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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.
When Alaska was first purchased, most of its land remained unexplored. In 1865, Western Union laid a telegraph line across Alaska to the Bering Strait where it would connect, under water, with an Asian line. It also conducted the first scientific studies of the region and produced the first map of the entire Yukon River.
However, the resources of Alaska would soon show that this was a wise transaction. Alaska celebrates the purchase each year on the last Monday of March, which is known as Seward's Day. When the United States first bought Alaska, vast regions of the area still remained unexplored by Europeans and Lower 48 Americans.
Alaska has a longer coastline than all the other U.S. states combined. [39] Alaska's size compared with the 48 contiguous states (Albers equal-area conic projection) At 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km 2) in total area, Alaska is by far the largest state in the United States. Alaska is more than twice the size of the second-largest U.S. state ...
Accession Date Area (sq.mi.) Area (km 2.) Cost in dollars Original territory of the Thirteen States (western lands, roughly between the Mississippi River and Appalachian Mountains, were claimed but not administered by the states and were all ceded to the federal government or new states by 1802)
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Depending on your interest, you can match what Alaskan adventures align with your own through a curated list broken down into sections like first-time visitors, food lovers, adventure seekers ...
The United States bought Alaska in 1867 from Russia in the Alaska Purchase, but the boundary terms were ambiguous. In 1871, British Columbia united with the new Dominion of Canada. The Canadian government requested a survey of the boundary, but the United States rejected it as too costly; the border area was very remote and sparsely settled ...