Which Russian emperor sold Alaska. “The Americans had something to hide

Alaska's territory is equal to three times France. This is not only Klondike gold, but also tungsten, platinum, mercury, molybdenum, and 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 Alaska was sold by Catherine the Second. But that's not true. A similar statement to some extent became popular among young people after the song of the Lyube group “Don’t be a fool, America.” It says that the empress was wrong to do this to this area. Based on this, young people who do not understand history made a conclusion about who gave Alaska to America.

Geographical position

Today Alaska is the largest in area, forty-ninth. It is the coldest territory in the country. Most of it is dominated by arctic and subarctic climatic zones. The norm here is severe frosty winters, accompanied by strong winds and snow blizzards. The only exception is the part of the Pacific coast, where climatic conditions are moderate and quite suitable for habitation.

Before sale

The history of Alaska (before its transfer to the United States) was associated with the Russian Empire. Back in the eighteenth century, this region belonged undividedly to the Russians. It is unknown when the history of Alaska began - the settlement of this cold and inhospitable land. However, the fact that in ancient times there was a certain connection between Asia does not raise any doubt. And it was carried out along which was covered with an ice crust. People in those days could easily travel from one continent to another without much difficulty. The minimum width of the Bering Strait is only eighty-six kilometers. Any more or less experienced hunter could overcome such a distance on a dog sled.

When the Ice Age ended, a warming era began. The ice melted, and the shores of the continents disappeared beyond the horizon. The people who inhabited Asia no longer dared to sail across the icy surface into the unknown. Therefore, starting from the third millennium BC, Indians began to explore Alaska. Their tribes from the territory of what is now California moved north, adhering to the Pacific coast. Gradually the Indians reached the Aleutian Islands, where they settled.

Russian exploration of Alaska

Meanwhile, the Russian Empire began to rapidly expand its eastern borders. In the meantime, flotillas from European countries were constantly plowing the oceans and seas, looking for places for new colonies, the Russians were exploring the Urals and Siberia, the Far East and the lands of the Far North. A whole galaxy of strong and courageous people set off on ships not to tropical waters, but towards the ice of the harsh north. The most famous leaders of the expeditions were Semyon Dezhnev and Fedot Popov, and Alexey Chirikov. It was they who opened this land to the rest of the civilized world in 1732 - long before Russia gave Alaska to America. The specified date is considered official.

But it’s one thing to open, and another to develop 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-bearing animals, and merchants bought them. Gradually, this unpromised land began to turn into a source of profit, since valuable fur in all centuries was equated with gold.

Unprofitable region

At first, in these northern lands, very rich in fur, the interests of the Russians were jealously guarded. However, the years passed, and the total destruction of the same foxes and sea otters, beavers and minks could not continue indefinitely. Fur production fell sharply. Gradually, the Russian Klondike began to lose its commercial significance. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the vast lands were still practically undeveloped. This was the impetus, the first reason why Russia gave Alaska to America.

Beginning in the late thirties of the eighteenth century, the opinion began to form at the imperial court that Alaska was an unprofitable region. Moreover, the king began to come to the conclusion that, apart from a headache, this land could not bring anything. It was from this moment that the story of the sale of Alaska to America began. Industrialists were sure that investing in these lands was complete madness, since they could not pay off. Russian people will not populate this icy desert, especially since there are Siberia and Altai, and even the Far East, where the climate is much milder and the lands are fertile.

The already difficult situation was aggravated by the Crimean War, which began in 1853, which siphoned huge amounts of money from the state treasury. In addition, Nicholas I died in 1855 and was replaced on the throne by Alexander II. They looked at the new emperor with hope. People expected new reforms. But what reforms are carried out without money?

Forever

When it comes to talking about who gave Alaska to America, for some reason everyone remembers Empress Catherine II. Many are sure that it was she who signed the decree on the transfer of “Russian America” to Britain. Allegedly, 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, instructed a trusted person to draw up the agreement. The same one made a mistake with the spelling: instead of writing down “Alaska is given forever,” this person, absent-mindedly, made the entry: “is given forever,” which meant forever. So the answer to the question: "Who gave Alaska to America?" - "Catherine!" will be wrong. It is still necessary to study the past of your country more carefully.

Alaska: history

Catherine the Second, according to official history, did nothing of the kind. Under her, these lands were not rented out, much less sold. There were no prerequisites for this. The history of the sale of Alaska began only half a century later, already during 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 immediate attention.

Of course, this sovereign, who ascended the throne, did not immediately decide to sell the northern lands. A full ten years passed before the issue came to a head. Selling land for the state has always been a very shameful thing. After all, this was evidence of the country’s weakness, its inability to maintain order in its subordinate territories. However, the Russian treasury was in dire need of funds. And when they are not there, all paths are good.

Purchase and sale

However, no one began to shout about it to the whole world. The question of why Russia gave Alaska to America is sensitive and political; it required non-standard solutions. In 1866, a delegate from the Russian imperial court came to Washington and began secret negotiations on the sale of northern lands. The Americans showed complaisance, although the timing for the deal was bad for them too. After all, in the United States the Civil War between the South and the North has barely ended. Therefore, the state treasury was completely depleted.

Ten years after Russia gave Alaska to America, buyers could have been charged five times more, but the Russian court, according to historians, 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 modern terms about two hundred and fifty million dollars, however, everyone who is interested in the question of who gave Alaska to America will agree that these northern territories were worth several orders of magnitude more.

One year later

After the agreement was concluded, the representative of the imperial court returned to Russia. And a year later, an urgent telegram signed by the President of the United States was sent to the one who gave Alaska to America - the reigning Alexander II. It contained a business proposal: Russia was loudly asked to sell Alaska to the whole world. But no one knew about the visit of the Russian representative to Washington prior to this telegram. It turned out that it was America that initiated the deal, but not Russia. Thus, diplomatic and political conventions were cunningly preserved by both sides. In the eyes of the whole world, Russia managed not to lose its dignity. And already in March 1867, legal registration of documents was carried out. And from that time on, “Russian Alaska” ceased to exist. It was given the status of an American colony. Later it was renamed a 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, one can, of course, condemn and scold the Russian Emperor Alexander II. However, if you take a closer look at the political and financial situation in Russia in those distant years, a very definite picture emerges, which to some extent justifies his decision.

In 1861, serfdom was finally abolished. Thousands of landowners were left without their peasants, which meant that a considerable class 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 royal rubles. And then the Crimean War broke out, and again money flowed from the treasury like a river.

Difficult situation for Russia

In order to somehow reimburse expenses, the royal court borrowed huge sums abroad. Foreign governments gave with great pleasure, because they had countless natural resources. A situation arose in the empire when every extra ruble became a joy, and especially one for which it was not necessary to pay interest on promissory notes.

That's why Catherine, the great Russian empress, has nothing to do with this issue. And there is no point in blaming her, except perhaps that the state has reached complete decline and with her light hand.

Difficulties in selling

Alaska is a distant northern land, constantly bound by eternal ice. It did not bring Russia a single penny. And the whole world knew this very well. And so the imperial court was quite concerned about finding a buyer for this useless region of icy cold. The United States was closest to Alaska. Russia offered them to conclude a deal at their own risk. The American Congress, or rather, many senators, did not immediately agree to such a dubious purchase. The issue was put to a vote. As a result, more than half of the senators voted categorically against the acquisition: the proposal received from the Russian government did not cause any delight among the Americans. And the rest of the world showed absolute indifference to this deal.

Consequences

And in Russia itself, the sale of Alaska went completely unnoticed. Newspapers wrote about this on their last pages. Some Russians did not even know that it existed. Although later, when the richest gold reserves were found on this cold northern land, the whole world began to vie with each other about both Alaska and the sale, ridiculing the stupid and short-sighted Russian emperor.

In serious political and financial matters, the subjunctive mood is unacceptable. None of those who later began to condemn Alexander II ever suggested that such huge deposits of gold could be located in Alaska. But if we look at the deal not from today’s perspective, but from the situation that developed in 1867, then many believe that the Russian emperor did absolutely the right thing. And even more so, the sale of Alaska by Catherine is just an idle fiction that has no basis.

Conclusion

In total, one thousand tons of gold were mined on the lands of the former “Russian America”. Some got fabulously rich from this, and some disappeared forever in this snowy desert. Today, Americans are very inert and somehow uncertain about settling in their inhospitable land. There are practically no roads in Alaska. People reach few settlements either by air or by water. The railway here passes through only five cities. In total, six hundred thousand people live in this state.

On January 3, 1959, Alaska became the 49th state of the United States, although these lands were sold by Russia to America back in 1867. However, there is a version that Alaska was never sold. Russia leased it for 90 years, and after the lease expired, in 1957, Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev actually donated these lands to the United States. Many historians argue that the agreement on the transfer of Alaska to the United States was not signed by either the Russian Empire or the USSR, and the peninsula was borrowed free of charge from Russia. Be that as it may, Alaska is still shrouded in an aura of mystery.

The Russians taught the Alaskan natives to turnips and potatoes.

Under the rule of the “quiet” Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov in Russia, Semyon Dezhnev swam across the 86-kilometer strait that separated Russia and America. Later this Strait was named Bering Strait in honor of Vitus Bering, who explored the shores of Alaska in 1741. Although before him, in 1732, Mikhail Gvozdev was the first European to determine the coordinates and map the 300-kilometer coastline of this peninsula. In 1784, the development of Alaska was carried out by Grigory Shelikhov, who accustomed the local population to turnips and potatoes, spread Orthodoxy among the Horse natives, and even founded the agricultural colony “Glory to Russia.” Since that time, residents of Alaska have become Russian subjects.

The British and Americans armed the natives against the Russians

The company founded the St. Michael's Fortress (today Sitka), where the Russians built a church, an elementary school, a shipyard, workshops and an arsenal. Every ship that came into the harbor where the fortress stood was greeted with fireworks. In 1802, the fortress was burned by the natives, and three years later the same fate befell another Russian fortress. American and British entrepreneurs sought to liquidate Russian settlements and for this purpose they armed the natives.

Alaska could become a cause of war for Russia

For Russia, Alaska was a real gold mine. For example, sea otter fur was more expensive 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. In addition, oil and gold were discovered in Alaska. It was this fact, as absurd as it may sound, that became one of the incentives to quickly get rid of Alaska. The fact is that American prospectors began to actively arrive in Alaska, and the Russian government rightly feared that American troops would come after them. Russia was not ready for war, and giving up Alaska penniless was completely imprudent.

At the ceremony for the transfer of Alaska, the flag fell on Russian bayonets

October 18, 1867 at 15.30. The solemn ceremony of changing the flag on the flagpole in front of the house of the ruler of Alaska began. Two non-commissioned officers began to lower the flag of the Russian-American Company, but it got tangled in the ropes at the very top, and the painter broke off completely. Several sailors, on orders, rushed to climb up to untangle the tattered flag hanging on the mast. The sailor who got to the flag first did not have time to shout to him to get off with the flag and not throw it, and he threw the flag down. The flag fell directly on Russian bayonets. Mystics and conspiracy theorists should rejoice.

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

Alaska has become an extremely profitable deal for the United States

Another fact: at the time when Russia sold Alaska to America, the state treasury paid more for one single three-story building in the center of New York than the American government paid for the entire peninsula.

The main secret of selling Alaska is where is the money?

When converting the currency first into pounds and then into gold, they lost another 1.5 million. But this loss was not the last. On July 16, 1868, the barque Orkney, carrying a precious cargo, sank on the approach to St. Petersburg. Whether there was Russian gold on it at that moment, or whether it did not leave the borders of Foggy Albion, remains unknown today. The company that registered the cargo declared itself bankrupt, so the damage was only partially compensated.

In 2013, a Russian filed a lawsuit to invalidate the agreement on the sale of Alaska

In this article we will take a closer look at who sold Alaska.

Today Alaska is the largest and coldest state in the United States. The state capital is the city of Juneau, whose founder was Joseph Juneau, who discovered a gold deposit in the local area and marked the beginning of the gold rush. He was lucky enough to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the followers who poured here like a river got only crumbs.

Development of Alaska

During the Ice Age, there was a small “loophole” between Asia and America that allowed the first people to cross from one continent to another. They could travel by dog ​​sled on the thick ice that formed on the Bering Strait. Perhaps it was then that the settlement of the modern territory of Alaska began, but this is not known in detail.

During the period of melting glaciers, settlers from Asia no longer dared to cross the already formed water surface, and from the 3rd millennium BC. e. Alaska was developed by the Indians.

The main tribes were the Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit, Athabascan, Eskimo, and Aleut. These few tribes were forced out of their lands by stronger peoples, but were still able to adapt and survive in the harsh lands of Alaska.

Civilization did not reach these lands immediately. The first expeditions to Alaska were organized Semyon Dezhnev, Fedot Popov. But the most significant was the expedition Mikhail Gvozdev And Ivan Fedorov. They are the ones in 1732 year Alaska was officially opened to the world.

Alaska belonged territorially to the Russian Empire, but the development of lands by Russians began only in recent decades 18th century(). The most enterprising people came here to engage in hunting and commerce.

Fur business

The most notable personality was, who paid attention not only to his enrichment (for which Russian entrepreneurs were famous, mercilessly exploiting the local population), but also was engaged in the development of the younger generations, whom he introduced to Russian culture. Thus, the children of the peoples of Alaska were able to study together with Russian children in the same schools.

Shelikhov created in 1781"North-East Company", whose main activity was fur mining. After Shelikhov's death, the company was merged with other merchant companies and as a result became the Russian-American Trading Company. By decree Paul I the company received a monopoly on the right to extract furs in these parts, so now no one could come to Alaska just like that, wanting to engage in fur mining and trading.

The Russian-American Trading Company also had a monopoly on the discovery and development of local lands.

Despite the monopoly by decree Paul I, competition has finally appeared in Alaska. In addition to the Russians, immigrants from Britain and America increasingly appeared here. These people were not affected by the decrees of the Russian Empire, and they easily started their own fur business, creating serious competition for the Russians.

Over time, fur production decreased sharply, because the constant destruction of minks, beavers, and foxes could not pass without leaving a trace, and as a result, Russian business fell into decline. The situation was further complicated by the fact that huge layers of land remained undeveloped.

Unprofitable enterprise

At the emperor's court, everyone began to talk about Alaska as a loss-making enterprise that did not bring any benefit to the empire. No one believed that investments could ever pay off; the Russian people would not go to the icy desert when Altai, Siberia and the Far East were nearby. The climate is milder, and the lands are just as endless, and also fertile.

The situation was also aggravated by the Crimean War, which drained enormous financial resources from the country. It was the son of Nicholas I who was in power and was expected to carry out reforms, which in turn also required money. It was he who transferred the ownership of Alaska to the Americans.

Alexander II began to deal with the issue of Alaska only after 10 years of his reign. The issue of sale became very acute indeed, as unprofitable enterprises were dragging the country to the bottom. For Russia, the sale of land was considered a shameful matter, because it actually spoke of the weakness and poverty of the state, but the treasury needed money, and there was no place to get it from.

The deal was carried out very quietly, without political noise. Negotiations took place secretly. Agreed on 7.2 million dollars in gold. The timing of the sale specifically for Russia was not entirely successful, since America had just survived the civil war and did not have large financial resources. The same deal in 10 years could be carried out 5 times more profitable for Russia.

By today's standards, the price of Alaska was about $250 million. She was sold for next to nothing because she needed money.

In what year was Alaska sold?

The diplomatic framework of the deal was respected: a year after secret negotiations Andrew Johnson, the President of the United States, sent an urgent telegram addressed to the Russian Emperor about a business proposal to sell Alaska. The Russian diplomat's visit to Washington remained secret. Thus, for the whole world, it was America that initiated the deal to sell Alaska, and the Russian Empire retained its face.

In the spring (March 30) 1867 all legal documents were drawn up, and Russian Alaska became an American colony, later becoming a district.

Version: Alaska was sold by Catherine

When there is talk about who sold Alaska to America, many share the version that it was Catherine II. She signed a decree transferring the lands to Britain, but only as a lease for 100 years. The Empress did not know the Russian language very well, and besides, the person who drew up the decree, apparently, was not distinguished by literacy and attentiveness, because the document stated “we are transferring Alaska forever,” instead of “we are transferring Alaska forever.” The first phrase meant that the lands were transferred forever, and not for 100 years. This small legal oversight legitimized the sale of land. But this version is just a myth; there are no official documents confirming such a fact. Moreover, it is almost impossible to make such a mistake at the state level.

Why did they sell Alaska?

Why did you decide to sell Alaska to America? One factor was geographic proximity. By the way, the United States did not immediately become a buyer for a useless piece of not even land, but ice. Half of the senators in Congress voted against the deal.

As for the Russian people, many did not even suspect such lands. The newspapers wrote about the sale on the back pages.

When incredibly large reserves of gold were found in the north, people started talking about Alaska all over the world. It was then that he became known as a stupid emperor, distinguished by his shortsightedness by selling huge deposits of gold for next to nothing.

Modern Alaska is already a populated region with a population of 600,000 people. The main movement is by air or water. There are practically no roads; the only railway connects 5 cities. The largest city is Anchorage, its population is 295,000 people.

According to analysts, the question of the profitability of the deal remains controversial, since in order to create a truly prosperous region, America needed to invest a lot of money, and this could be a more serious investment than the proceeds from gold mining.

In the 8th 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 the new place, which was a large peninsula with many separate islands 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-bearing animals, such as sea otters, minks, and foxes, brought good income. Fur's price was equal to that of precious metals. In addition, the Russian government signed a decree allowing foreign citizens to conduct business activities on Russian soil for a period of 20 years.

The capital of Alaska within 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 quickly and as a result became the central port of the west coast.

After a few years of active life in Alaska, fur production declined sharply, and foreigners involved in the oil and gold mining business provided great competition to Russian industrialists. At the end of the 30s, the Russian government considered Alaska an unprofitable region and refused to invest money in its development.

Who sold Alaska to the USA?

The sale of the peninsula has become overgrown with 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 misconception that the mainland was sold to the Americans by Catherine II. There is also a version about leasing Alaska for 99 years, after which Russia never claimed 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 had passed since the death of Catherine II.

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

There were enough reasons to get rid of the peninsula:

1. Stream of poachers destroyed the main state income, which came from the sale of furs.
2. A lack of money in the treasury after the defeat in the Crimean War hampered the economic rise 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 transferring the peninsula to the United States with the aim of strengthening its position on the Pacific coast. The vast territory of the peninsula and the gold found in its depths 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 purchase and sale agreement for the transfer of Alaska to the United States was signed by both parties. The transaction price was more than $7 million in gold. This was a lot of money for Russia, as well as for America. But based on the huge area (1,519,000 km2), 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 agreement stated that the territory of the mainland and the coastline extending 10 miles to the south became the property of the United States. All real estate, archives and historical documents were transferred with the land. Surprisingly, there is no agreement in Russian. It is known that Russia received a check for the specified amount, but no one still knows 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 remained a secret for a long time. 2 months after the agreement, the information was published 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 largest and richest in natural resources in the 49th US state. 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 World War II, the importance of the peninsula increased. Shortly before Alaska became an American state, a huge amount of oil and minerals were discovered in its depths. 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 air bases were built.

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

Despite huge developments, the state's population density is the lowest: about 800 people per square meter. This is due to 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 Sitka, which existed until 1906. Currently, the city of Juneau has the status of capital. Sitka is a small provincial town with a population of 9 thousand people, which has preserved all the historical monuments about the Russian past.

Why did Russia sell Alaska? The geopolitical reason was outlined by Muravyov-Amursky. It was important for Russia to maintain and strengthen its positions in the Far East. Britain's ambitions for hegemony in the Pacific also caused concern. Back in 1854, the RAC, fearing an attack by the Anglo-French fleet on Novo-Arkhangelsk, entered into a fictitious agreement with the American-Russian Trading Company in San Francisco for the sale of all its property for 7 million 600 thousand dollars for three years, including land holdings in North America. Later, a formal agreement between the RAC and the Hudson's Bay Company was concluded on the mutual neutralization of their territorial possessions in America.

Historians call one of the reasons for the sale of Alaska the lack of finances in the treasury of the Russian Empire. A year before the sale of Alaska, Finance Minister Mikhail Reitern sent a note to Alexander II, in which he pointed out the need for strict savings, emphasizing that for the normal functioning of Russia a three-year foreign loan of 15 million rubles was required. in year. Even the lower limit of the transaction amount for the sale of Alaska, set by Reutern at 5 million rubles, could only cover a third of the annual loan. Also, the state annually paid subsidies to the RAC; the sale of Alaska saved Russia from these expenses.

The logistical reason for the sale of Alaska was also outlined in Muravyov-Amursky’s note. “Now,” wrote the Governor General, “with the invention and development of railroads, we must be more convinced than before that the North American States will inevitably spread throughout North America, and we must bear in mind that or later they will have to cede our North American possessions.”

Railways to the East of Russia had not yet been built and the Russian Empire was clearly inferior to the states in the speed of logistics to the North American region.

Oddly enough, one of the reasons for selling Alaska was its resources. On the one hand, there is their disadvantage - valuable sea otters were destroyed by 1840, on the other, paradoxically, their presence - oil and gold were discovered in Alaska. Oil at that time was used for medicinal purposes, and the “hunting season” for Alaskan gold was beginning on the part of American prospectors. The Russian government quite rightly feared that American troops would follow the prospectors there. Russia was not ready for war.

In 1857, ten years before the sale of Alaska, Russian diplomat Eduard Stekl sent a dispatch to St. Petersburg in which he outlined a rumor about the possible emigration of representatives of the Mormon religious sect from the United States to Russian America. American President J. Buchanan himself hinted at this to him in a joking manner.

Joking aside, Stekl was seriously afraid of the mass migration of sectarians, since they would have to provide military resistance. The “creeping colonization” of Russian America really took place. Already in the early 1860s, British smugglers, despite the prohibitions of the colonial administration, began to settle on Russian territory in the southern part of the Alexander Archipelago. Sooner or later this could lead to tension and military conflicts.