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In addition, Russia was in a difficult financial position and feared losing Russian Alaska without compensation in some future conflict, especially to the British. The Russians believed that in a dispute with Britain, their hard-to-defend region might become a prime target for British aggression from British Columbia , and would be easily captured.
In them Russia agreed to cede all claims south of 54°40′ N latitude. [5] The 54°40′ N latitude line was proposed by the British, as general negotiations had focussed on 55° north latitude, but part of the Russian terms was a desire to retain all of Prince of Wales Island , the southern tip of which is at 54°40′ N latitude.
In 1799, Russia formed the Russian America Company and gave it monopolistic powers over the region now known as Alaska as part of their colonization effort. Early Russian explorers like Vitus Bering, Mikhail Gvozdev, and Georg Steller provided knowledge of the coastal region, however by the 1840s very little was known about the interior of the ...
The Alaska Purchase was the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire by the United States for a sum of $7.2 million in 1867 (equivalent to $129 million in 2023) [1].On May 15 of that year, the United States Senate ratified a bilateral treaty that had been signed on March 30, and American sovereignty became legally effective across the territory on October 18.
The Battle of Sitka (Russian: Сражение при Ситке) in 1804 was the last major armed conflict between the Russians and Alaska Natives, and was initiated in response to the destruction of a Russian trading post two years before.
The history of Alaska dates back to the Upper Paleolithic period (around 14,000 BC), when foraging groups crossed the Bering land bridge into what is now western Alaska.At the time of European contact by the Russian explorers, the area was populated by Alaska Native groups.
'Ft. St. Nicholas', as shown on an 1867 map of Alaska [1]. Fort Nikolaevskaia (Russian: Форт Николаевская) or Fort St. Nicholas (Russian: Форт Николас), also called Nikolaevskii Redoubt, [2] was a fur trading post founded by the Lebedev-Lastochkin Company (LLC) in Alaska, the first European settlement on the Alaskan mainland. [3]
Russia engaged in settler colonialism in these lands, and also founded colonies in North America, notably in present-day Alaska. At its height in the late 19th century, the Russian Empire covered about one-sixth of the world's landmass, making it the third-largest empire in history.