The state of Alaska...was ceded by the Russian Empire and bought by America

The state of Alaska shares a 2,500 km border with Canada (Al Jazeera)

The largest state in the United States of America, it joined it through a sale contract under which the Russian Empire ceded it for $7.2 million. It is a vast region full of mineral resources, including gold and oil, and Moscow demands to annex it to its sovereignty.

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The largest American state is not located within the geography of the United States. Rather, it is isolated from its state in the cold northwest of Canada, at a distance of only about 82 kilometers from Russian territory, while it is separated from the American north by a distance of 800 kilometers from Canadian territory.

Alaska does not border any American state and does not share territorial waters with any of its sisters, but it shares a 2,500-kilometre border with Canada, and it also has a maritime border with Russia to the west, as they are separated by the Bering Strait and are not more than 82 km away from Russian territory. Kilometers, and the Russian islands of Little and Great Diomede are not separated from the state of Alaska by more than 4 kilometers.

In the harsh winter that prevails in this region near Siberia, the water freezes and the water line separating American and Russian lands disappears.

A thermokarst lake in Alaska formed by melting ice (NASA)

Area and population

Its area exceeds 1.5 million square kilometers, equal to one-fifth of the rest of the area of ​​the United States.

It is inhabited by about 733 thousand people in the 2023 census, making it first in area, and forty-ninth in the ranking of American states in population statistics.

The strangest deals in history

In 1725, the Russian Tsar Peter the Great sent an expedition to explore the coast of Alaska, led by the Dane Vitus Bering, who was working in the Russian Navy at the time. The Russian Empire was interested in that region because of the natural resources it hid, but it soon became the focus of attention of the United States, which was expanding. West in the early 19th century, the Americans found themselves in competition with Russian merchants in that region.

The Russian Empire lacked the necessary resources to support its major settlements or military presence in those areas along the Pacific coast, especially after the defeat of the Russians in the Crimean War, and the Russian population in those areas did not exceed 400 people, which increased the Russian Empire's concern about... The possibility of controlling Alaska, especially with its fear of surprise attacks by the huge British fleet that would deprive it of Alaska without any compensation.

These combined concerns prompted the Russian Empire to decide to sell Alaska to the United States in 1859 AD, but the buyer was not ready and the deal was halted due to the tensions in the United States between the states of the North, the “Federal Union,” and the states of the South, the “Confederacy,” and then the civil war between 1861 AD and 1865 AD in The era of US President Abraham Lincoln.

But as soon as the war ended with the surrender of the Confederates and the announcement of the “Abolition of Slavery” law and the inclusion of all American states in the federal union, the United States was quick to review the deal to purchase Alaska from the Russian Empire, taking it for $7.2 million on March 30, 1867, after negotiations between the American Secretary of State William Seward and Russian Ambassador to the United States Eduard De Stoeckel.

On April 9, 1867, the US Senate approved the purchase deal, and US President Andrew Johnson signed it on May 28 of the same year. Alaska was officially transferred to the United States on October 18, 1867, thus ending the Russian presence in North America. The United States gained access to the northern edge of the Pacific Ocean.

Alaska did not receive the attention of the US federal government for three decades after its purchase, as the form of government there remained wavering and unstable in the hope of finding a formula to impose American mining laws in the region. In 1884, the first civilian government was formed there, which represented the beginning of the formation of the form of government there. With the discovery of the hidden riches in Alaska, it gradually began to receive the attention of the federal government, until it was declared an American state on January 3, 1959.

Russia... belated awakening

On January 17, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree allocating funds to search for, register and protect Russian property abroad, including those ceded by the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, and includes a list of regions and territories in Central and Eastern Europe and regions in Scandinavia.

The list includes the Alaska region, which the Russian Empire sold to the United States in 1867, and was declared a US state after nearly a century on January 3, 1959.

The United States did not take Putin's move seriously, and US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel commented briefly, "Putin will not take back Alaska."

But the American Institute for the Study of War took the matter more seriously, refuting Putin's statements and saying that the precise criteria for determining what constitutes Russian property are unclear.

War of statements

Alaska, located in the far north of the world, has not remained far from the political disputes between the United States and Russia, and far from bargaining. In addition to Putin’s decree on January 17, 2024, voices have risen within Russia demanding that a referendum be held in Alaska regarding its return to Russian control.

Among those who issued these statements were the Deputy Speaker of the State Duma, Pyotr Tolstoy, as well as the Speaker of the Russian House of Representatives, Vyacheslav Volodin, who linked the Alaska issue to the issue of freezing Russian assets abroad, which Washington has raised on several occasions.

Talking about Alaska decades after its sale came in the context of preparation for the Russian elections that took place in mid-March 2024.

Alaska Riches

At first, the Americans called the Alaska purchase deal “Seward’s Folly” after US Secretary of State William Seward, who completed it, because of doubts about the viability of that region and a lack of awareness of its economic importance to the United States.

But the discovery of a large reserve of gold in the Yukon, northern Canada, in 1884 dispelled those doubts, as Alaska became the gateway to the gold fields in the Klondike region, which represented the beginning of attention turning to Alaska and the natural resources it stores.

Those aspiring to make quick fortunes began to head to the remote, isolated state, but they did not achieve what they aspired to as quickly as they had hoped, due to the slow growth and development of the region. Frustration began to set in, and the region witnessed a reverse migration.

Between 1920 and 1940, Alaska witnessed limited interest from the American administration. It developed plans to preserve its natural resources of salmon, seals, and animals whose fur is sold at high prices. It showed interest in medical care for the population. It established advanced infrastructure and developed transportation lines. Universities were established and radio transmissions reached it. Which made its residents feel more interested and prefer to settle there.

In 1941, Alaska witnessed a major transformation that was not caused by the discovery of new wealth, as it took on military and strategic importance, which prompted the American administration to establish the Alaska Highway, which opened in 1942, with a length of 2,574 kilometers, linking it to a group of airports, which made the region a destination for thousands of workers in the fields. Military and civil.

The economy in Alaska continued to fluctuate between growth and slowdown until 1968, which represented an economic boom for the state, when oil was discovered on the Arctic coast, and the construction of the 1,300-km field pipeline was completed in 1977.

The returns from this great wealth gradually began to appear on Alaska and its residents. In 1980, state Governor Jay Hammond signed a bill to create the Alaska Permanent Fund to distribute the state’s profits to its residents. The first payments to this fund were disbursed in 1982 at a value of 1,000 US dollars for each citizen.

Alaska also contains half of the United States' coal reserves, and has the largest silver and zinc mines, in addition to the gold it contains in its streams and mountains, making it a destination for miners and investors.

Minerals are not the only source that makes Alaska a rich state whose residents enjoy a high standard of living. Tourism is an important economic sector and the second largest resource in the state, as it annually attracts more than 1.1 million visitors.

In addition to this, hunting and fisheries are the best sources of seafood and land in the world. The total spoils of seafood caught reach 6 billion pounds, led by salmon.

Alaska also includes forests of up to 28 million acres, and in addition to its beauty that attracts tourists, it is an important source for the timber industry.

It also contains 15 million acres of arable land, and 19 species of animals live there that carry the most expensive types of fur in the world on their backs.

Source: Al Jazeera + websites