Alaska is three France in size over its territory. This is not only Klondike gold, but also tungsten, platinum, mercury, molybdenum, coal. And, most importantly, giant oil fields are being developed here, reaching up to eighty-three million tons per year. This represents twenty percent of the total US oil production. For comparison: Kuwait produces about sixty-five, and the United Arab Emirates - seventy million tons per year.
Many contemporaries mistakenly believe that Catherine II sold Alaska. But this is not so. This statement to some extent among young people became popular after the song of the Lyube group "Do not play the fool, America." It states that the empress was wrong in doing so with this area. Based on this, young people who are not knowledgeable in history, and concluded that who gave Alaska to America.
Geographical position
Today, Alaska is the largest in size, forty-ninth US state. This is the coldest territory of the country. Most of it is dominated by arctic and subarctic climatic zones. Here the norm is severe frosty winters, accompanied by strong winds and snow blizzards. An exception is only part of the Pacific coast, where climatic conditions are moderate and quite habitable.
Before the sale
The history of Alaska (before its transfer to the United States) was connected with the Russian Empire. As early as the eighteenth century, this region belonged completely to Russians. It is not known from what time the history of Alaska began - the settlement of this cold and inhospitable land. However, the fact that in the most ancient times between Asia and North America there was a definite connection does not raise any doubt. And it was carried out along the Bering Strait, which was covered with ice crust. People in those days easily crossed from one mainland to another. The minimum width of the Bering Strait is only eighty-six kilometers. Such a distance could be overcome by dog ​​sledding to any more or less experienced hunter.
When the ice age ended, the era of warming began. The ice melted, and the shores of the continents disappeared beyond the horizon. More people in Asia did not dare to swim along the ice surface into the unknown. Therefore, starting from the third millennium BC, the Indians began to master Alaska. Their tribes from the territory of modern California moved north, adhering to the Pacific coast. Gradually, the Indians reached the Aleutian Islands, where they settled down.
Mastering Alaska by Russians
Meanwhile, the Russian Empire began to rapidly expand its eastern borders. In the meantime, flotillas from European countries constantly plowed the oceans and seas, looking for places for new colonies, the Russians mastered the Urals and Siberia, the Far East and the lands of the Far North. A whole galaxy of strong and courageous people went on ships not to tropical waters, but to the ice of the harsh north. The most famous expedition leaders were Semyon Dezhnev and Fedot Popov, Vitus Bering and Alexey Chirikov. It was they who in 1732 discovered this land for the rest of the civilized world - long before Russia gave Alaska to America. The specified date is considered official.
But it is one thing to open, and another to equip a new land. The very first Russian settlements in Alaska appeared only in the eighties of the eighteenth century. People were engaged in hunting and commerce: hunters caught fur animals, and merchants bought them. Gradually, this non-promised land began to turn into a source of profit, since valuable fur has always been equated with gold.
Unprofitable edge
At first, in these northern lands, which were very rich in fur, the interests of Russians were jealously guarded. However, years passed, and the total destruction of the same foxes and sea otters, beavers and minks could not continue indefinitely. Furs fell sharply. Gradually, the Russian Klondike began to lose its commercial significance. The situation was aggravated by the fact that endless lands have so far been virtually undeveloped. This was the impetus, the first reason why Russia gave Alaska to America.
Since the late thirties of the eighteenth century, at the imperial court, an opinion began to form that Alaska was a loss-making land. Moreover, the king began to come to the conclusion that, except for a headache, this land could not bring anything. From that moment, the story of the sale of Alaska to America began. Industrialists were convinced that investing in these lands was completely insane, since they could not pay off. Russian people will not populate this icy desert, especially since there are Siberia and Altai, and the Far East, where the climate is much milder and the lands are fertile.
The Crimean War, which began in 1853, which pumped huge amounts of money from the state treasury, aggravated the already difficult situation. In addition, in 1855, Nicholas I died, who was succeeded by Alexander II on the throne. They looked at the new emperor with hope. People expected new reforms. But what reforms are carried out without money?
Forever and ever
When it comes to who gave Alaska to America, for some reason everyone recalls Empress Catherine the Second. Many are sure that it was she who put her signature on the decree on the transfer of "Russian America" ​​to Britain. Ostensibly, the conversation at first was not about selling, but only about renting for a century. They even tell a story that fully confirms that Catherine sold Alaska. As if the empress, who did not know the Russian language well, had commissioned an authorized person to draw up a contract. The same one mixed up with spelling: instead of writing “Alaska is transmitted forever”, this person, absent-mindedly, made a record: “given forever”, which meant forever. So the answer to the question: "Who gave Alaska to America?" - "Catherine!" will be wrong. It is nevertheless necessary to more carefully study the past of your country.
Alaska: A Story
Catherine II, according to official history, did nothing of the kind. Under her, these lands were not rented out, and even less sold. There were no prerequisites for this. The history of the sale of Alaska began only half a century later, already in the time of Alexander II. It was this emperor who ruled in an era when numerous problems began to emerge, the solution of which required urgency.
Of course, this sovereign, who ascended the throne, did not immediately decide to sell the northern lands. It took ten years before the question came to a head. Selling land to the state at all times was a very shameful thing. After all, this was evidence of the country's weakness, its inability to maintain its subordinate territories in order. However, the Russian treasury really needed funds. And when they are not there, all paths are good.
Sale
However, nobody began to shout about it to the whole world. The question of why Russia gave Alaska to America, scrupulous and political, it demanded non-standard decisions. In 1866, a delegate from the Russian imperial court arrived in Washington, who began secret negotiations on the sale of the northern lands. The Americans showed docility, although the time for a deal and for them was unsuccessful. Indeed, in the United States, the Civil War, unleashed between the South and the North, barely ended. Therefore, the state treasury was completely exhausted.
About ten years after the time when Russia gave Alaska to America, it would be possible to request five times more from buyers, however, according to historians, the Russian court was running out of money. Therefore, the parties agreed on only 7.2 million dollars in gold equivalent. And although at that time it was very decent money, translated into the current components of about two hundred and fifty million dollars, however, anyone who is interested in the question of who gave Alaska to America will agree that these northern territories cost several orders of magnitude more.
One year later
After the conclusion of the agreement, the representative of the imperial court returned to Russia. A year later, an urgent telegram signed by Andrew Johnson , President of the United States, was sent to the name of the one who gave Alaska to America - the reigning Alexander II. It contained a business proposal: Russia was loudly, all over the world, offered to sell Alaska. But no one knew about the Russian representative’s visit to Washington before this telegram. It turned out that it was America that initiated the deal, but not Russia at all. So diplomatic and political conventions were cunningly preserved by both sides. In the eyes of the whole world, Russia managed not to drop its dignity. And already in March 1867, legal paperwork was carried out. And from that time on, “Russian Alaska” ceased to exist. She was given the status of an American colony. Later it was renamed the district, and already in 1959 this northern land became the forty-ninth state of the United States.
In justification
Today, having learned who gave Alaska to America, you can, of course, condemn and scold the Russian emperor Alexander II. However, if we look more closely at the political and financial situation of Russia in those distant years, a very definite picture emerges, to some extent justifying its decision.
In 1861, serfdom was finally abolished. Thousands of landowners were left without their peasants, which meant that a considerable class had lost their stable source of income. Therefore, the state began to pay compensation to the nobles, which was supposed to somehow cover their material losses. But for the treasury, such expenses amounted to tens of millions of tsar’s rubles. And then the Crimean War broke out, and again money flowed from the treasury into the river.
A difficult situation for Russia
In order to at least somehow offset the costs, the imperial court borrowed huge sums abroad. Foreign governments with great pleasure lent Russia, because that one had innumerable natural resources. There was a situation in the empire when every extra ruble became a joy, and especially one for which it was not necessary to pay interest on debt bills.
That's why the sale of Alaska has matured . Catherine - the great Russian Empress - has nothing to do with this issue. And it makes no sense to blame her, except that the state has reached a complete decline even with her light hand.
Selling difficulties
Alaska is a distant northern land, constantly constrained by eternal ice. She did not bring Russia a single penny. And all over the world they knew this very well. And so the imperial court was very concerned about finding a buyer for this useless region of ice cold. The United States was closest to Alaska. They were offered to them by Russia at their own peril and risk to conclude a deal. The American Congress, or rather, many senators, did not immediately agree to such a dubious purchase. The question of her was put to the vote. As a result, more than half of the senators categorically voted against the acquisition: the proposal received from the Russian government did not cause any enthusiasm among the Americans. And in the rest of the world, this deal showed absolute indifference.
Effects
And in Russia itself, the sale of Alaska went completely unnoticed. Newspapers wrote about this in their last pages. Some Russians did not even know that it existed. Although later, when rich gold reserves were found on this cold northern land, the whole world began to vying with each other to talk about both Alaska and the sale, making fun of the stupid and shortsighted Russian emperor.
In serious political and financial matters, the subjunctive is unacceptable. None of those who later began to condemn Alexander II, once suggested that such huge deposits of gold could be in Alaska. But if we consider the deal not from today's positions, but from the situation prevailing in 1867, then many believe that the Russian emperor did absolutely right. And even more so, the sale of Alaska by Catherine is just an idle fiction that has no foundation.
Conclusion
In total, one thousand tons of gold was mined on the lands of the former "Russian America". Some on this were fabulously enriched, and some disappeared forever in this snowy desert. Today, Americans are very inert and somehow hesitate to settle in their inhospitable land. There are virtually no roads in Alaska. To a few settlements, people get either by air or by water. The railway here passes only through five cities. In total, six hundred thousand people live in this state.