Why Russia Sold Alaska — and Why America Had to Pay for It Twice

Why did Russia sell Alaska to the United States? In 1867 Russia sold Alaska to America for $7.2 million — about 2 cents an acre. Everyone calls the Alaska Purchase the worst deal in history. But almost everything people believe about it is wrong 🇷🇺🇺🇸 The Alaska Purchase explained on maps: how the Russian Empire got Alaska (Vitus Bering, the sea otter fur trade, the Russian-American Company, Fort Ross in California), why Russia had to sell Alaska (the Crimean War, the British Navy, the Fraser River gold rush), why it sold to the USA and not to Britain, the midnight treaty with William Seward, the truth about “Seward’s Folly” — and how the US got its money back: Klondike gold, World War II, the Cold War on the Alaska–Russia border and Prudhoe Bay oil. And the twist: a century later, America paid for Alaska a second time — and the second bill was more than 130 times bigger. #alaska #russia #history #alaskapurchase #geography #maps #ushistory