Russian exploration of Alaska. Russian exploration of America and Alaska

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. In 1798, as a result of the merger of the companies of Grigory Shelikhov, Nikolai Mylnikov and Ivan Golikov, the Russian-American Company was formed, the shareholders of which were statesmen and grand dukes. The first director of this company is Nikolai Rezanov, whose name is known to many today as the name of the hero of the musical “Juno and Avos”. The company, which some historians today call “the destroyer of Russian America and an obstacle to the development of the Far East,” had monopoly rights to furs, trade, the discovery of new lands, granted Emperor Paul I. The company also had the right to protect and represent the interests of Russia

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. The Russian Empire sold uninhabited and inaccessible territory to the United States for $0.05 per hectare. This turned out to be 1.5 times cheaper than Napoleonic France sold the developed territory of historical Louisiana 50 years earlier. America offered $10 million for the port of New Orleans alone, and besides, the lands of Louisiana had to be repurchased from the Indians living there.

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 the sale of Alaska - where is the money? Eduard Stekl, who since 1850 was the charge d'affaires of the Russian embassy in Washington, and in 1854 was appointed to the post of envoy, received a check in the amount of 7 million 35 thousand dollars. He kept 21 thousand for himself, and distributed 144 thousand to the senators who voted to ratify the treaty as bribes. 7 million was transferred to London by bank transfer, and the gold bars purchased for this amount were transported from the British capital to St. Petersburg by sea.

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 March 2013, the Moscow Arbitration Court received a claim from representatives of the Interregional public movement in support of the Orthodox educational and social initiatives “Bee” in the name of the Holy Great Martyr Nikita. According to Nikolai Bondarenko, chairman of the movement, this step was caused by the failure to fulfill a number of points in the agreement signed in 1867. In particular, Article 6 provided for the payment of 7 million 200 thousand dollars in gold coin, and the US Treasury issued a check for this amount, the further fate of which is unclear. Another reason, according to Bondarenko, was the fact that the US government violated Article 3 of the treaty, which stipulates that the American authorities must ensure that the residents of Alaska, formerly citizens of the Russian Empire, live in accordance with their customs and traditions and the faith that they professed at that time. The Obama administration, with its plans to legalize same-sex marriage, infringes on the rights and interests of citizens who live in Alaska. The Moscow Arbitration Court refused to consider the claim against the US federal government.

Alaska is the northernmost state of the USA. There are not many cities located on its territory, and there are no large metropolises at all.

Like everyone else, Alaska has a capital. But what city is the capital of Alaska? The answer to this question is contained in the text of the article.

State territory

Alaska occupies a vast territory, which includes the Alaska Peninsula, a narrow strip in the northwest of the continent, and the Alexander Archipelago. Alaska is an exclave separated from the United States by Canada. The state's territory is washed by two oceans: the Arctic from the north and the Pacific from the west and south. in the west it separates Alaska from the Russian Federation. The state's topography is special. Along the coastline stretches a narrow strip of the Alaska Range, which is part of the greatest mountain range in the world - the Cordillera. The ridge is famous not only for its beautiful landscapes and huge glaciers, but also for the location of the highest peak in all of North America - Mount Denali.

The height of this mountain, also known as McKinley, is 6190 m. After the inland plateau comes the Brooks Mountain Range in the north of the state. The climate, depending on the region, is different: from temperate maritime on the Pacific coast to arctic continental in the interior of the peninsula. The Aleutian Islands also have mountainous terrain. On the peninsula itself there are active volcanoes: Katmai, Augustine, Cleveland, Pavlova Volcano. Redout Volcano erupted as recently as 2009. incredibly beautiful, despite the permafrost that covers much of the state.

Capital of Alaska: history

During the development of the territory by Russian discoverers at the turn of the 17th-19th centuries, the center of Alaska was the city of Novo-Arkhangelsk (now Sitka). Then it was the center of the fur trade and after the sale of this territory to America, the same capital of Alaska remained - Sitka. However, by the end of the 19th century, when the city ceased to be promising, Juneau became the capital. Gold reserves were found here, then oil. Nowadays, the capital of Alaska is Juneau.

Capital of Alaska: controversial issues

The capital is usually the largest city, which has primacy in area and population. However, this principle does not apply in Alaska. The capital of the state of Alaska is far from the largest city: its population is about 35 thousand people. This uniqueness gives reason to believe that the capital of the state should be the city of Anchorage - the largest. It is almost ten times larger in population than Juneau. The city's infrastructure is much better developed than in the capital. So the question becomes, is the capital of Alaska Anchorage or Juneau? The issue of moving the capital from Juneau has been repeatedly raised by residents of Anchorage, but, according to survey data, the population of other cities is against the move. This may be due to the fact that Juneau is located closer to the mainland states.

Juneau - Anchorage Attractions

The capital of Alaska is a small town that is traditionally considered the administrative center of the state. There are few attractions in the city, like, for example, in Anchorage. Here you can visit the Alaska State Museum, which features historical details of the indigenous people of southeast Alaska - the Tlingit, Russian history in Alaska and American dominance. The Church of St. Nicholas, located in the city, is interesting and original. This is an Orthodox church built at the end of the 19th century by Tlingit people who converted to Orthodoxy. Ecotourism in incredibly beautiful, pristine places of northern nature plays an important role in the financial side of city life.

As a larger city, Anchorage has more attractions. The Heritage Center, Imaginarium, Anchorage Cultural Center, Botanical Garden, Zoo and more can be visited in Alaska's largest community. The city, which emerged as a key railway junction, is connected to all cities in the state, so many tourist routes start here.

The unique location of the city - between two channels of Cook Inlet and the Chugach Mountains - makes it possible to simply enjoy the nature of the American north, visit nature reserves and large national parks of the state. Anchorage is located four hundred kilometers from the world famous location of the highest point in North America.

Alaska, translated from the local dialect, is a place of whales. Alaska has a very beautiful flag - eight gold five-pointed stars on a blue background. Seven is the Ursa Major bucket, the eighth is the North Star. The peninsula became a US state in 1959. Americans believe that before this, Alaska could not feed its administration due to poverty - and therefore was not a state.

Alaska brings people and bears closer together

A quarter of all underground and marine reserves of the United States, almost 5 billion barrels of oil, forest reserves, gas, and copper are concentrated on the peninsula. Some Americans are not averse to selling Alaska to Russia for one trillion dollars to reduce the budget deficit.

189 years ago, on April 17, 1824, the Russian-American Convention on Determining the Boundaries of Russian Possessions in North America was signed. This Convention marked the beginning of the expulsion of Russians from America and subsequently played a huge role in the sale of Alaska in 1867.

The signing of the agreement for the sale of Alaska took place on March 30, 1867 in Washington. The territory of 1 million 519 thousand km² was sold for $7.2 million in gold, that is, $4.74 per km² (the much more fertile and sunnier French Louisiana, purchased from France in 1803, cost the US budget slightly more - approximately at $7 per km²). Alaska was finally transferred to the United States on October 18 of the same year, when Russian commissioners led by Admiral Alexei Peschurov arrived at Fort Sitka. The Russian flag was ceremoniously lowered over the fort and the American flag was raised.

From all sides they say that Russia committed a great stupidity by selling Alaska. But there is an opinion that Alaska was never sold. It was leased for 90 years. AND

after the lease expired in 1957, the United States, with pain in its heart, was going to give the land back or try to extend the lease for a very good sum. But Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev actually gave the lands to America.

And only after that, in 1959, Alaska became the 49th US state. Many argue that the agreement on the transfer of Alaska to the United States was never signed by the USSR - nor was it signed by the Russian Empire. Therefore, Alaska may have been borrowed free of charge from Russia.

In 1648, during the reign of the “quiet” Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, Semyon Dezhnev crossed the 86-kilometer wide strait that separated Russia and America. This Strait will then be called the Bering Strait. In 1732, Mikhail Gvozdev was the first European to determine the coordinates and map 300 kilometers of coastline, describe the shores and straits. In 1741, Vitus Bering explored the shores of Alaska. In 1784, Grigory Shelikhov developed the peninsula.

He spreads Orthodoxy among the Horse natives. Accustoms local residents to potatoes and turnips. Founds the agricultural colony "Glory of Russia". And at the same time it includes residents of Alaska among Russian citizens. At the same time as Shelikhov, merchant Pavel Lebedev-Lastochkin was exploring Alaska. Russian territory expanded to the south and east.

In 1798, Shelikhov's company merged with the companies of Ivan Golikov and Nikolai Mylnikov and became known as the Russian-American Company. In the books of Nikolai Zadornov, she is described as the destroyer of Russian America and an obstacle to the development of the Far East. The company's shareholders were grand dukes and statesmen. One of the shareholders and its first director was Nikolai Rezanov (the hero of the musical "Juno" and "Avos") It had monopoly rights for a period of 20 years, granted by Paul I, for furs, trade, and the discovery of new lands. She was granted the right to represent and defend the interests of Russia.

The company founded the St. Michael's Fortress (now Sitka), where there was an elementary school, a shipyard, a church, an arsenal, and workshops. Each arriving ship was greeted with fireworks, as under Peter I. In 1802, the natives burned the fortress. Three years later, another Russian fortress fell. English and American entrepreneurs sought to liquidate Russian settlements and armed the natives.

In 1806, the Russian-American Company opened its trading posts on the Hawaiian (Sandwich) Islands. The factories existed until 1911.

In 1808, the Russian-American Company, located in Irkutsk, appointed Novo-Arkhangelsk (formerly St. Michael's Fortress) as the capital of Russian America. From the creation of the company until the founding of the capital, furs worth more than 5 million rubles were extracted. Copper, coal, and iron were being mined. Blast furnaces were built. Mica production was in operation.

Libraries and schools were created. There was a theater and a museum. Local children were taught Russian and French, mathematics, geography, etc. And four years later, merchant Ivan Kuskov founded Fort Ross in California - the southernmost outpost of the Russian colony in America. He bought the territory that belonged to Spain from the local Indians. Russia became a European, Asian and American power. Russian America included the Aleutian Islands, Alaska and Northern California. There were more than 200 Russian citizens in the fort - Creoles, Indians, Aleuts.

They fully provided grain for themselves and the entire population of Alaska. The Russian-American company built 44 ships. Including steam ships, all parts for which were made in local workshops. She equipped 25 expeditions, of which 15 were around the world. There were more trips than the “queen of the seas” of England. Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky were hired by the Company - and made the first circumnavigation in Russian history. The director of the Company, Rezanov, also went with them. Thanks to the Company, the shores of the Arctic Ocean from Arkhangelsk to the Kuril Islands and Japan were described. True, the information was kept secret from the Russian government.

Trade in vodka was prohibited on the territory. Strict measures were introduced to preserve and reproduce the number of animals. The British, invading Alaska, exterminated everything completely, soldered the natives and bought furs for next to nothing.

In 1803, Rumyantsev, the future chancellor, demanded the settlement of Russian America. He insistently asked to build cities in it, develop industry and trade, and build factories that could operate on local raw materials. Chamberlain Rezanov said that it was necessary to “invite more Russians there.” The Senate refused to resettle the serfs: they were afraid that many would leave the landowners. He also refused to allow the peasants freed from the fortress to move to Alaska. The population in Russian America grew extremely slowly.

Since 1808, negotiations have been held with the United States to streamline relations in the northwestern part of North America. The company was against signing such an agreement.

At that time, the United States was actually a secondary country that had quite friendly relations with Russia. Thanks to Russia's non-intervention, the colony separated from England. The great power hoped for the gratitude of the new state. But in 1819, US Secretary of State Quincy Adams declared that all states in the world must come to terms with the idea that the continent of North America is the territory of the United States alone.

He also developed a doctrine: “to reconquer part of the American continent from the Russians, time and patience will be the best weapons.” In 1821, the United States of America, as the country was called at that time, at the congressional level noted the danger to the interests of the country from the Russian colonization of the northwestern coast of America - Alaska and California.

The Decree of Alexander I, issued in 1821, banning foreign ships from approaching Russian settlements in America caused a storm of protest among Americans. In 1823, the policy of dividing the world into two systems was finally determined - the Monroe Doctrine, the message to Congress. America only for the USA - Europe for everyone else. On April 17 (April 5, old style), 1824, the Convention on Determining the Boundaries of Russian Possessions in North America was signed in St. Petersburg. The border of the settlements was established along the 54˚40° parallel of northern latitude.

Alaska

Alaska– the northernmost and largest state in the United States; located in northwestern North America. It has a maritime border with Russia in the Bering Strait. It includes the peninsula of the same name with adjacent islands, the Aleutian Islands, a narrow strip of the Pacific coast along with the islands of the Alexander Archipelago along the western border of Canada.
The area of the land– 1,717,854 km², of which 236,507 km² are on the water surface.
Population– 736,732 people. (2014).
State capital- City of Juneau.

Name

The word "Alaska" comes from the Aleutian alah'sakh' or ala'sh'a, meaning whale place, or whale abundance. Another interpretation of the name Alaska comes from an Aleut word meaning large land, continent, peninsula.

Alaska's poetic nickname - "The Last Frontier"(The Last Frontier). Alaska is called this way because it was the last territory on the North American continent to receive the status of the 49th US state on January 3, 1959, and also because of its distance from the main US territory. Another nickname is “The Land of the Midnight Sun”.

Climate

The state of Alaska is located in the subarctic climate zone.

It is divided into 5 climatic zones:

Marine zone, including southeastern Alaska, the southern coast, and the southwestern islands
Maritime continental zone, covering the west of Bristol Bay, as well as the western end of the central zone. Summer temperatures here are influenced by the open waters of the Bering Sea, while winter temperatures are more continental as the sea freezes completely in the coldest months of the year.
Transition zone between marine and continental areas covers the southern part of the Copper River Basin, Cook Inlet, and the northern limits of the southern coastal zone
Continental zone includes the headwaters of the Copper River and its basin, as well as the interior of Alaska
Arctic zone occupies territory located north of the Arctic Circle

The annual precipitation in the marine zone of southeastern Alaska, due to high humidity on the slopes of mountain ranges, reaches 5080 mm, and up to 3810 mm along the northern coast of the Gulf of Alaska. Precipitation decreases to almost 1752 mm on the southern slopes of the Alaska Range in the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands. Even further north, precipitation levels decrease to 305 mm in the continental zone, and to 152 mm in the Arctic zone. The level of annual precipitation varies significantly depending on snowfall.

The average annual temperature in Alaska varies from +4°C in the south to -12°C on the northern spurs of the Brooks Range in the Arctic zone. Temperature changes at different times of the year are most characteristic of the central and eastern parts of the continental interior regions.

In the summer months, the temperature here rises on average to +21°C and even +32°C.
In winter, in the absence of sunlight, the temperature drops to -10°C.
The average annual winter temperature is from 1.1°C to -6.6°C.
In the maritime zone, average summer and winter temperatures vary from +15°C to -6.6°C.

Administrative division

Unlike most other US states, where the main administrative unit of local government is the county, the name of the administrative units in Alaska is borough. An even more important difference is that the 15 boroughs and the municipality of Anchorage cover only part of Alaska. The remaining territory does not have enough population to form local government and forms the so-called unorganized borough, which for the purposes of the census and for ease of administration was divided into so-called census zones. There are 11 such zones in Alaska.

Story

Prehistoric Alaska

The first traces of human habitation in Alaska date back to the Paleolithic period, when the first people moved to the northwestern part of North America through the Bering Isthmus, which connects Eurasia and America into one continent. According to various estimates, this happened somewhere 40-15 thousand years ago. The most probable period is 20 thousand years.

Further advance of the settlers inland was hampered by significant ice cover, which lasted until the end of the Wisconsin Glaciation (the last ice age on the mainland). Then people moved to the territory of modern Canada and in the future settled throughout America. Thus, Alaska became home to the Eskimos and other peoples.

Today, native Alaskan nationalities are divided into several groups: southeastern Coastal Americans (Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian), Aleut, and two branches of Eskimo (Yup'ik and Inupiat). Human settlement of America also took place through the territory of Alaska, which took place in three stages: Amerindians, Na-Dene (Tlingit) and Eskimos. Eskimos and related Aleuts have been archaeologically recorded since the 3rd millennium BC. (Paleo-Eskimos), their ancestors created the archaeological ancient Bering Sea culture and the Thule culture.

Discovery of Alaska

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 through the Bering Strait from the Icy Sea to the Warm Sea. In addition, there is fragmentary information about Russian people visiting America in the 17th century.

The first Europeans to visit Alaska on August 21, 1732 were members of the St. Gabriel" under the command of surveyor M. S. Gvozdev and navigator I. Fedorov during the expedition of A. F. Shestakov and D. I. Pavlutsky of 1729–1735. Gvozdev's expedition recorded the territory of Cape Prince of Wales.

In 1745, Russian industrialists Nevodchikov on the ship “St. Evdokim" set foot on the shore of the Aleutian island of Attu, where a skirmish with the Aleuts occurred (in 1760 the island was visited by another Russian ship, "St. John the Baptist").
In 1753, the Russian industrialist set foot on Adak Island, and in 1756 - on Tanaga Island.
In 1758, the boat "St. Julian”, under the command of the navigator and leader Stepan Glotov, reached Umnak Island from the Fox Islands group of the Aleutian ridge. Industrialists spent three years on Umnak and the neighboring large island - Unalaska, engaged in fishing and trading with local residents.
In 1774, the Spaniards began sailing to the northwestern shores of America.
And in 1778, James Cook undertook an expedition to the shores of Alaska.

Russian America

In 1763–1765, a native uprising occurred in the Aleutian Islands, which was brutally suppressed by Russian industrialists. In 1772, the first Russian trading settlement was founded on the Aleutian Unalaska. In the summer of 1784, an expedition under the command of G. I. Shelekhov (1747–1795) landed on the Aleutian Islands and on August 14 founded the Russian settlement of Kodiak. In 1791, Fort St. was founded on the American continent. Nicholas. In 1792/1793, the expedition of industrialist Vasily Ivanov reached the banks of the Yukon River.

In September 1794, an Orthodox mission consisting of 8 monks from the Valaam and Konevsky monasteries and the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, led by Archimandrite Joasaph, arrived on Kodiak Island. Immediately upon arrival, the missionaries immediately began to build a temple and convert the pagans to the Orthodox faith. Since 1816, married priests also served in Alaska. Orthodox missionaries made a significant contribution to the development of Russian America.

From July 9, 1799 to October 18, 1867, Alaska and its adjacent islands were under the control of the Russian-American Company. A. A. Baranov became the first governor of Alaska. During the years of Baranov's rule, the borders of Russian possessions in Alaska expanded significantly, and new Russian settlements emerged. Redoubts appeared in the Kenai and Chugatsky bays. Construction of Novorossiysk began in Yakutat Bay. In 1796, moving south along the American coast, the Russians reached the island of Sitka. The basis of the economy of Russian America was the fishing of sea animals (sea otters, sea lions), which was carried out with the support of the Aleuts.

However, during the development of the lands of Alaska, the Russians encountered fierce resistance from the Tlingit Indians. In 1802–1805, the Russian-Indian War broke out, which secured Alaska for Russia, but limited the further advance of the Russians deep into America. The capital of Russian America was moved to Novo-Arkhangelsk.

Russia clashed with the British Hudson's Bay Company. To avoid misunderstandings, the eastern border of Alaska was delineated in 1825 by agreement between Russia and Great Britain (now the border between Alaska and British Columbia).

Selling Alaska

On April 17, 1824, in St. Petersburg, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, Karl Nesselrode, and the US envoy, Henry Middleton, signed an agreement between Russia and the United States to determine the border of Russian territories in North America. This treaty demarcated the territory between Russia and the United States. According to it, the border was established along the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude. The Russians pledged not to settle to the south, and the Americans - to the north of this line.

After Russia's defeat in the Crimean War (1853-1856), the US government began to seek the acquisition of Russian possessions in North America. In March 1867, an agreement was signed on the sale by Russia of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands to the United States for $7.2 million.

In March 1867, the government of Emperor Alexander II decided to sell Alaska (with an area of 1.5 million sq. km) for 11.362 million rubles in gold (about 7.2 million dollars). Money for Alaska was transferred only in August 1867.

After the signing of the treaty, the entire Alaska Peninsula, a coastal strip 10 miles wide south of Alaska along the western coast of British Columbia, was transferred to the United States; Alexandra Archipelago; Aleutian Islands with Attu Island; the islands of Blizhnye, Rat, Lisya, Andreyanovskiye, Shumagina, Trinity, Umnak, Unimak, Kodiak, Chirikova, Afognak and other smaller islands; Islands in the Bering Sea: St. Lawrence, St. Matthew, Nunivak and the Pribilof Islands - St. George and St. Paul.

What was the true reason for the sale of Alaska is still unknown. According to one version, the emperor made this deal to pay off his debts. In 1862, Alexander II was forced to borrow £15 million from the Rothschilds at 5% per annum. There was nothing to return, and then Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich - the Sovereign’s younger brother - offered to sell “something unnecessary.” Alaska turned out to be an unnecessary thing in Russia. Besides Emperor Alexander II, only five people knew about the deal: his brother Grand Duke Constantine, Finance Minister Mikhail Reitern, Naval Ministry manager Nikolai Krabbe, Foreign Minister Alexander Gorchakov and the Russian envoy to the United States Eduard Stekl. The latter had to bribe former US Treasury Secretary Walker $16,000 for lobbying for the idea of purchasing the territory of Alaska.

Other versions of the sale include the approaching crisis in the country. The general state of Russia's finances, despite the reforms carried out in the country, was deteriorating, and the treasury needed foreign money. A year before the transfer of Alaska, Finance Minister Mikhail Reitern sent a special note to Alexander II, in which he pointed out the need for the strictest savings. His appeal stated that for the normal functioning of the empire a three-year foreign loan of 15 million rubles was required. in year. Before this, the idea to sell Alaska was hatched 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 to strengthen its position on the Asian Pacific coast, and to be friends with America against the British.

As part of the USA

Since 1867, Alaska was under the jurisdiction of the US War Department and was called the "District of Alaska". On October 18, 1867, the US flag was raised in Novoarkhangelsk, which henceforth began to be called Sitka. General Davis became the first American governor of Alaska. In 1869, about 200 Russians, more than 200 colonial citizens and more than one and a half thousand Creoles remained in Alaska. All these people were carriers of Russian cultural traditions; for colonial citizens, Russian was their native language, and most Creoles were bilingual. In 1870, there were 483 Russians and 1,421 Creoles living in Alaska. In 1880, there were 430 “whites” and 1,756 creoles. The entire population of Ninilchik (Kenai Peninsula) retained Russian as their native language literally until World War II. In other villages of the Kenai Peninsula, after the sale of Alaska, the Russian language quickly fell out of use. This is explained by the fact that the Creole population of these villages either switched to local languages or learned English. After the sale of Alaska, Creoles and even some Russians were classified as "uncivilized tribes" and remained in this status until 1915, when they were equalized in rights with the American Indians. It was not until 1934 that Creoles, along with other indigenous people in the United States, received the status of American citizens.

In 1880, the leader of one of the Tlingit Indian tribes named Covey led two prospectors to a stream flowing into Gastineau Strait. Joseph Juneau and Richard Harris found gold there and laid claim to the site - "Golden Brook", which turned out to be one of the richest gold mines. A village grew nearby, and then the city of Juneau, which in 1906 became the capital of Alaska. Ketchikan's history began in 1887, when the first cannery was built. The region developed slowly until the start of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896. During the years of the gold rush in Alaska, about one thousand tons of gold were mined, which in April 2005 prices corresponded to 13–14 billion dollars.

US State

The post-war confrontation between America and the Soviet Union, the years of the Cold War further strengthened the role of Alaska as a shield against a possible transpolar attack and contributed to the development of its uninhabited spaces. Alaska was declared a state on January 3, 1959. Since 1968, various mineral resources have been exploited, particularly in the Prudhoe Bay area, southeast of Point Barrow. In 1977, an oil pipeline was laid from Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez.

Nature of Alaska

Alaska is washed by the waters of two oceans, from the north - the Arctic, from the south and west - the Pacific. Alaska's coastline is longer than all other US states combined. Cook Inlet, near Alaska's largest city Anchorage, has some of the highest tides in the world (up to twelve meters).

The Alaska Range stretches along the Pacific coast of Alaska. This is where the highest mountain in the United States is located - McKinley (6,194 meters above sea level). North of the Alaska Range, in the interior of Alaska, lies a plateau ranging in height from 600 meters in the west to 1200 meters in the east. Even further north, beyond the Arctic Circle, is the Brooks Range, which is over 950 kilometers long and has an average altitude of 2000-2500 meters above sea level. In the very north of Alaska is the Arctic Lowland.

Alaska's mountain ranges are included in "Pacific Ring of Fire", a volcanic mountain range that is also prone to earthquakes. Among the largest is the Shishaldin volcano on Unimak Island, the highest mountain in the Aleutian Islands.

There are over twelve thousand rivers in Alaska, the largest of which are Yukon(the length of the river is more than 3,000 kilometers, the basin area is about 830,000 km2), Kuskokwim(about 1,300 km), Colville(more than 600 km). Alaska has more than three million (!) lakes and many wetlands. Vast areas in Alaska are covered with glaciers (more than forty thousand square kilometers). The largest of them, the Bering Glacier, occupies 5,800 km 2. Northern Alaska is home to two of the largest wilderness areas in the United States. In the northeastern part of the state there is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, whose area is more than 78,000 km2, in the northwest there is the territory of the National Petroleum Reserve with an area of about 95,000 km2.

Wildlife of Alaska

The fauna of the tundra and forest areas of Alaska is quite diverse and characteristic. There are only about 20 species of different fur-bearing animals here. Among them there are mainly representatives of the order carnivores (American mink, wolverine and other mustelids, several varieties of foxes, wolves, bears), hares and rodents (muskrat, beaver, etc.). The number of large predators (wolves, coyotes, bears, wolverines) especially increased during the Second World War, when they became a real scourge of Alaska due to the fact that they multiplied in huge numbers as a result of the fact that large herds of domestic reindeer were actually abandoned to arbitrariness of fate.

A number of mountainous and forested areas of Alaska, as well as the forest-tundra, are home to various species of wild ungulates, such as caribou (reindeer), moose, bighorn goat and bighorn sheep. Musk oxen, completely destroyed in Alaska by the Americans, now exist in numbers of about 100 on the island of Nunivak, where they were brought from Greenland. On Afognak Island, the American wapiti, brought from Oregon (USA), has been acclimatized, and in the Big Delta region (southeast of Fairbanks) there is a small herd of bison.

Birds are exceptionally richly represented in Alaska, among which there are many species related to Siberian ones (three-toed woodpecker, hazel grouse, ptarmigan, Alaskan goose, etc.), but there are also specific American species, such as the fire hummingbird.

Life is in full swing not only on land, but also in the seas and oceans washing the shores of Alaska. Various species of sea animals are widespread off the coast of Alaska. These include, first of all, seals with precious fur that spend time in the rookeries of the Pribilof Islands from May to August; walruses, common on the Arctic coast and the Bering Sea coast; sea lions, seals and several species of whales. Many species of animals, especially mammals, living in Alaska are of great commercial importance.

The fish canning industry, as the main industry of Alaska's economy, is based on catching various species of salmon fish, which are of particular value. In the waters of Alaska, in addition to salmon, there are such valuable fish as cod, herring, halibut, and along the Pacific coast, various types of crustaceans (crabs, shrimp), as well as cephalopods and other mollusks, are found in large quantities. During the summer months, the air in the interior of Alaska is literally infested with midges that even a mosquito net cannot save a person from them.

Alaska in literature

"White Fang"(English White Fang) is an adventure story by Jack London, the main character of which is a wolf named White Fang. The book tells the story of the fate of a tamed wolf during the Alaska Gold Rush at the end of the 19th century. At the same time, quite a large part of the work is shown through the eyes of animals and, in particular, White Fang himself. The novel describes the different behavior and attitudes of people towards animals, good and evil.

"The Sailor's Song" is the third novel by American writer Ken Kesey. The novel takes place in the small town of Kwinak in Alaska, which is inhabited mainly by fishermen. Residents of the town lead a measured, sedate life until Hollywood producers decide to build another Disneyland in the city.