give Alaska penniless.Russia seriously feared that it would not be able to ensure the security of its colony in America in the event of an armed conflict. The United States of America was chosen as a potential buyer of Alaska to offset the growing British influence in the region.

In this way, Alaska could become the cause of a new war for Russia.

The initiative to sell Alaska to the United States of America belonged to the emperor's brother, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich Romanov, who served as head of the Russian Naval Staff. Back in 1857, he suggested that his elder brother-emperor sell "extra territory", because the discovery of gold deposits there will certainly attract the attention of England - a long-time sworn enemy of the Russian Empire, and Russia is not able to defend it, and there really is no military fleet in the northern seas . If England seizes Alaska, then Russia will receive absolutely nothing for it, and in this way it will be possible to gain at least some money, save face and strengthen friendly relations with the United States. It should be noted that in the 19th century, the Russian Empire and the United States developed extremely friendly relations - Russia refused to help the West regain control over North American territories, which infuriated the monarchs of Great Britain and inspired the colonists of America to continue the liberation struggle.

However, consultations with the US government about a possible sale, in fact, negotiations began only after the end of the American Civil War.

In December 1866, Emperor Alexander II made the final decision. The borders of the sold territory and the minimum price - five million dollars were determined.

In March, the Russian Ambassador to the United States of America Baron Eduard Stekl made a proposal to sell Alaska to US Secretary of State William Seward.

Signing of the Alaska Sale, March 30, 1867 Robert C. Chu, William G. Seward, William Hunter, Vladimir Bodisko, Edouard Steckl, Charles Sumner, Frederick Seward

Negotiations were successful and On March 30, 1867, an agreement was signed in Washington according to which Russia sold Alaska for $7,200,000 in gold.(at the rate of 2009 - approximately $108 million in gold). The United States ceded: the entire Alaska Peninsula (along the 141° meridian west of Greenwich), a coastal strip 10 miles south of Alaska along the western coast of British Columbia; the archipelago of Alexander; Aleutian Islands with Attu Island; the islands of the Middle, Krys'i, Lis'i, Andreyanovsk, Shumagin, Trinity, Umnak, Unimak, Kodiak, Chirikov, Afognak and other smaller islands; islands in the Bering Sea: St. Lawrence, St. Matthew, Nunivak and the Pribylov Islands - St. George and St. Paul. The total area of ​​the sold territories amounted to more than 1.5 million square meters. km. Russia sold Alaska for less than 5 cents per hectare.

On October 18, 1867, an official ceremony was held in Novoarkhangelsk (Sitka) for the transfer of Alaska to the United States. Russian and American soldiers marched in solemn march, the Russian flag was lowered and the US flag was raised.

Painting by N. Leitze "Signing the contract for the sale of Alaska" (1867)

Immediately after the transfer of Alaska to the United States, American troops entered Sitka and looted the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, private houses and shops, and General Jefferson Davis ordered all Russians to leave their homes to the Americans.

On August 1, 1868, Baron Stekl was presented with a US Treasury check with which the United States paid Russia for its new lands.

Check issued to the Russian Ambassador by the Americans when buying Alaska

notice, that Russia never received money for Alaska , since part of this money was appropriated by the Russian ambassador in Washington, Baron Steckl, part went to bribes to American senators. Baron Steckl then instructed Riggs Bank to transfer $7.035 million to London, to the Barings Bank. Both of these banks have now ceased to exist. The trace of this money has been lost in time, giving rise to a variety of theories. According to one of them, the check was cashed in London, and gold bars were purchased for it, which were planned to be transferred to Russia. However, the cargo was never delivered. The ship "Orkney" (Orkney), on board which was a precious cargo, sank on July 16, 1868 on the way to St. Petersburg. Whether there was gold on it at that time, or whether it did not leave the limits of Foggy Albion at all, is unknown. The insurance company that insured the ship and cargo declared itself bankrupt, and the damage was only partially reimbursed. (Now the site of the Orkney sinking is in the territorial waters of Finland. In 1975, a joint Soviet-Finnish expedition examined the area of ​​\u200b\u200bits flooding and found the wreckage of the ship. The study of these found that there was a powerful explosion and a strong fire on the ship. However, gold could not be found - most likely, it remained in England.). As a result, Russia never received anything from the abandonment of some of its possessions.

It should be noted that There is no official text of the agreement on the sale of Alaska in Russian. The deal was not approved by the Russian Senate and the State Council.

In 1868, the Russian-American Company was liquidated. During its elimination, part of the Russians were taken from Alaska to their homeland. The last group of Russians, numbering 309 people, left Novoarkhangelsk on November 30, 1868. The other part - about 200 people - was left in Novoarkhangelsk due to the lack of ships. They were simply FORGOTTEN by the St. Petersburg authorities. Most of the Creoles (descendants from mixed marriages of Russians with Aleuts, Eskimos and Indians) remained in Alaska.

Rise of Alaska

After 1867, the part of the North American continent ceded by Russia to the USA received Alaska Territory status.

For the United States, Alaska became the site of the "gold rush" in the 90s. XIX century, sung by Jack London, and then the "oil fever" in the 70s. XX century.

In 1880, the largest ore deposit in Alaska, Juneau, was discovered. At the beginning of the 20th century, the largest alluvial gold deposit, Fairbanks, was discovered. By the mid 80s. XX in Alaska in total produced almost a thousand tons of gold.

To dateAlaska ranks 2nd in the US (after Nevada) in terms of gold production . The state provides about 8% of silver mining in the United States of America. The Red Dog Mine in northern Alaska is the largest zinc mine in the world and provides about 10% of the world's production of this metal, as well as significant amounts of silver and lead.

Oil was found in Alaska 100 years after the conclusion of the agreement - in the early 70s. XX century. TodayAlaska ranks 2nd in the US in the production of "black gold", 20% of American oil is produced here. Huge reserves of oil and gas have been explored in the north of the state. The Prudhoe Bay field is the largest in the United States (8% of US oil production).

January 3, 1959 territoryAlaska was converted to49th state of the USA.

Alaska is the largest US state in terms of territory - 1,518 thousand km² (17% of the US territory). In general, today Alaska is one of the most promising regions of the world from the transport and energy point of view. For the United States, this is both a key point on the way to Asia and a springboard for more active development of resources and the presentation of territorial claims in the Arctic.

The history of Russian America serves as an example not only of the courage of explorers, the energy of Russian entrepreneurs, but also of the venality and betrayal of the upper spheres of Russia.

Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK

For more than a century, the Russian Empire owned Alaska and the adjacent islands, until in 1867 Alexander II ceded these lands to the United States for more than seven million dollars. According to an alternative version, Alaska was not sold, but leased for a hundred years, but Comrade Khrushchev actually presented it to the Americans in 1957. Moreover, some are convinced that the peninsula is still ours, because the ship that carried the gold as payment for the deal sank.

One way or another, this whole story with Alaska has become clouded over the years. We propose to figure out how it happened that part of another continent became part of Russia and why they decided to sell the land on which 200 million dollars of gold was mined in 30 years after the sale.

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Turnips and potatoes for you

In 1741, the outstanding Russian traveler of Danish origin Vitus Bering crossed the strait between Eurasia and North America (which was later named after him) and became the first person to explore the coast of Alaska. Half a century later, a merchant and part-time navigator Grigory Shelikhov arrived there, who taught the local population to turnips and potatoes, spread Orthodoxy among the natives, and even founded the agricultural colony "Glory to Russia". Since that time, Alaska began to belong to the Russian Empire as a discoverer, and its inhabitants, unexpectedly for themselves, became subjects of the emperor.

Indian diversions

View of the capital of Russian Alaska - Novo-Arkhangelsk.

The Indians, and one can understand them, were unhappy that foreigners seized power over their lands, and even forced them to eat turnips. They expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that in 1802 they burned the Mikhailovsky fortress, which was founded by the company of Shelikhov and his business partners. Together with the church, elementary school, shipyard, workshops and arsenal. And three years later, another stronghold of the Russians was set on fire. These audacious undertakings would never have succeeded for the natives if they had not been armed by American and British entrepreneurs.

No matter what happens

A lot of money was pumped out of Alaska: sea otter fur cost more than gold. But the greed and short-sightedness of the miners led to the fact that already in the 1840s there were practically no valuable animals left on the peninsula. True, by that time oil and gold had been discovered in Alaska. This, paradoxically, was the most important incentive to get rid of these territories as soon as possible. The fact is that American prospectors began to actively arrive in Alaska, and the Russian government reasonably feared that American troops would come after them or, even worse, the British would rush in. The empire was not ready for war, and it would be completely stupid to give Alaska for thanks.

Onerous Acquisition

The first page of the treaty "on the cession of the Russian North American Colonies to the United States of North America."

The idea to sell Alaska, while it is still possible, was born by the Emperor's brother Konstantin Romanov, who served as head of the Russian Naval Staff. This proposal was approved by the autocrat Alexander II and on May 3, 1867, he signed an agreement on the sale of overseas lands to the United States for 7.2 million dollars (at the current rate - about 119 million in gold). On average, it turned out to be somewhere under four and a half dollars per square kilometer with all the real estate located on it.

In accordance with the procedure, the treaty was submitted to the US Congress. The Committee on Foreign Affairs (you can look at the faces of the members of this committee in the above illustration) expressed doubts about the advisability of such a burdensome acquisition in a situation when the civil war had just ended in the country. Nevertheless, the treaty was ratified, and the Stars and Stripes flew over Alaska.

Where's the money, Zin?

Check for the purchase of Alaska. Issued in the name of Eduard Andreevich Stekl.

Baron Eduard Stekl, Chargé d'Affaires at the Russian Embassy in Washington, received a check for $7,200,000. He took 21,000 for his labors, and distributed 144,000 as promised bribes to senators who voted for the ratification of the treaty. The rest was sent to London by bank transfer. The gold bars purchased for this amount were taken by sea to St. Petersburg. When converting the currency, first into pounds, and then into gold, they lost about one and a half million.

But it's still half the trouble. The ship "Orkney", carrying gold bars, sank on the way to the Russian capital. The company that registered the cargo declared itself bankrupt, and the damage was only partially reimbursed. Meanwhile, a gold rush began on the peninsula, and, as already mentioned, over 30 years gold was mined there for 200 million dollars.

Sale of Alaska- a deal between the governments of the Russian Empire and the North American United States, as a result of which in 1867 Russia sold its possessions in North America for 7.2 million dollars (with a total area of ​​1,518,800 km²).

For the first time, the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia N. N. Muravyov-Amursky made a proposal to sell Alaska in 1853.

Alaska, discovered for the Old World in 1732 by a Russian expedition led by M. S. Gvozdev and I. Fedorov, was the possession of Russia in North America. At first, it was mastered not by the state, but by private individuals, but, starting in 1799, by a specially established monopoly, the Russian-American Company (RAC).

The area of ​​the sold territory was 586,412 square miles (1,518,800 km²) and was practically uninhabited - according to the RAC itself, at the time of the sale, the population of all Russian Alaska and the Aleutian Islands was about 2,500 Russians and up to about 60,000 Indians and Eskimos. At the beginning of the 19th century, Alaska generated income through the fur trade, but by the middle of the century it began to appear that the costs of maintaining and protecting this remote and vulnerable, from a geopolitical point of view, territory would outweigh the potential profit.

The first question of the sale of Alaska to the United States before the Russian government was raised by the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, Count N. N. Muravyov-Amursky, in 1853, indicating that this, in his opinion, was inevitable, and at the same time would strengthen Russia's position in the Asian Pacific coast in the face of increasing penetration of the British Empire:

“... now, with the invention and development of railways, more than before, we must be convinced of the idea that the North American States will inevitably spread throughout North America, and we cannot but bear in mind that sooner or later they will have to cede North American our possessions. It was impossible, however, with this consideration not to have in mind another thing: which is very natural for Russia if you do not own all of East Asia; then dominate the entire Asian coast of the Eastern Ocean. Due to circumstances, we allowed the British to invade this part of Asia ... but this can still be improved by our close connection with the North American States.

( N. N. Muravyov-Amursky)

It should be noted that in this space of more than 1.5 million square kilometers at a single point in time, no more than 2.5 thousand Russians lived, who were lost against the backdrop of almost 70 thousand Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts. It is this ratio that explains the conventionality of the term "Russian" in the title - the Russians here constituted a national minority.

However, it was this minority that began the active development of the region, which, sadly, in fact turned into a predatory plunder of its natural reserves. The colonists were mainly engaged in the trade of fur-bearing animals, both land and sea. The main prey were sea otters, which were exterminated in the most barbaric ways. By the way, it was thanks to such a "sea robbery" that the Russian settlers completely knocked out the friendly and harmless Steller's cow - a marine mammal from the siren detachment (it was, however, hunted not for the sake of fur, but for food purposes).

The destruction of American ecosystems was carried out as follows: since there were few Russians in the colony, Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts were used as the main labor force. Merchants and industrialists, allegedly acting on behalf of the "White Tsar" (that is, the Sovereign Emperor), imposed heavy tribute (yasak) on local communities. For not fulfilling the “plan”, the natives were beaten with whips, put in stocks, ruined their villages, taking women and children into debt slavery. And sometimes the colonists staged real robbery raids on the villages of the natives, taking away all their skins and food supplies - after such raids, the only thing left for the unfortunate was to go into bondage to the "jambs" (as all Russians were called in Alaska, distorting the word "Cossack") .

Not surprisingly, the local population fiercely hated the aliens. Real Cossacks also added fuel to the fire, who constantly stole women from the natives and raped them. Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church did not behave particularly well either, destroying Aboriginal places of worship and persecuting shamans. In a word, unlike what the then Russian press wrote about Russian America, there was no peaceful existence of aliens and natives.

(Anton Evseev) ***

Directly to the east of Alaska were the Canadian possessions of the British Empire (formally the Hudson's Bay Company). Relations between Russia and Britain were defined by geopolitical rivalry and were sometimes openly hostile. During the Crimean War, when the British fleet tried to land troops in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the possibility of a direct confrontation in America became real. Under these conditions, in the spring of 1854, the American government, which wanted to prevent the occupation of Alaska by the British Empire, received a proposal for a fictitious (temporarily, for a period of three years) sale by the Russian-American Company of all its possessions and property for 7 million 600 thousand dollars. The RAC entered into such an agreement with the American-Russian Trading Company in San Francisco, controlled by the US government, but it did not enter into force, since the RAC managed to negotiate with the British Hudson's Bay Company.

Sales negotiations

Formally, the next sale proposal came from the Russian envoy in Washington, Baron Eduard Stekl, but this time the initiator of the deal was Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich (the younger brother of Alexander II), who first voiced this proposal in the spring of 1857 in a special letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs A.M. Gorchakov. Gorchakov supported the proposal. The position of the Foreign Ministry was to study the issue, and it was decided to postpone its implementation until the expiration of the privileges of the RAC in 1862. And then the issue temporarily became irrelevant due to the American Civil War.

On December 16, 1866, a special meeting was held, which was attended by Alexander II, Grand Duke Konstantin, the ministers of finance and the naval ministry, and the Russian envoy in Washington, Baron Eduard Stekl. All participants approved the idea of ​​the sale. At the suggestion of the Ministry of Finance, a threshold amount was determined - at least 5 million dollars in gold. December 22, 1866 Alexander II approved the border of the territory.

In March 1867, Glassl arrived in Washington and reminded Secretary of State William Seward "of the proposals that have been made in the past for the sale of our colonies" and added that "the imperial government is now disposed to enter into negotiations." Having secured the consent of President Johnson, Seward already during the second meeting with Steckl, held on March 14, was able to discuss the main provisions of the future treaty.

On March 18, 1867, President Johnson signed official credentials to Seward, and negotiations between the Secretary of State and Stekl took place almost immediately, during which a draft treaty was agreed in general terms for the purchase of Russian possessions in America for $7.2 million.

The signing of the treaty took place on March 30, 1867 in Washington. The treaty was signed in English and French (the "diplomatic" languages).

On May 3 (15), 1867, the treaty was signed by Emperor Alexander II; on October 6 (18), 1867, the Governing Senate adopted a decree on the execution of the treaty, the Russian text of which, under the heading "Highest ratified convention on the cession of the Russian North American Colonies by the North American United States" was published in the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire No. 44518. The cost of the transaction amounted to 7.2 million dollars in gold (at the rate of 2009 - approximately 108 million dollars in gold).

The entire Alaska Peninsula (along the line running along meridian 141° west of Greenwich), a coastal strip 10 miles south of Alaska along the western coast of British Columbia passed to the USA; Alexandra archipelago; Aleutian Islands with the island of Attu; the islands of the Middle, Krys'i, Fox, Andreyanovsky, Shumagina, Trinity, Umnak, Unimak, Kodiak, Chirikov, Afognak and other smaller islands; islands in the Bering Sea: St. Lawrence, St. Matthew, Nunivak and the Pribylov Islands - St. George and St. Paul. The total amount of land sold was about 1,519,000², therefore, 4 dollars 73 cents were paid per square kilometer, that is, 1.9 cents per acre. Together with the territory, all real estate, all colonial archives, official and historical documents related to the transferred territories were transferred to the United States.

In accordance with the usual procedure, the treaty was submitted to Congress. As the session of Congress ended just that day, the president called an emergency executive session of the Senate.

The fate of the treaty was in the hands of members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The members of the committee at that time were: Charles Sumner of Massachusetts - chairman, Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, William Fessenden of Maine, James Harlan of Iowa, Oliver Morton of Indiana, James Paterson of New Hampshire, Raverdy Johnson of Maryland. That is, it was up to representatives of the Northeast to decide on the annexation of the territory, in which the Pacific states were primarily interested.

The US Senate, represented by the Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed doubts about the advisability of such a burdensome acquisition, especially in a situation where the country had just ended the civil war. Doubts were also expressed due to the fact that the payment was made in non-cash dollars, not gold, and not to the accounts of the Russian Ministry of Finance, but to the account of a private person (Stekl), which contradicted the terms of the agreement. However, the deal was supported in the Senate by 37 votes, with two votes against (they were Fessenden and Justin Morrill of Vermont). On May 3, the treaty was ratified. On June 8, the instruments of ratification were exchanged in Washington. Subsequently, in accordance with the established procedure, the contract was printed, and then included in the official collection of laws of the Russian Empire (No. 44518).

Ceremony of the transfer of Alaska under the jurisdiction of the United States

On Friday, October 18, 1867 at 3:30 pm, Alaska was officially ceded to the United States. From the Russian side, the protocol on the transfer was signed by a special government commissioner, captain of the 2nd rank A. A. Peshchurov. The handover ceremony took place in Novoarkhangelsk (now Sitka), aboard the American sloop Ossipi (English) Russian. October n.st.) - due to the fact that the Julian calendar was in force in Russia, and also due to the fact that the date in Russian America, which was considered to be to the east, and not to the west of St. Petersburg, coincided with the date in the continental Russia (differing by a day from the date at the same time in the United States).

On the same day, the Gregorian calendar in force in the United States was introduced and the time was synchronized with the US West Coast: as a result, the date was moved forward 11 days (+12 days difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars in the 19th century, −1 day due to the transition of the territory east of the International Date Line), and Saturday became Friday (due to the date line being moved).

Immediately after the transfer of Alaska to the United States, American troops arrived in Sitka.

Comparison of the transaction price with similar transactions of the time

$7.2 million check presented to pay for the purchase of Alaska. The amount of the check is approximately equivalent to 119 million US dollars in 2014 (see photo). By the way, according to some experts, the building of the New York District Court was more expensive than the whole of Alaska, although the cost of the building may be so high today, but not in the 19th century. In turn, the initial price is 7.2. million today - much higher.

The Russian Empire sold the hard-to-reach and uninhabited territory for 2 cents per acre (0.0474 dollars per hectare), that is, nominally one and a half times cheaper than it was sold 50 years earlier (at a different cost of a cent) by Napoleonic France (in conditions of war and successive confiscation of the French colonies by Britain) much larger (2,100,000 km²) and fully developed territory of historical Louisiana: for the port of New Orleans alone, America initially offered $ 10 million in the more “weighty” dollar of the very beginning of the 19th century. But the lands of Louisiana had to be redeemed again from their real owners - the Indians who lived on it.

At the same time that Alaska was sold, a single three-story building in the center of New York - the New York District Court, built by the Tweed Gang, cost the New York State Treasury more than the US government - all of Alaska.

Different interpretations of the history of the sale of Alaska

In Russian journalism, it is widely believed that Alaska was not actually sold, but leased for 99 years, but the USSR, for certain political reasons, did not demand it back. The same version is played out in Jeffrey Archer's novel A Matter of Honor. However, according to the overwhelming majority of historians, there is no basis for these versions, because, according to the 1867 treaty, Alaska unambiguously, finally and irrevocably becomes the full property of the United States.

Some historians also argue that Russia did not receive the gold, which sank along with the barque Orkney carrying it. Orkney) during a storm. Nevertheless, the State Historical Archive of the Russian Federation contains a document written by an unknown employee of the Ministry of Finance in the second half of 1868, stating that “For the Russian possessions in North America ceded to the North American States, 11,362,481 rubles were received from the aforementioned States. 94 [cop.]. Out of 11,362,481 rubles. 94 kop. spent abroad on the purchase of supplies for the railways: Kursk-Kyiv, Ryazan-Kozlovskaya, Moscow-Ryazanskaya, etc. 10,972,238 rubles. 4 k. The rest are 390,243 rubles. 90 k. came in cash.”

In the VIII century, before Alaska passed to America, the peninsula was part of Russia. The land was discovered in 1732, but only in the 80s did the first Russians begin to settle in a new place, which was a large peninsula with many separate ones washed by the Pacific and Arctic oceans.

For Russia, the peninsula turned out to be a real gold mine. Deposits of gold and precious metals were discovered here. And fur animals, such as sea otters, mink, fox, brought a good income. The price of fur was equal to that of precious metals. In addition, the Russian government signed a decree allowing foreign citizens to conduct business on Russian soil for a period of 20 years.

The capital of Alaska as part of Russia at that time was called Novoarkhengelsk. It was a small town with wooden and stone buildings, shops and churches. In the center of the settlement stood the ruler's house, there was a theater, a nautical school, hospitals, and industrial enterprises. The city grew very rapidly and as a result became the central port of the west coast.

After a few years of active life in Alaska, fur production dropped sharply, and foreigners involved in the oil and gold mining business were in great competition with Russian industrialists. In the late 1930s, the Russian government considered Alaska an unprofitable region and refused to invest in its development.

Who sold Alaska to the USA?

The sale of the peninsula has acquired a considerable number of myths. For a long time, the question of who sold Alaska to the United States remained open. In the history of Russia, there is a delusion that Catherine II sold the mainland to the Americans. There is also a version about the lease of Alaska for 99 years, after which Russia did not claim the rights to the peninsula. But these facts do not have scientific confirmation, since at the time of the sale of the territory more than 100 years have passed since the death of Catherine II.

The Russian side was the first to talk about the sale of Alaska during the reign of Alexander II.

There were enough reasons for getting rid of the peninsula:

1. The flow of poachers destroyed the main income of the state, which consisted of the sale of furs.
2. A lack of money in the treasury after the defeat in the Crimean War hindered the economic recovery of the Russian state, and the development of new lands in Alaska was not possible, since the costs of its maintenance and research exceeded income.
3. General N.N. Muravyov-Amursky, back in 1853, proposed to transfer the peninsula to the United States in order to strengthening its position on the Pacific coast. The vast territory of the peninsula and the gold found in its bowels attracted the attention of Russia's main enemy - England. The emperor understood that the Russian army was unable to resist a foreign state. If Alaska is captured by England, then Russia will be left with nothing. By selling the mainland to the United States, Russia will benefit and strengthen relations with the Americans.

In 1866, a representative of the Russian government, E. Stekl, came to Washington for secret negotiations on the transfer of northern lands to the United States.

How much did they sell Alaska to America for?

On March 30, 1867, the sale and purchase agreement for the transfer of Alaska to the United States was signed by both parties. The transaction price was more than 7 million dollars in gold. For Russia, this was a lot of money, as well as for America. But based on the huge area (1,519,000 km 2), the deal turned out to be very profitable for the United States: 1 square kilometer of land was valued at $4.73.

Thus, Alaska was sold, not leased. This is confirmed by an agreement with the exact amount, drawn up in English and French, since they were recognized as diplomatic at that time. The treaty stated that the territory of the mainland and the coastline stretching 10 miles to the south would become the property of the United States. All real estate, archives and historical documents were transferred with the land. Surprisingly, there is no treaty in Russian. It is known that Russia received a check for the indicated amount, but no one knows to this day whether it was cashed.

Many Russians did not even know about the existence of northern lands in the state, so information about how much Alaska was sold to America for a long time remained a secret. 2 months after the agreement, the information was made public on the back pages of newspapers. Due to illiteracy, people did not attach much importance to this fact. It is known that after Alaska passed to America, the Gregorian calendar came into force on the peninsula.

When did Alaska become an American state?

Alaska is the 49th state of the United States, the largest and richest in natural resources. On its territory there are a large number of volcanoes, lakes and rivers.

For 30 years after the purchase, Alaska was not a state due to economic weakness, sparse population and remoteness. Thanks to the Second World War, the importance of the peninsula increased. Shortly before Alaska became an American state, a huge amount of oil and minerals were discovered in its bowels. In 1959, the peninsula received statehood.

Since 1968, Alaska has been in full swing:

• development of mineral resources;
• extraction of crude oil, natural gas, gold, copper, iron, coal;
• fishing;
• rearing reindeer;
• logging;
• military bases were built.

In the 1970s, an oil pipeline was built in Alaska, which can be compared in scale with pipelines in the Arabian Peninsula and Western Siberia.

Despite huge developments, the population density of the state is the lowest: about 800 people per square meter. The reason for this is the harsh climate of the peninsula with a large number of swamps and permafrost.

After Alaska passed to America, the capital of the peninsula was renamed from Novo-Arkhangelsk to Sitki, which existed until 1906. Currently, the status of the capital is the city of Juneau. Sitka, on the other hand, is a small provincial city with a population of 9 thousand people, which has preserved all the historical monuments about the Russian past.