As many of you will know, Alaska was once a colony of the Russian Empire, which it late sold to the United States. But why? Why did Russia choose to sell Alaska to the United States, and why not Canada? In fact, why did Russia choose to sell a piece of land with such great potential at all?
A little bit of context, Russians had first set foot on the Alaskan mainland in 1741 under Danish explorer Vitus Bering. Bering unfortunately died on his journey but his fellow travelers came back to Russia with news of a new land and a highly profitable item, fur pelts. Around the 1740s Russian fur traders began to settle in that area.
As Russian settlers started to arrive in droves in the new colony of Russian America. The local mammal populations declined due to excessive hunting by both the Inuits and Russian settlers. This degraded Alaska’s importance as a colony and the Russians were inclined to sell it to gain at least some profit. In 1856, Russia was firmly defeated by the British, French, and Ottomans who all had to thank their superior navies. This further made the Alaska situation worse as they realized that Britain could just take Alaska in a future war via Canada. This, in addition to Alaska’s isolation from Moscow and the monopoly of British and American companies on trade there, prompted the Russians to look for possible countries to sell the colony to.
So now that we know why Russia chose to sell it, why did it not choose to sell it to Britain, as it already had Canada? Well, Russia and Britain were already rivals in Asia, and giving land to an enemy is not a smart thing to do, especially if that territory is so close to the mainland. Russia looked to the United States instead because the emperor saw them as an ally against Britain and The US was eager to take up new lands left and right.
