The Strategic Purchase of Alaska: A Bargain of a Lifetime

Looking at the map of the world, Alaska looks somewhat isolated. It is part of the United States, but far from the rest of the country, with Canada in the middle and Russia across the narrow Bering Strait on the other side. How did such a large territory become part of the United States? In 1867, the Russian Empire sold Alaska to the United States for $7. 2 million (in gold). Spread over some 600, 000 square miles, it cost the US less than two cents per acre. Looking back today, it looks like one of the best real-estate deals in history. But the deal was not limited to buying land cheaply. For Russia, Alaska was a far-flung and expensive colony that was increasingly difficult to defend. At the same time, it was an opportunity for the United States to increase its influence in its own territory and in the North Pacific Ocean. No one would have thought at the time that Alaska's economic importance would grow beyond a strategic example in a century and a half.