Seward's Folly: Russia Sells Alaska for $7.2 Million
Russia sold Alaska to the United States on October 18, 1867, for $7.2 million, roughly two cents per acre for 586,412 square miles of territory. Secretary of State William Seward negotiated the deal. Critics mocked it as 'Seward's Folly' and 'Seward's Icebox.' Russia wanted to sell because it couldn't defend the territory against Britain in a potential war and preferred selling to the Americans rather than losing it to the British. The purchase added more territory than Texas to the United States. For decades, Alaska seemed worthless. Then gold was discovered in the Klondike in 1896, oil at Prudhoe Bay in 1968, and the strategic value of the territory became obvious during the Cold War. At two cents per acre, it may be the greatest real estate bargain in history after the Louisiana Purchase.
October 18, 1867
159 years ago
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