The Alaska Sale Agreement is one of the darkest and most confusing chapters in the history of Russian-American relations.
A piece too tough
On October 18, 1867, in Novoarkhangelsk, the capital of Russian Alaska, the official ceremony of transferring this territory to the North American United States took place.
Immediately after this, Novoarkhangelsk became Sitkoy. American troops entered the city and plundered the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, private houses and shops.
And how well it all started! Since 1784, the industrialist and merchant Grigory Shelikhov developed a stormy activity on the peninsula. He brought the natives-horsemen to the Orthodox faith, taught the natives to potatoes and turnips, founded the agricultural colony "Glory to Russia". Residents of Alaska were declared Russian subjects. Russian territory expanded to the south and east.
In 1798 the Russian-American Company was created. She founded the Mikhailovskaya Fortress (later - Novoarkhangelsk), where there were an elementary school, a shipyard, a church, an arsenal, workshops, a theater and a museum.
Alaska has become a real gold mine for Russia. For example, sea otter fur mined here was worth more than gold. Note that gold deposits in Alaska have also been found.
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Why was such a wealthy land sold for almost nothing?
Progressive-minded statesmen emphasized the importance of the early settlement, development and development of these territories. So, in 1803, Count Nikolai Rumyantsev, the future chancellor, insistently demanded the construction of cities in Russian America, the construction of plants and factories that could work on local raw materials.
But there were also other points of view. For example, at the imperial court, the opinion was formed that Alaska was a loss-making region. The fact is that due to the greed of the hunters, by the forties of the 19th century, sea otters and other valuable animals were almost destroyed, and the production of furs dropped sharply. And rich gold deposits only exacerbated the situation. Hordes of American miners began to arrive in Alaska, and the Russian government quite reasonably feared that troops would follow them.
The territories of this harsh northern edge were poorly developed, there were too few Russians on the peninsula. The local population was hostile to the colonialists. In 1802, the Indians, who were armed by the Americans and the British, burned down the Mikhailovskaya Fortress.
Generally speaking, England has long been sharpening its teeth on the resource-rich Russian territories. After all, very close to Alaska was an English colony - British Columbia (a province of modern Canada). If England had captured the peninsula, Russia would have lost everything, since it was not able to defend itself - it was too remote territory. Selling Alaska meant getting at least some money, saving face and strengthening friendly relations with the United States.
Secret deal
Back in 1853, the idea of selling Alaska was expressed by the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, Count Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky. He assured that it was beneficial for Russia to be friends with America against the British.
This idea was taken up by the brother of Alexander II - the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich. It should be borne in mind that at that time Russia had a huge external debt of 15 million pounds sterling. The sale of Alaska was supposed to at least partially reduce this burden.
The deal to sell Alaska was in a very narrow circle. Only six people knew about the proposed sale: Alexander II, Konstantin Nikolaevich, Alexander Gorchakov (Minister of Foreign Affairs), Mikhail Reitern (Minister of Finance), Nikolai Krabbe (Minister of the Navy) and Eduard Stekl (Russian envoy to the United States). The fact that Alaska no longer belongs to Russia became known only two months after the transaction.
Initially, most US senators believed that buying a "bear sanctuary" was a huge mistake. Charles Sumner, an influential associate of President Lincoln, played a major role in pushing the deal.
Sumner studied in detail everything he found about Alaska, was impressed with the wealth of the region and came to the conclusion: a purchase is necessary. His speech had the desired effect: 37 people voted “for”, only two “against”.
Later, America recouped the costs at times and made huge profits. And the costs were not that great - $ 7.2 million (about $ 119 million at the current exchange rate). For comparison, the state treasury paid more for one district courthouse in New York than the US government for all of Alaska.
From time to time, Russia began to regret the sale of Alaska. And historical myths appeared. For example, that Alaska was not sold, but leased to the United States for 90 years. That is, the lease expired in 1957. But Nikita Khrushchev actually donated the land to America. And only after that, in 1959, Alaska became the 49th US state.
Some "experts" argue that the agreement on the transfer of Alaska to US ownership was never signed by either the Russian Empire or the USSR. And the two originals of the agreement with the facsimile of Alexander II known to the public are allegedly fakes. The original copies, which dealt with the transfer of territories on lease for 90 years, were handed over to the Americans by Lenin in exchange for lifting the ban on the sale of weapons to the Bolsheviks.
And there was an anecdote among the people that when drawing up the contract, the clerk, out of absent-mindedness, instead of “given away Alaska for a century” wrote: “given away forever,” that is, forever.
There is also such an opinion: the deal for the sale of Alaska should be invalidated, since the ship "Orkney", which was carrying gold for payment, sank on the way to St. Petersburg. No money, no deal.
But the archive contains a document that testifies that the money was received. And the ship "Orkney" appears in reference books in 1870-1871, so the rumors about her death in 1868 are clearly exaggerated.
In general, we will have to come to terms with the fact that the deal to sell Alaska was legal and that this land was lost to Russia forever.
Victor MEDNIKO