Alaska who sold it to America. Why did Russia sell Alaska to America? How much did the American government pay for Alaska

The entire land of Alaska is equal to about three territories of France. Initially, it belonged to Russia. Alaska produces platinum, tungsten, coal and other minerals. There are many huge oil fields there.

And now the United States is extracting all this wealth. So who gave Alaska to America and in what year? Many believe that Catherine II became the culprit of the transfer. However, this opinion is erroneous, and in order to understand the situation, it is necessary to delve into history.

How did Russia get Alaska?

Many are sure that the Russian traveler Vitus Bering was the first to discover Alaska. The pioneer crossed the strait, which was later named after him. A little later, on October 22, 1784, the merchant Grigory Shelikhov appeared on the shores of Alaska. He became the founder of the first settlement on about. Kodiak. After 4 years, the village was badly battered by the tsunami, and the village moved to the other side of the island, which was called Pavlovskaya Harbor.

Shelikhov taught the Indians to eat potatoes and turnips, became a distributor of Orthodoxy and founded the settlement "Glory to Russia". Since the beginning of colonization (in 1795), Alaska has officially become Russian territory. A few years later, the capital appeared - Sitka. 200 Russian people and 1,000 aulets lived in it.

Alaska Sitka

However, Alaska was really discovered not by Bering, but by Semyon Dezhnev in 1648. He began his journey from the mouth of the Kolyma and ended it in Anadyr. Dezhnev, of course, shared his discovery with Peter I. However, the emperor decided to check that Asia and America were connected. Therefore, he sent the ships of Chirikov and Bering to Alaska.

In 1732, the first expedition to the new Russian territory took place. In 1741 it was examined for the first time. Of the Europeans, the first person to visit Alaska was James Cook, then the Spanish expedition was met by the Russians. In any case, it turns out that the territory was Russian from the very beginning.

Who sold Alaska to America and when?

To figure out who sold Alaska from the kings, you need to go back into history for a while. Until Shelikhov died, he managed to significantly (only in the first 3 years - 20 times) increase his capital. At first, furs were mined in Alaska, which were highly valued not only in Russia, but also abroad.

In 1799, his son-in-law, a chamberlain and a concurrent count, founded the Russian-American Company (similar to the East India Company). It also included members of the imperial family. By decree of Paul the First, the right to manage Alaska was transferred to the company. The territory even had a flag and an armed fleet.

So who gave Alaska to America - Catherine or Alexander? When gold was discovered on the territory, American prospectors rushed there in a stream. The Russian Empire was not ready for a confrontation, but it did not want to give up Alaska so easily either.

The idea of ​​selling it was first conceived by Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky, Governor-General of V. Siberia. The proposal was made in strict confidence, before Crimean War. In 1853, the governor gave the idea in the form of a note to Emperor Nicholas I. In the letter, the general described in detail the importance of establishing relations with the United States and strengthening positions in the Far East.

Then the idea was supported by Konstantin Romanov, the emperor's brother. Alexander II approved this proposal, and the agreement between the countries was signed. Alaska was sold for just $7.5 million. The payment was sent to Russia in golden scrolls, by sea. However, the ship sank near St. Petersburg.

When the question arises which king gave Alaska to America, for some reason many people are sure that it was Catherine. There is even a story that the Empress did not know Russian well and entrusted the drafting of the contract to her confidant. And instead of transferring Alaska to America “for a century”, he wrote “forever” and it turned out that forever. Other people associate this story with Catherine because of the famous song of the Lyube group. However, history refutes the participation of the Empress.

Considering the year in which Alaska was sold, Catherine did not conclude any contracts at that time. Documents appeared only under Alexander II, which is officially confirmed by history.

In what year was Alaska given to America?

So, in what year did Alaska pass to America? The official date of the transition of territories is 1867. It was then that the papers between the two countries were signed. Then the American flag began to wave in Alaska. The lands began to be considered an American colony. If we consider in what year Alaska became an American colony, then this date is 1959.

Negotiations on the transfer of land began in December 1866. Then a "special meeting" was held at the Russian Foreign Ministry. Alexander II was also present at this meeting. After resolving all issues, the agreement was signed on March 30 (according to the old calculation - on the 18th), 1867. The official transfer of Russian territories took place on October 18 of the same year. The end of the transaction was set after receiving a check from the United States for $7.2 million. It happened in the summer of 1968.

Why did they give Alaska to America?

Why Alaska was given to America - still everything possible reasons do not sound intelligible. There are several options. Merchants from two provinces stood at the origins of the company that ruled Alaska. They asked the empress for an interest-free loan in order to use this money to develop the land. However, Catherine refused, as she was completely occupied with the current Crimea.

Then the company received the right to a monopoly, but already under Paul I. The cession of land took place in secret from the Russian-American company. The approval of the government after a letter from the emperor's brother was already considered a mere formality. Interestingly, this paper with a proposal to cede Alaska was written 10 years before the fait accompli.

When Russia gave Alaska to America, it was just a cession of territory for one century. The money for the sale by Russia was never received, as well as the dividends for the use of the territories. It turns out that the Americans simply took away Alaska by cunning. Moreover, they took advantage of the time when Russian Empire there were many problems, and she was not ready to defend distant lands by war.

It is interesting that the Russian side has no documents of sale at all. The reason was a strange reservation (when transferring lands to America) that the entire archive (concerning disputed territories) should also be transferred to its use. What arguments did the emperor's brother put forward for the empire to get rid of these lands:

1. Konstantin Nikolayevich was a member of the Geographical Society. He began to argue that Alaska is located too far from Russian territories. However, Chukotka, Kamchatka and Sakhalin are not closer, but it was Russian America that was chosen.

2. The second argument was that the company that owns Alaska is suffering from unprofitable land. There is supposedly no profit from them. However, there is documentary evidence that the income (though not fabulous) was still there.

3. The third argument is an empty treasury. This was true. However, $7.2 million, for which Alaska was ceded, could not fill an empty niche. At that time, 500 million rubles were required to fill the budget. The amount of 7.2 million dollars was approximately equal to only 10 Russian million. In addition, the empire also owed 1.5 billion. Then it is completely incomprehensible why making such an unprofitable deal with America.

4. A fairly strong argument could be considered the unleashing of a war that the empire could not cope with in order to keep the lands of Alaska. However, in 1854 the war was fought in several directions at once - in the Crimea, in the Far East, in the Baltic. The empire successfully repulsed the British and French squadrons in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. In 1863 Civil War in America, the international conflict was completely stopped.

The idea that originated with Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky, the governor-general of V. Siberia, led to the writing of a letter to the emperor. In the message, the result of the reasoning sounded in the form of a proposal to cede overseas possessions to America. The general was sure that this question would come up sooner or later.

If the Russian Empire does not make such a compromise, then all the same, the lands will be taken away, since it will not be able to protect them. It turns out that if you make a deal now, then you can even earn money on it.

At that time, about 800 Russians, 1900 Creoles and almost 5 thousand Aleuts really lived in Alaska. 40 thousand Indians also settled in the territories. However, they did not recognize the power of Russia. For an area of ​​1.5 million km², Russians were indeed in a large minority.

After such calculations, the St. Petersburg authorities treated Muravyov's letter very loyally. The general's proposals began to be carefully studied and calculated. Spurred on a positive decision and an empty treasury.

Perhaps the Russian Empire hoped that after the cession of the territory of Alaska, relations between the countries would improve. This argument would be the most naive. At that time, Russia did not have a common border with the Americans, and even if it were to conclude a sale and purchase deal, it would be much more profitable with the British. True, after the territories were transferred to the United States, almost friendly relations were established for some time. However, as history has shown, not for long.

The ceded territories included not only the entire peninsula, but also 10 miles of the coastline in southern Alaska along the coast of British Columbia. Many islands were included in the agreement (Aleutian, in the Bering Sea and many others).

At the same time, all the archives and property located on the former Russian territory, as well as documents of historical and legal value, were transferred to America.

Sale of Alaska- a deal between the governments of the Russian Empire and the North American United States, as a result of which in 1867 Russia sold its possessions in North America for 7.2 million dollars (with a total area of ​​1,518,800 km²).

For the first time, the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia N. N. Muravyov-Amursky made a proposal to sell Alaska in 1853.

Alaska, discovered for the Old World in 1732 by a Russian expedition led by M. S. Gvozdev and I. Fedorov, was the possession of Russia in North America. At first, it was mastered not by the state, but by private individuals, but, starting in 1799, by a specially established monopoly, the Russian-American Company (RAC).

The area of ​​the sold territory was 586,412 square miles (1,518,800 km²) and was practically uninhabited - according to the RAC itself, at the time of the sale, the population of all Russian Alaska and the Aleutian Islands was about 2,500 Russians and up to about 60,000 Indians and Eskimos. At the beginning of the 19th century, Alaska generated income through the fur trade, but by the middle of the century it began to appear that the costs of maintaining and protecting this remote and vulnerable, from a geopolitical point of view, territory would outweigh the potential profit.

The first question of the sale of Alaska to the United States before the Russian government was raised by the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, Count N. N. Muravyov-Amursky, in 1853, indicating that this, in his opinion, was inevitable, and at the same time would strengthen Russia's position in the Asian coast Pacific Ocean in the face of the increasing penetration of the British Empire:

“... now, with the invention and development railways, more than before, we must be convinced of the idea that the North American States will inevitably spread throughout North America, and we cannot help but bear in mind that sooner or later we will have to cede our North American possessions to them. It was impossible, however, with this consideration not to have in mind another thing: which is very natural for Russia if you do not own all East Asia; then dominate the entire Asian coast of the Eastern Ocean. Due to circumstances, we allowed the British to invade this part of Asia ... but this can still be improved by our close connection with the North American States.

( N. N. Muravyov-Amursky)

It should be noted that in this space of more than 1.5 million square kilometers at a single point in time, no more than 2.5 thousand Russians lived, who were lost against the background of almost 70 thousand Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts. It is this ratio that explains the conventionality of the term "Russian" in the title - the Russians here constituted a national minority.

However, it was this minority that began the active development of the region, which, sadly, in fact turned into a predatory plunder of its natural reserves. The colonists were mainly engaged in the trade of fur-bearing animals, both land and sea. The main prey were sea otters, which were exterminated in the most barbaric ways. By the way, it was thanks to this "sea robbery" that the Russian settlers completely knocked out the friendly and harmless Steller's cow - a marine mammal from the siren detachment (it, however, was hunted not for the sake of fur, but for food purposes).

The destruction of American ecosystems was carried out as follows: since there were few Russians in the colony, Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts were used as the main labor force. Merchants and industrialists, allegedly acting on behalf of the "White Tsar" (that is, the Sovereign Emperor), imposed heavy tribute (yasak) on local communities. For not fulfilling the “plan”, the natives were beaten with whips, put in stocks, ruined their villages, taking women and children into debt slavery. And sometimes the colonists staged real robbery raids on the villages of the natives, taking away all their skins and food supplies - after such raids, the only thing left for the unfortunate was to go into bondage to the "jambs" (that's how they called all Russians in Alaska, distorting the word "Cossack") .

Not surprisingly, the local population fiercely hated the aliens. Real Cossacks also added fuel to the fire, who constantly stole women from the natives and raped them. Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church who destroyed the places of worship of the natives and persecuted shamans. In a word, in contrast to what was written about Russian America by the then Russian press, there was no peaceful existence of aliens and natives.

(Anton Evseev) ***

Directly to the east of Alaska were the Canadian possessions of the British Empire (formally the Hudson's Bay Company). Relations between Russia and Britain were defined by geopolitical rivalry and were sometimes openly hostile. During the Crimean War, when the British fleet tried to land troops in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the possibility of a direct confrontation in America became real. Under these conditions, in the spring of 1854, the American government, which wanted to prevent the occupation of Alaska by the British Empire, received a proposal for a fictitious (temporarily, for a period of three years) sale by the Russian-American Company of all its possessions and property for 7 million 600 thousand dollars. The RAC entered into such an agreement with the American-Russian Trading Company in San Francisco, controlled by the US government, but it did not enter into force, since the RAC managed to negotiate with the British Hudson's Bay Company.

Sales negotiations

Formally, the next sale offer came from the Russian envoy in Washington, Baron Eduard Stekl, but this time the initiator of the deal was Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich (younger brother of Alexander II), who first voiced this proposal in the spring of 1857 in a special letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs A. M. Gorchakov. Gorchakov supported the proposal. The position of the Foreign Ministry was to study the issue, and it was decided to postpone its implementation until the expiration of the privileges of the RAC in 1862. And then the issue temporarily became irrelevant due to the American Civil War.

On December 16, 1866, a special meeting was held, which was attended by Alexander II, Grand Duke Konstantin, the ministers of finance and the naval ministry, and the Russian envoy in Washington, Baron Eduard Stekl. All participants approved the idea of ​​the sale. At the suggestion of the Ministry of Finance, a threshold amount was determined - at least 5 million dollars in gold. December 22, 1866 Alexander II approved the border of the territory.

In March 1867, Glassl arrived in Washington and reminded Secretary of State William Seward "of the proposals that have been made in the past for the sale of our colonies" and added that "the imperial government is now disposed to enter into negotiations." Having secured the consent of President Johnson, Seward already during the second meeting with Steckl, held on March 14, was able to discuss the main provisions of the future treaty.

On March 18, 1867, President Johnson signed formal credentials to Seward, and negotiations between the Secretary of State and Glass took place almost immediately, during which, in in general terms A draft agreement was agreed upon for the purchase of Russian possessions in America for $7.2 million.

The signing of the treaty took place on March 30, 1867 in Washington. The agreement was signed in English and French("diplomatic" languages).

On May 3 (15), 1867, the treaty was signed by Emperor Alexander II, on October 6 (18), 1867, the Governing Senate adopted a decree on the implementation of the treaty, the Russian text of which, under the heading "The Highest Ratified Convention on the Cession of the Russian North American Colonies to the North American United States" was published in the full assembly laws of the Russian Empire No. 44518. The transaction cost amounted to 7.2 million dollars in gold (at the exchange rate of 2009 - approximately 108 million dollars in gold).

The entire Alaska Peninsula (along the line running along meridian 141° west of Greenwich), a coastal strip 10 miles south of Alaska along the western coast of British Columbia passed to the USA; Alexandra archipelago; Aleutian Islands with the island of Attu; the islands of the Middle, Krys'i, Lis'i, Andreyanovsk, Shumagina, Trinity, Umnak, Unimak, Kodiak, Chirikov, Afognak and other smaller islands; islands in the Bering Sea: St. Lawrence, St. Matthew, Nunivak and the Pribylov Islands - St. George and St. Paul. Overall size of land sold amounted to about 1,519,000², therefore, 4 dollars 73 cents were paid per square kilometer, that is, 1.9 cents per acre. Together with the territory, all real estate, all colonial archives, official and historical documents related to the transferred territories were transferred to the United States.

In accordance with the usual procedure, the treaty was submitted to Congress. As the session of Congress ended just that day, the president called an emergency executive session of the Senate.

The fate of the treaty was in the hands of members of the Senate Committee on foreign affairs. The members of the committee at that time were: Charles Sumner of Massachusetts - chairman, Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, William Fessenden of Maine, James Harlan of Iowa, Oliver Morton of Indiana, James Paterson of New Hampshire, Raverdy Johnson of Maryland. That is, it was up to representatives of the Northeast to decide on the annexation of the territory, in which the Pacific states were primarily interested.

The US Senate, represented by the Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed doubts about the advisability of such a burdensome acquisition, especially in a situation where the country had just ended the civil war. Doubts were also expressed due to the fact that the payment was made in non-cash dollars, not gold, and not to the accounts of the Russian Ministry of Finance, but to the account of a private person (Stekl), which contradicted the terms of the agreement. However, the deal was supported in the Senate by 37 votes, with two votes against (they were Fessenden and Justin Morrill of Vermont). On May 3, the treaty was ratified. On June 8, the instruments of ratification were exchanged in Washington. Later, in accordance with established order the contract was printed and then included in the official collection of laws of the Russian Empire (No. 44518).

Ceremony of the transfer of Alaska under the jurisdiction of the United States

On Friday, October 18, 1867 at 3:30 pm, Alaska was officially ceded to the United States. From the Russian side, the protocol on the transfer was signed by a special government commissioner, captain of the 2nd rank A. A. Peshchurov. The handover ceremony took place in Novoarkhangelsk (now Sitka), aboard the American sloop of war Ossipy (English) Russian. October n.st.) - due to the fact that in Russia there was Julian calendar, and also due to the fact that the date in Russian America, which was considered to lie to the east, and not to the west of St. Petersburg, coincided with the date in continental Russia(differing by a day from the date at the same point in time in the United States).

On the same day, the Gregorian calendar in force in the United States was introduced and the time was synchronized with the US West Coast: as a result, the date was moved forward 11 days (+12 days difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars in the 19th century, −1 day due to the change of territory to the east of the date line), and Saturday became Friday (due to the change of the date line).

Immediately after the transfer of Alaska to the United States, American troops arrived in Sitka.

Comparison of the transaction price with similar transactions of the time

$7.2 million check presented to pay for the purchase of Alaska. The amount of the check is approximately equivalent to 119 million US dollars in 2014 (see photo). By the way, according to some experts, the building of the New York District Court was more expensive than the whole of Alaska, although the cost of the building may be so high today, but not in the 19th century. In turn, the initial price is 7.2. million today - much higher.

The Russian Empire sold the hard-to-reach and uninhabited territory for 2 cents per acre (0.0474 dollars per hectare), that is, nominally one and a half times cheaper than it was sold 50 years earlier (at a different cost of a cent) by Napoleonic France (in conditions of war and successive confiscation of the French colonies by Britain) much larger (2,100,000 km²) and fully developed territory of historical Louisiana: for the port of New Orleans alone, America initially offered $ 10 million in the more "weighty" dollar of the very beginning of the 19th century. But the lands of Louisiana had to be redeemed again from their real owners - the Indians who lived on it.

At the same time that Alaska was sold, a single three-story building in the center of New York - the New York District Court, built by the Tweed Gang, cost the New York State Treasury more than the US government - all of Alaska.

Different interpretations of the history of the sale of Alaska

In Russian journalism, it is widely believed that Alaska was not actually sold, but leased for 99 years, but the USSR, according to certain political reasons didn't ask for it back. The same version is played out in Jeffrey Archer's novel A Matter of Honor. However, according to the overwhelming majority of historians, there is no basis for these versions, because, according to the treaty of 1867, Alaska unambiguously, finally and irrevocably becomes the full property of the United States.

Some historians also argue that Russia did not receive the gold, which sank along with the barque Orkney carrying it. Orkney) during a storm. Nevertheless, the State Historical Archive of the Russian Federation contains a document written by an unknown employee of the Ministry of Finance in the second half of 1868, stating that “For the Russian possessions in North America ceded to the North American States, 11,362,481 rubles were received from the aforementioned States. 94 [cop.]. Out of 11,362,481 rubles. 94 kop. spent abroad on the purchase of supplies for the railways: Kursk-Kyiv, Ryazan-Kozlovskaya, Moscow-Ryazanskaya, etc. 10,972,238 rubles. 4 k. The rest are 390,243 rubles. 90 k. came in cash.”

In the VIII 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 a new place, which was a large peninsula with many separate ones 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, mink, fox, brought good income. Furs were priced equal to precious metals. In addition, the Russian government signed a decree allowing foreign citizens to entrepreneurial activity on Russian soil for a period of 20 years.

The capital of Alaska as part of 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, industrial enterprises. The city grew very rapidly and as a result became the central port of the west coast.

After few years active life in Alaska, fur production declined sharply, and foreigners involved in the oil and gold mining business were in great competition with Russian industrialists. In the late 1930s, the Russian government considered Alaska an unprofitable region and refused to invest in its development.

Who sold Alaska to the USA?

The sale of the peninsula has acquired 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 delusion that Catherine II sold the mainland to the Americans. There is also a version about the lease of Alaska for 99 years, after which Russia did not claim the 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 have passed since the death of Catherine II.

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

There were enough reasons for getting rid of the peninsula:

1. The flow of poachers destroyed the main income of the state, which consisted of the sale of furs.
2. A lack of money in the treasury after the defeat in the Crimean War hindered the economic recovery 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 to transfer the peninsula to the United States in order to strengthening its position on the Pacific coast. The vast territory of the peninsula and the gold found in its bowels attracted the attention of Russia's main enemy - England. The Emperor understood that Russian army 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 sale and purchase agreement for the transfer of Alaska to the United States was signed by both parties. The transaction price was more than 7 million dollars in gold. For Russia, this was a lot of money, as well as for America. But based on the huge area (1,519,000 km 2), 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 treaty stated that the territory of the mainland and the coastline stretching 10 miles to the south would become the property of the United States. All real estate, archives and historical documents were transferred with the land. Surprisingly, there is no treaty in Russian. It is known that Russia received a check for the indicated amount, but no one knows to this day whether it was cashed.

Many Russians did not even know about the existence of northern lands in the state, therefore, information about how much Alaska was sold to America for long time remained a secret. 2 months after the agreement, the information was made public 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 natural resources 49th state of the USA. 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 the Second World War, the importance of the peninsula increased. Shortly before Alaska became an American state, a huge amount of oil and minerals were discovered in its bowels. In 1959, the peninsula received statehood.

Since 1968, Alaska has been in full swing:

• development of mineral resources;
• crude oil production, natural gas, gold, copper, iron, coal;
• fishing;
• rearing reindeer;
• logging;
• military bases were built.

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

Despite huge developments, the population density of the state is the lowest: about 800 people per square meter. The fault is the harsh climate of the peninsula with large quantity swamps and permafrost.

After Alaska passed to America, the capital of the peninsula was renamed from Novo-Arkhangelsk to Sitki, which existed until 1906. Currently, the status of the capital is the city of Juneau. Sitka, on the other hand, is a small provincial city with a population of 9 thousand people, which has preserved all the historical monuments about the Russian past.

For some reason, most people believe that Catherine II sold Alaska to the United States. But this is a fundamentally wrong opinion. This North American territory was transferred to the United States almost a hundred years after the death of the great Russian Empress. So, let's figure out when and to whom Alaska was sold and, most importantly, who did it and under what circumstances.

Russian Alaska

The Russians first entered Alaska in 1732. It was an expedition led by Mikhail Gvozdev. In 1799, the Russian-American Company (RAC) was founded specifically for the development of America, headed by Grigory Shelekhov. A significant part of this company belonged to the state. The goals of its activities were the development of new territories, trade, fur trade.

During the 19th century, the territory controlled by the company expanded significantly and at the time of the sale of Alaska to the United States was more than 1.5 million square kilometers. The Russian population grew and numbered 2.5 thousand people. Fur trade and trade gave a good profit. But in relations with local tribes, everything was far from rosy. So, in 1802, the Tlingit Indian tribe almost completely destroyed the Russian settlements. It was possible to save them only by a miracle, since, by chance, just at that time, a Russian ship under the command of Yuri Lisyansky, with powerful artillery, which decided the course of the battle.

However, this was only an episode of the first successful for the Russian-American company. half of XIX century.

Start of problems

Significant problems with overseas territories began to appear during the Crimean War (1853-1856), which was difficult for the Russian Empire. By that time, the income from trade and the extraction of furs could no longer cover the costs of maintaining Alaska.

The first to sell it to the Americans was the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, Nikolai Nikolayevich Muravyov-Amursky. He did this in 1853, arguing that Alaska is a natural zone of influence of the United States, and sooner or later it will still be in the hands of the Americans, and Russia should concentrate its colonization efforts on Siberia. Moreover, he insisted on the transfer of this territory to the United States so that it would not fall into the hands of the British, who threatened it from Canada and were at that time in a state of open war with the Russian Empire. His fears were partially justified, since already in 1854 England made an attempt to capture Kamchatka. In this regard, even a proposal was made to fictitiously transfer the territory of Alaska to the United States in order to protect it from the aggressor.

But until then, Alaska needed to be maintained, and the Russian Empire of the second half of the 19th century did not financially pull such a program. Therefore, even if Alexander II knew that in a hundred years oil would be produced there in huge quantities, he would hardly have changed his decision to sell this territory. Not to mention that there was a high probability that Alaska would be taken from Russia by force, and because of the remoteness in the distance, she would not be able to protect this distant territory. So it is quite possible that the government simply chose the lesser of two evils.

Rental version

There is also an alternative version, according to which the Russian Empire did not sell Alaska to the United States, but simply leased it to the States. The term of the transaction, according to this scenario, was 99 years. The USSR did not demand the return of these territories when the deadline came, due to the fact that it had abandoned the legacy of the Russian Empire, including its debts.

So, is Alaska still sold or leased? The version about renting out for temporary use has few supporters among serious specialists. It is based on an allegedly preserved copy of the agreement in Russian. But it is well known that it existed only in English and French. So, most likely, these are just speculations of some pseudo-historians. In any case, the real facts that would allow us to seriously consider the version of the lease, on this moment not available.

Why Catherine?

But still, why did the version that Catherine sold Alaska become so popular, although it is clearly erroneous? After all, under this great empress, overseas territories had just begun to be developed, and then there could be no talk of any sale. Moreover, Alaska was sold in the year 1867. Catherine died in 1796, that is, 71 years before this event.

The myth that Catherine sold Alaska was born relatively long ago. True, it refers to the sale of the UK, not the United States. However, this still has nothing to do with the real situation. The postulate was finally fixed in the minds of most of our compatriots that it was the great Russian Empress who made this fatal deal after the release of the song of the Lyube group “Don’t play the fool, America ...”.

Of course, stereotypes are a very tenacious thing, and once they get into the people, a myth can begin to live its own life, and then it is already very difficult to separate truth from fiction without special training and knowledge.

Results

So, in the course of a small study about the details of the sale of Alaska to the United States, we dispelled whole line myths.

Firstly, Catherine II did not sell overseas territories to anyone, which only seriously began to be explored under her, and the sale was made by Emperor Alexander II. What year was Alaska sold? Certainly not in 1767, but in 1867.

Secondly, the Russian government was well aware of what it was selling and what mineral reserves Alaska had. But despite this, the sale was regarded as a good deal.

Thirdly, there is an opinion that if Alaska had not been sold in 1867, it would still be part of Russia. But this is too unlikely, given the considerable distances to the central parts of our country and the proximity of the North American claimants to this territory.

Should we regret the loss of Alaska? More likely no than yes. The maintenance of this territory cost Russia much more than it had benefits from it at the time of the sale or could have in the foreseeable future. In addition, it is far from certain that Alaska could have been held and that it would still remain Russian.

TASS-DOSIER. October 18, 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of the official ceremony of transferring Russian possessions in North America to US jurisdiction, which took place in the city of Novoarkhangelsk (now the city of Sitka, Alaska).

Russian America

Alaska was discovered in 1732 by Russian explorers Mikhail Gvozdev and Ivan Fedorov during an expedition on the boat "Saint Gabriel". The peninsula was studied in more detail in 1741 by the Second Kamchatka Expedition of Vitus Bering and Alexei Chirikov. In 1784, an expedition of the Irkutsk merchant Grigory Shelikhov arrived on Kodiak Island off the southern coast of Alaska, and founded the first settlement in Russian America - the Harbor of the Three Saints. From 1799 to 1867, Alaska and the islands adjacent to it were under the control of the Russian-American Company (RAC).

It was created on the initiative of Shelikhov and his heirs and received a monopoly on fishing, trading and mining in the northwest of America, as well as on the Kuril and Aleutian Islands. In addition, the Russian-American Company held the exclusive right to open and annex new territories to Russia in the North Pacific.

In the years 1825-1860, RAC officers surveyed and mapped the territory of the peninsula. Local tribes that became dependent on the company were obliged to organize the trade of fur-bearing animals under the guidance of RAC employees. In 1809-1819, the cost of furs mined in Alaska amounted to over 15 million rubles, that is, approximately 1.5 million rubles. per year (for comparison, all revenues of the Russian budget in 1819 amounted to 138 million rubles).

In 1794, the first Orthodox missionaries arrived in Alaska. In 1840, the Kamchatka, Kuril and Aleutian diocese was organized, in 1852, Russian possessions in America were allocated to the New Arkhangelsk vicariate of the Kamchatka diocese. By 1867, about 12 thousand representatives of indigenous peoples who converted to Orthodoxy lived on the peninsula (the total population of Alaska at that time was about 50 thousand people, including Russians - about 1 thousand).

The administrative center of Russian possessions in North America was Novoarkhangelsk, their common area was about 1.5 million sq. km. The borders of Russian America were secured by treaties with the USA (1824) and the British Empire (1825).

Plans to sell Alaska

For the first time in government circles, the idea of ​​selling Alaska to the United States was expressed in the spring of 1853 by the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky. He presented a note to Emperor Nicholas I, in which he argued that Russia needed to give up possessions in North America. According to the Governor General, the Russian Empire did not have the necessary military and economic means to protect these territories from US claims.

Muravyov wrote: "We must be convinced that the North American States will inevitably spread throughout North America, and we cannot help but bear in mind that sooner or later we will have to cede our North American possessions to them." Instead of developing Russian America, Muravyov-Amursky proposed to focus on the development of the Far East, while having the United States as an ally against Britain.

Later, the main supporter of the sale of Alaska to the United States was the younger brother of Emperor Alexander II, the chairman of the State Council and the head of the Naval Ministry, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich. On April 3 (March 22, old style), 1857, in a letter addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Gorchakov, for the first time at the official level, he proposed to sell the peninsula to the United States. As arguments in favor of concluding a deal, the Grand Duke referred to "the cramped situation public finance"and the allegedly low profitability of the American territories.

In addition, he wrote that "one should not deceive oneself and one must foresee that the United States, constantly striving to round off its possessions and wanting to dominate indivisibly in North America, will take the aforementioned colonies from us, and we will not be able to return them."

The Emperor supported his brother's proposal. The note was also approved by the head of the foreign affairs department, but Gorchakov suggested not rushing to resolve the issue and postponing it until 1862. The Russian envoy to the United States, Baron Eduard Stekl, was instructed to "find out the opinion of the Washington Cabinet on this subject."

As head of the Maritime Department, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich was responsible for the security of overseas possessions, as well as for the development of the Pacific Fleet and the Far East. In this area, his interests collided with the Russian-American Company. In the 1860s, the emperor's brother launched a campaign to discredit the RAC and oppose its work. In 1860, at the initiative of the Grand Duke and Minister of Finance of Russia Mikhail Reitern, the company was audited.

The official conclusion showed that the annual income of the treasury from the activities of the RAC amounted to 430 thousand rubles. (for comparison, the total revenues of the state budget in the same year amounted to 267 million rubles). As a result, Konstantin Nikolayevich and the Minister of Finance who supported him succeeded in obtaining a refusal to transfer the rights to the development of Sakhalin to the company, as well as the abolition of many trade benefits, which led to a significant deterioration in the financial performance of the RAC.

Make a deal

On December 28 (16), 1866, a special meeting was held in St. Petersburg in the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the issue of the sale of Russian possessions in North America. It was attended by Emperor Alexander II, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, Finance Minister Mikhail Reitern, Naval Minister Nikolai Krabbe, Russian envoy to the United States Baron Eduard Steckl.

At the meeting, an agreement was unanimously reached on the sale of Alaska. However, this decision was not made public. The secrecy was so high that, for example, Minister of War Dmitry Milyutin found out about the sale of the region only after the signing of the agreement from British newspapers. And the board of the Russian-American Company received notification of the deal three weeks after it was formalized.

The conclusion of the treaty took place in Washington on March 30 (18), 1867. The document was signed by Russian envoy Baron Eduard Steckl and US Secretary of State William Seward. The deal amounted to $7 million 200 thousand, or more than 11 million rubles. (in terms of gold - 258.4 thousand troy ounces or $ 322.4 million in modern prices), which the United States pledged to pay within ten months. At the same time, in April 1857, in a memorandum of the chief ruler of the Russian colonies in America, Ferdinand Wrangel, the territories in Alaska belonging to the Russian-American Company were estimated at 27.4 million rubles.

The agreement was drawn up in English and French. The entire Alaska Peninsula, the Alexander and Kodiak archipelagos, the islands of the Aleutian ridge, and several islands in the Bering Sea passed to the United States. The total area of ​​the sold land territory was 1 million 519 thousand square meters. km. According to the document, Russia donated to the United States all the property of the RAC, including buildings and structures (with the exception of churches), and undertook to withdraw its troops from Alaska. The indigenous population was transferred under the jurisdiction of the United States, Russian residents and colonists received the right to move to Russia within three years.

The Russian-American company was subject to liquidation, its shareholders eventually received insignificant compensation, the payment of which was delayed until 1888.

On May 15 (3), 1867, an agreement on the sale of Alaska was signed by Emperor Alexander II. On October 18 (6), 1867, the Governing Senate adopted a decree on the execution of the document, the Russian text of which, under the heading "The Highest Ratified Convention on the Cession of the Russian North American Colonies to the United States of North America," was published in the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire. On May 3, 1867, the treaty was ratified by the US Senate. On June 20, the instruments of ratification were exchanged in Washington.

Execution of the contract

On October 18 (6), 1867, the official ceremony of transferring Alaska to the ownership of the United States took place in Novoarkhangelsk: the Russian flag was lowered under the gun salutes and the American flag was raised. On the part of Russia, the protocol on the transfer of territories was signed by a special government commissioner, Captain 2nd Rank Alexei Peshchurov, on the part of the United States, by General Lowell Russo.

In January 1868, 69 soldiers and officers of the Novoarkhangelsk garrison were taken to the Far East, to the city of Nikolaevsk (now Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, Khabarovsk Territory). The last group of Russians - 30 people - left Alaska on November 30, 1868 on the ship "Winged Arrow" bought for these purposes, which followed to Kronstadt. Only 15 people accepted American citizenship.

On July 27, 1868, the US Congress approved the decision to pay Russia the funds stipulated in the agreement. At the same time, as follows from the correspondence of the Russian Minister of Finance Reitern with the US Ambassador to the United States, Baron Stekl, $ 165 thousand of the total amount was spent on bribes to senators who contributed to the decision of Congress. RUB 11 million 362 thousand 482 in the same year were placed at the disposal of the Russian government. Of these, 10 million 972 thousand 238 rubles. was spent abroad on the purchase of equipment for the Kursk-Kyiv, Ryazan-Kozlov and Moscow-Ryazan railways under construction.