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nDidnyou know that the United States purchase Alaska from the Russians?
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nOnnthis day in 1867, a Russian flag over Fort Sitka was lowered, and anU.S. flag was raised. So today is the anniversary of the formalntransfer of ownership.
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nHowndo you think the native peoples whose ancestors had lived on thisnland for centuries or millennia felt about this purchase, sale, andntransfer?
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nYounwant to buy what?
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nWhennU.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward made the treaty, agreeingnto pay more than seven million dollars for Alaska, many Republicansnlaughed at him. They called the purchase “Seward’s folly.”nAccording to my research, these scoffers didn’t really think thatn$7,000,000 was too much for almost 600,000 square miles (more than anmillion and a half square kilometers!) of land…but the Republicansnwere against the president (Andrew Johnson), even though he wasnRepublican, too. So many of them didn’t argue about whether or notnthe purchase was a good idea—they just didn’t like anything thatncame from the White House!
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nMostnAmericans apparently thought that the purchase was a good idea. Theynfigured there had to be some resources in all that land, and theynwanted to be on good terms with Russia (which really needed thenmoney). n
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nAndnof course, they were right about the resources: Discoveries of gold,ncopper, and oil were just the start!
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nWhyndid Russia sell such valuable land for so little?
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nNotnonly did Russia need money, apparently the tsar didn’t think he couldnhold on to what he considered “Russian America.” He figurednsomebody—probably Great Britain—would just take the land, and ifnhe ordered his army to defend Alaska, he was bound to lose, as Russianhad just fought and lost the Crimean War with Britain. The smartnthing would be to sell the land before he lost it, anyway!
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nDidnyou know…?
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- Thenhighest point in all of North America is in Alaska—and thisnmountain has two different names: Mount McKinley and Denali. (I betnyou can tell which name comes from the Native American languagenAthabascan.)
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- Thenlongest highway tunnel in North America is in Alaska—all 13,200nfeet of it! (That’s more than four kilometers!)
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- Juneaunis the state capital of Alaska – but it isn’t very easy at all tonget to Juneau from major cities like Anchorage or Fairbanks—atnleast, not by road! But you can get there by water! Loads of cruisenships visit Juneau every summer, and there are ferries as well.
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- Someninlets in Alaska have huge tidal ranges—every day low tide is 33nfeet (11 meters) farther out than high tide. Wow!
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- Onenout of every ten active volcanoes in the entire world is in Alaska.nUm…yikes!
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