2006-08-28 23:23:52 · 9 answers · asked by akash 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
russia needed the cash and the US wanted the land, done deal
2006-08-28 23:28:35 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Short answer: Alaska had run out of otters but still had whales. And it was cheap.
Russia had harvested and virtually wiped out the sea otter for their pelts and that was why they came and semi-colonized Alaska and enslaved the Aleuts.
It was difficult for them to maintain their empire so far from Moscow and they saw no return on it. (Michner's Alaska covers this aspect nicely).
US whalers (like Scammon who also whaled in Baja) were already whaling in Alaskan waters at a time when whale oil and baleen where important and expensive commodities.
No one knew that gold would be discovered in various places 1898-1908. Nor that oil would be discovered on the Kenai Peninsula in 1957 nor in Prudhoe Bay in 1968.
Salmon canneries weren't practical until 1890 when cooking the salmon in the tin cans allowed it to be shipped without refridgeration.
They were small coal deposits near the water. But the discovery of large deposits near Healy and the Red Dog Zinc mine were 100 years in the future.
2006-08-29 13:29:24 · answer #2 · answered by David in Kenai 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As in any real estate deal...3 reasons
1. location
2. location
3. location
And it was very cheap @ $7,200,000 in 1867.
We purchased from Russia at the rate of 2 cents per acre. We wanted the land and they needed the $$$!
Total acreage ... 200 million (200,000,000).
Not a bad deal considering the price of the oil rich land of Alaska today.
2006-08-29 17:34:32 · answer #3 · answered by iraq51 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It was cheap and too far from Russia to occupy!
2006-08-29 06:27:03 · answer #4 · answered by cantcu 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why not get rid of some piece of land when u got so much already? Plus, it's good money.
2006-08-29 06:45:58 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because it was attached to North America which belongs to U.S.A. & Canada, it would be too close for our comfort if we had not purchased it.
2006-08-29 06:45:22 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yeah man it was like 3 cents an acre
2006-08-29 06:33:36 · answer #7 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Americans knew that it had oil and the Russians didn't!
2006-08-29 07:29:02 · answer #8 · answered by genius gnat 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They had it on sale.
2006-08-29 08:26:45 · answer #9 · answered by Ovidius 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋