home Perch Brief overview of US states in alphabetical order: Alaska. Traveling around the state of Alaska What borders Alaska

Brief overview of US states in alphabetical order: Alaska. Traveling around the state of Alaska What borders Alaska

On March 18/30, 1867, Alaska and the Aleutian Islands were sold by Alexander II to the United States.

On October 18, 1867, in the capital of Russian America, in common parlance - Alaska, the city of Novoarkhangelsk, an official ceremony was held to transfer Russian possessions on the American continent to the possession of the United States of America. Thus ended the history of Russian discoveries and economic development of the northwestern part of America.Since then, Alaska has been a US state.

Geography

Country name translated from Aleutian "a-la-as-ka" means "Big Land".

Alaska Territory includes into yourself Aleutian Islands (110 islands and many rocks), alexandra archipelago (about 1100 islands and rocks, the total area of which is 36.8 thousand km²), St. Lawrence Island (80 km from Chukotka), Pribilof Islands , Kodiak Island (the second largest US island after the island of Hawaii), and huge continental part . The islands of Alaska stretch for almost 1,740 kilometers. On the Aleutian Islands there are many volcanoes, both extinct and active. Alaska is washed by the Arctic and Pacific oceans.

The continental part of Alaska is a peninsula of the same name, about 700 km long. In general, Alaska is a mountainous country - there are more volcanoes in Alaska than in all other US states. The highest peak in North America Mount McKinley (6193m altitude) is also located in Alaska.

McKinley is the tallest mountain in the United States.

Another feature of Alaska is a huge number of lakes (their number exceeds 3 million!). Swamps and permafrost cover about 487,747 km² (more than Sweden). Glaciers occupy about 41,440 km² (which corresponds to the entire territory of Holland!).

Alaska is considered a country with a harsh climate. Indeed, in most parts of Alaska, the climate is arctic and subarctic continental, with severe winters, with frosts down to minus 50 degrees. But the climate of the island part and the Pacific coast of Alaska is incomparably better than, for example, in Chukotka. On the Pacific coast of Alaska, the climate is maritime, relatively mild and humid. A warm stream of the Alaska current turns here from the south and washes Alaska from the south. The mountains hold back the northern cold winds. As a result, winters in the coastal and insular part of Alaska are very mild. Minus temperatures in winter are very rare. The sea in southern Alaska does not freeze in winter.

Alaska has always been rich in fish: salmon, flounder, cod, herring, edible shellfish and marine mammals abounded in coastal waters. On the fertile soil of these lands, thousands of plant species suitable for food grew, and in the forests there were many animals, especially fur-bearing ones. This explains why Russian industrialists sought to Alaska with its favorable natural conditions and richer fauna than in the Sea of Okhotsk.

Discovery of Alaska by Russian explorers

The history of Alaska before it was sold to the United States in 1867 is one of the pages in the history of Russia.

The first people came to the territory of Alaska from Siberia about 15-20 thousand years ago. Then Eurasia and North America were connected by an isthmus located on the site of the Bering Strait. By the time the Russians arrived in the 18th century, the native inhabitants of Alaska were divided into Aleuts, Eskimos and Indians belonging to the Athabaskan group.

It is assumed that the first Europeans to see the shores of Alaska were members of the expedition of Semyon Dezhnev in 1648 , who were the first to sail along the Bering Strait from the Icy Sea to the Warm Sea.According to legend, Dezhnev's boats, which had gone astray, landed on the coast of Alaska.

In 1697, the conqueror of Kamchatka, Vladimir Atlasov, reported to Moscow that opposite the “Necessary Nose” (Cape Dezhnev) there was a large island in the sea, from where in winter the ice "foreigners come, speak their own language and bring sables ...". An experienced industrialist Atlasov immediately determined that these sables differ from the Yakut ones, and for the worse: “sables are thin, and those sables have striped tails about a quarter of an arshin.” It was, of course, not about the sable, but about the raccoon - a beast, at that time unknown in Russia.

However, at the end of the 17th century, Peter's transformations began in Russia, as a result of which the state was not up to the discovery of new lands. This explains a certain pause in the further advance of the Russians to the east.

Russian industrialists began to attract new lands only at the beginning of the 18th century, as fur stocks in eastern Siberia were depleted.Peter I immediately, as soon as circumstances allowed, began to organize scientific expeditions in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean.In 1725, shortly before his death, Peter the Great sent Captain Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator in the Russian service, to explore the sea coast of Siberia. Peter sent Bering on an expedition to study and describe the northeastern coast of Siberia . In 1728, Bering's expedition re-discovered the strait, which was first seen by Semyon Dezhnev. However, because of the fog, Bering was unable to see the outlines of the North American continent on the horizon.

It is believed that the first Europeans to land on the coast of Alaska were members of the crew of the ship "Saint Gabriel" under the command of surveyor Mikhail Gvozdev and navigator Ivan Fedorov. They were members Chukchi expedition 1729-1735 under the leadership of A. F. Shestakov and D. I. Pavlutsky.

Travelers landed on the coast of Alaska on August 21, 1732 . Fedorov was the first to mark both shores of the Bering Strait on the map. But, having returned to his homeland, Fedorov soon dies, and Gvozdev finds himself in Biron's dungeons, and the great discovery of the Russian pioneers remains unknown for a long time.

The next step in the "discovery of Alaska" was Second Kamchatka expedition famous explorer Vitus Bering in 1740 - 1741 An island, a sea and a strait between Chukotka and Alaska were subsequently named after him - Vitus Bering.

The expedition of Vitus Bering, who by this time had been promoted to captain-commander, set off for the shores of America from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on June 8, 1741 on two ships: St. Peter (under the command of Bering) and St. Paul (under the command of Alexei Chirikov). Each ship had its own team of scientists and researchers on board. They crossed the Pacific Ocean and July 15, 1741 discovered the northwestern shores of America. The ship's doctor, Georg Wilhelm Steller, landed on the shore and collected samples of shells and herbs, discovered new species of birds and animals, from which the researchers concluded that their ship had reached a new continent.

Chirikov's ship "Saint Pavel" returned on October 8 to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. On the way back, the Umnak Islands were discovered, Unalaska and others. Bering's ship was carried by the current and wind to the east of the Kamchatka Peninsula - to the Commander Islands. At one of the islands, the ship was wrecked, and it was thrown ashore. Travelers were forced to spend the winter on the island, which now bears the name Bering Island . On this island, the captain-commander died without surviving the harsh winter. In the spring, the surviving crew members built a boat from the wreckage of the wrecked St. Peter and returned to Kamchatka only in September. Thus ended the second Russian expedition, which discovered the northwestern coast of the North American continent.

Russian America

The authorities in St. Petersburg reacted with indifference to the opening of Bering's expedition.The Russian Empress Elizabeth had no interest in the lands of North America. She issued a decree obliging the local population to pay a fee for trade, but did not take any further steps towards developing relations with Alaska.For the next 50 years, Russia showed very little interest in this land.

The initiative in the development of new lands beyond the Bering Strait was taken by the fishermen, who (unlike St. Petersburg) immediately appreciated the reports of the members of the Bering expedition about the extensive rookeries of the sea animal.

In 1743, Russian traders and fur hunters established very close contact with the Aleuts. In 1743-1755, 22 fishing expeditions took place, fishing on the Commander and Near Aleutian Islands. In 1756-1780. 48 expeditions were engaged in fishing throughout the Aleutian Islands, the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island and the southern coast of modern Alaska. Fishing expeditions were organized and financed by various private companies of Siberian merchants.

Merchant ships off the coast of Alaska

Until the 1770s, Grigory Ivanovich Shelekhov, Pavel Sergeevich Lebedev-Lastochkin, as well as the brothers Grigory and Peter Panov were considered the richest and most famous among the merchants and fur buyers in Alaska.

Sloops with a displacement of 30-60 tons were sent from Okhotsk and Kamchatka to the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. The remoteness of the fishing areas led to the fact that the expeditions lasted up to 6-10 years. Shipwrecks, hunger, scurvy, skirmishes with natives, and sometimes with the crews of ships of a competing company - all this was the everyday life of the “Russian Columbuses”.

One of the first to establish a permanent Russian settlement on Unalashka (an island in the archipelago of the Aleutian Islands), discovered in 1741 during the Second Bering Expedition.

Unalaska on the map

Subsequently, Analashka became the main Russian port in the region, through which the fur trade was carried out. The main base of the future Russian-American Company was also located here. In 1825 was built Russian Orthodox Church of the Ascension .

Church of the Ascension on Unalaska

The founder of the parish, Innokenty (Veniaminov) - Saint Innocent of Moscow , - created with the help of local residents the first Aleutian script and translated the Bible into the Aleutian language.

Unalaska today

In 1778 he arrived at Unalaska English explorer James Cook . According to him, the total number of Russian industrialists who were in the Aleuts and in the waters of Alaska was about 500 people.

After 1780, Russian industrialists penetrated far along the Pacific coast of North America. Sooner or later, the Russians would begin to penetrate deep into the mainland of the open lands of America.

The real discoverer and creator of Russian America was Grigory Ivanovich Shelekhov. A merchant, a native of the city of Rylsk in the Kursk province, Shelekhov moved to Siberia, where he made a fortune in the fur trade. Starting in 1773, the 26-year-old Shelekhov began to independently send ships to sea fishing.

In August 1784, during his main expedition on 3 ships ("Three Hierarchs", "Saint Simeon the God-bearer and Anna the Prophetess" and "Archangel Michael"), he reached Kodiak Islands where he began to build a fortress and a settlement. From there it was easier to swim to the shores of Alaska. It was thanks to the energy and foresight of Shelekhov that the foundation of Russian possessions was laid in these new lands. In 1784-86. Shelekhov also began to build two more fortified settlements in America. His settlement plans included flat streets, schools, libraries, parks. Returning to European Russia, Shelekhov put forward a proposal to start a mass resettlement of Russians in new lands.

At the same time, Shelekhov was not in the public service. He remained a merchant, industrialist, entrepreneur, acting with the permission of the government. Shelekhov himself, however, was distinguished by a remarkable state mind, perfectly understanding the possibilities of Russia in this region. No less important was the fact that Shelekhov was well versed in people and gathered a team of like-minded people who created Russian America.

In 1791, Shelekhov took as his assistant, a 43-year-old who had just arrived in Alaska. Alexandra Baranova - a merchant from the ancient city of Kargopol, who at one time moved to Siberia for business purposes. Baranov was appointed chief manager of Kodiak island . He possessed an unselfishness surprising for an entrepreneur - managing Russian America for more than two decades, controlling multi-million sums, providing high profits to the shareholders of the Russian-American Company, which we will discuss below, he did not leave himself any fortune!

Baranov moved the company's representative office to the new city of Pavlovskaya Gavan, founded by him in the north of Kodiak Island. Now Pavlovsk is the main city of Kodiak Island.

In the meantime, Shelekhov's company forced out the rest of the competitors from the region. Myself Shelekhov died in 1795 , in the midst of their endeavors. True, his proposals for the further development of American territories with the help of a commercial company, thanks to his associates and associates, were further developed.

Russian-American Company

In 1799, the Russian-American Company (RAC) was created, which became the main owner of all Russian possessions in America (as well as in the Kuriles). She received from Paul I the monopoly rights to fur trade, trade and the discovery of new lands in the northeastern part of the Pacific Ocean, designed to represent and protect the interests of Russia in the Pacific Ocean with her own means. Since 1801, Alexander I and the Grand Dukes, major statesmen have become shareholders of the company.

Shelekhov's son-in-law became one of the founders of the RAC Nikolay Rezanov, whose name is known today to many as the name of the hero of the musical "Juno and Avos". The first head of the company was Alexander Baranov , which was officially named Chief Ruler .

The creation of the RAC was based on Shelekhov's proposals to create a commercial company of a special kind, capable of carrying out, along with commercial activities, also engaged in the colonization of lands, the construction of forts and cities.

Until the 1820s, the profits of the company allowed them to develop the territories themselves, so, according to Baranov, in 1811 the profit from the sale of sea otter skins amounted to 4.5 million rubles, a huge amount of money at that time. The profitability of the Russian-American Company was 700-1100% per year. This was facilitated by the great demand for the skins of sea otters, their cost from the end of the 18th century to the 20s of the 19th century increased from 100 rubles per skin to 300 (sable cost about 20 times less).

In the early 1800s, Baranov established trade with Hawaii. Baranov was a real Russian statesman, and under other circumstances (for example, another emperor on the throne) The Hawaiian Islands could become a Russian naval base and resort . From Hawaii, Russian ships carried salt, sandalwood, tropical fruits, coffee, and sugar. They planned to populate the islands with Pomor Old Believers from the Arkhangelsk province. Since the local princelings were constantly at war with each other, Baranov offered patronage to one of them. In May 1816, one of the leaders - Tomari (Kaumualiya) - officially transferred to Russian citizenship. By 1821, several Russian outposts had been built in Hawaii. The Russians could also control the Marshall Islands. By 1825, Russian power was becoming stronger, Tomari became king, the children of the leaders studied in the capital of the Russian Empire, and the first Russian-Hawaiian dictionary was created. But in the end, St. Petersburg abandoned the idea of making the Hawaiian and Marshall Islands Russian . Although their strategic position is obvious, their development was also economically beneficial.

Thanks to Baranov, a number of Russian settlements were founded in Alaska, in particular Novoarkhangelsk (today - Sitka ).

Novoarkhangelsk

Novoarkhangelsk in the 50-60s. XIX century looked like an average provincial town in the outskirts of Russia. It had a ruler's palace, a theater, a club, a cathedral, a bishop's house, a seminary, a Lutheran prayer house, an observatory, a music school, a museum and a library, a nautical school, two hospitals and a pharmacy, several schools, a spiritual consistory, a drawing office, an admiralty, port buildings, an arsenal, several industrial enterprises, shops, stores and warehouses. Houses in Novoarkhangelsk were built on stone foundations, the roofs were made of iron.

Under the leadership of Baranov, the Russian-American Company expanded its scope of interests: in California, just 80 kilometers north of San Francisco, the southernmost settlement of Russia in North America was built - Fort Ross. Russian settlers in California were engaged in fishing for sea otters, agriculture and cattle breeding. Trade links were established with New York, Boston, California and Hawaii. The California colony was to become the main supplier of food to Alaska, which at that time belonged to Russia.

Fort Ross in 1828. Russian fortress in California

But the hopes were not justified. In general, Fort Ross turned out to be unprofitable for the Russian-American Company. Russia was forced to abandon it. In 1841 Fort Ross was sold for 42,857 rubles to Mexican citizen John Sutter, a German industrialist who got into the history of California thanks to his sawmill in Coloma, on the territory of which a gold mine was found in 1848, which started the famous California Gold Rush. As payment, Sutter supplied wheat to Alaska, but, according to P. Golovin, he did not pay almost 37.5 thousand rubles in addition.

Russians in Alaska founded settlements, built churches, created schools, a library, a museum, shipyards and hospitals for local residents, launched Russian ships.

A number of manufacturing industries have been established in Alaska. Especially noteworthy is the development of shipbuilding. Shipbuilders have been building ships in Alaska since 1793. For 1799-1821. 15 ships were built in Novoarkhangelsk. In 1853, the first steam ship in the Pacific Ocean was launched in Novoarkhangelsk, and not a single part was imported: absolutely everything, including the steam engine, was manufactured locally. Russian Novoarkhangelsk was the first point of steam shipbuilding on the entire western coast of America.

Novoarkhangelsk

The city of Sitka (former Novoarkhangelsk) today

At the same time, formally, the Russian-American Company was not a fully state institution.

In 1824, Russia signs an agreement with the governments of the USA and England. The boundaries of Russian possessions in North America were determined at the state level.

1830 world map

It is impossible not to admire the fact that only about 400-800 Russian people managed to master such vast territories and water areas, making their way to California and Hawaii. In 1839, the Russian population of Alaska was 823 people, which was the maximum in the history of Russian America. Usually there were a few less Russians.

It was the lack of people that played a fatal role in the history of Russian America. The desire to attract new settlers was a constant and almost impossible desire of all Russian administrators in Alaska.

The basis of the economic life of Russian America remained the extraction of marine mammals. On average for the 1840-60s. up to 18 thousand fur seals were mined per year. River beavers, otters, foxes, arctic foxes, bears, sables, as well as walrus tusks were also hunted.

The Russian Orthodox Church was active in Russian America. As early as 1794 he began missionary work Valaam monk Herman . By the middle of the 19th century, most Alaska natives had been baptized. The Aleuts and, to a lesser extent, the Indians of Alaska, are still Orthodox believers.

In 1841, an episcopal see was established in Alaska. By the time Alaska was sold, the Russian Orthodox Church had 13,000 flocks here. In terms of the number of Orthodox Christians, Alaska still ranks first in the United States. The ministers of the church have made a huge contribution to the spread of literacy among the Alaska natives. Literacy among the Aleuts was at a high level - on the island of St. Paul, the entire adult population could read in their native language.

Sale of Alaska

Oddly enough, but the fate of Alaska, according to a number of historians, was decided by the Crimea, or rather, the Crimean War (1853-1856). The Russian government began to see ideas about strengthening relations with the United States as opposed to Great Britain.

Despite the fact that the Russians founded settlements in Alaska, built churches, created schools and hospitals for local residents, there was no truly deep and thorough development of American lands. After the resignation of Alexander Baranov in 1818 from the post of ruler of the Russian-American Company, due to illness, there were no leaders of this magnitude in Russian America.

The interests of the Russian-American Company were mainly limited to the extraction of furs, and by the middle of the 19th century, the number of sea otters in Alaska had sharply decreased due to uncontrolled hunting.

The geopolitical situation did not contribute to the development of Alaska as a Russian colony. In 1856, Russia was defeated in the Crimean War, and relatively close to Alaska was the English colony of British Columbia (the westernmost province of modern Canada).

Contrary to popular belief, Russians were well aware of the presence of gold in Alaska . In 1848, a Russian explorer and mining engineer, lieutenant Pyotr Doroshin, found small placers of gold on the Kodiak and Sitkha islands, the shores of the Kenai Bay near the future city of Anchorage (the largest city in Alaska today). However, the amount of precious metal discovered was small. The Russian administration, which had before its eyes an example of the "gold rush" in California, fearing the invasion of thousands of American gold miners, preferred to classify this information. Subsequently, gold was found in other parts of Alaska. But it was no longer Russian Alaska.

Besides oil discovered in Alaska . It is this fact, however absurd it may sound, that has become one of the incentives to get rid of Alaska as soon as possible. The fact is that American prospectors began to actively arrive in Alaska, and the Russian government reasonably feared that American troops would come after them. Russia was not ready for the war, and it was completely imprudent to give Alaska penniless.Russia seriously feared that it would not be able to ensure the security of its colony in America in the event of an armed conflict. The United States of America was chosen as a potential buyer of Alaska to offset the growing British influence in the region.

In this way, Alaska could become the cause of a new war for Russia.

The initiative to sell Alaska to the United States of America belonged to the emperor's brother, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich Romanov, who served as head of the Russian Naval Staff. Back in 1857, he suggested that his elder brother, the emperor, sell "excess territory", because the discovery of gold deposits there will certainly attract the attention of England - a long-time sworn enemy of the Russian Empire, and Russia is not able to defend it, and there really is no military fleet in the northern seas . If England seizes Alaska, then Russia will receive absolutely nothing for it, and in this way it will be possible to gain at least some money, save face and strengthen friendly relations with the United States. It should be noted that in the 19th century, the Russian Empire and the United States developed extremely friendly relations - Russia refused to help the West regain control over North American territories, which infuriated the monarchs of Great Britain and inspired the colonists of America to continue the liberation struggle.

However, consultations with the US government about a possible sale, in fact, negotiations began only after the end of the American Civil War.

In December 1866, Emperor Alexander II made the final decision. The borders of the sold territory and the minimum price - five million dollars were determined.

In March, the Russian Ambassador to the United States of America Baron Eduard Stekl made a proposal to sell Alaska to US Secretary of State William Seward.

Signing of the Alaska Sale, March 30, 1867 Robert C. Chu, William G. Seward, William Hunter, Vladimir Bodisko, Edouard Steckl, Charles Sumner, Frederick Seward

Negotiations were successful and On March 30, 1867, an agreement was signed in Washington according to which Russia sold Alaska for $7,200,000 in gold.(at the rate of 2009 - approximately $108 million in gold). The United States ceded: the entire Alaska Peninsula (along the 141° meridian west of Greenwich), a coastal strip 10 miles south of Alaska along the western coast of British Columbia; the archipelago of Alexander; Aleutian Islands with Attu Island; the islands of the Middle, Krys'i, Lis'i, Andreyanovsk, Shumagin, Trinity, Umnak, Unimak, Kodiak, Chirikov, Afognak and other smaller islands; islands in the Bering Sea: St. Lawrence, St. Matthew, Nunivak and the Pribylov Islands - St. George and St. Paul. The total area of the sold territories amounted to more than 1.5 million square meters. km. Russia sold Alaska for less than 5 cents per hectare.

On October 18, 1867, an official ceremony was held in Novoarkhangelsk (Sitka) for the transfer of Alaska to the United States. Russian and American soldiers marched in solemn march, the Russian flag was lowered and the US flag was raised.

Painting by N. Leitze "Signing the contract for the sale of Alaska" (1867)

Immediately after the transfer of Alaska to the United States, American troops entered Sitka and looted the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, private houses and shops, and General Jefferson Davis ordered all Russians to leave their homes to the Americans.

On August 1, 1868, Baron Stekl was presented with a US Treasury check with which the United States paid Russia for its new lands.

Check issued to the Russian Ambassador by the Americans when buying Alaska

notice, that Russia never received money for Alaska , since part of this money was appropriated by the Russian ambassador in Washington, Baron Steckl, part went to bribes to American senators. Baron Steckl then instructed Riggs Bank to transfer $7.035 million to London, to the Barings Bank. Both of these banks have now ceased to exist. The trace of this money has been lost in time, giving rise to a variety of theories. According to one of them, the check was cashed in London, and gold bars were purchased for it, which were planned to be transferred to Russia. However, the cargo was never delivered. The ship "Orkney" (Orkney), on board which was a precious cargo, sank on July 16, 1868 on the way to St. Petersburg. Whether there was gold on it at that time, or whether it did not leave the limits of Foggy Albion at all, is unknown. The insurance company that insured the ship and cargo declared itself bankrupt, and the damage was only partially reimbursed. (Now the site of the Orkney sinking is in the territorial waters of Finland. In 1975, a joint Soviet-Finnish expedition examined the area of \u200b\u200bits flooding and found the wreckage of the ship. The study of these found that the ship had a powerful explosion and a strong fire. However, gold could not be found - most likely, it remained in England.). As a result, Russia never received anything from the abandonment of some of its possessions.

It should be noted that There is no official text of the agreement on the sale of Alaska in Russian. The deal was not approved by the Russian Senate and the State Council.

In 1868, the Russian-American Company was liquidated. During its elimination, part of the Russians were taken from Alaska to their homeland. The last group of Russians, numbering 309 people, left Novoarkhangelsk on November 30, 1868. The other part - about 200 people - was left in Novoarkhangelsk due to the lack of ships. They were simply FORGOTTEN by the St. Petersburg authorities. Most of the Creoles (descendants from mixed marriages of Russians with Aleuts, Eskimos and Indians) remained in Alaska.

Rise of Alaska

After 1867, the part of the North American continent ceded by Russia to the USA received Alaska Territory status.

For the United States, Alaska became the site of the "gold rush" in the 90s. XIX century, sung by Jack London, and then the "oil fever" in the 70s. XX century.

In 1880, the largest ore deposit in Alaska, Juneau, was discovered. At the beginning of the 20th century, the largest alluvial gold deposit, Fairbanks, was discovered. By the mid 80s. XX in Alaska in total produced almost a thousand tons of gold.

To dateAlaska ranks 2nd in the US (after Nevada) in terms of gold production . The state provides about 8% of silver mining in the United States of America. The Red Dog Mine in northern Alaska is the largest zinc mine in the world and provides about 10% of the world's production of this metal, as well as significant amounts of silver and lead.

Oil was found in Alaska 100 years after the conclusion of the agreement - in the early 70s. XX century. TodayAlaska ranks 2nd in the US in the production of "black gold", 20% of American oil is produced here. Huge reserves of oil and gas have been explored in the north of the state. The Prudhoe Bay field is the largest in the United States (8% of US oil production).

January 3, 1959 territoryAlaska was converted to49th state of the USA.

Alaska is the largest US state in terms of territory - 1,518 thousand km² (17% of the US territory). In general, today Alaska is one of the most promising regions of the world from the transport and energy point of view. For the United States, this is both a key point on the way to Asia and a springboard for more active development of resources and the presentation of territorial claims in the Arctic.

The history of Russian America serves as an example not only of the courage of explorers, the energy of Russian entrepreneurs, but also of the venality and betrayal of the upper spheres of Russia.

Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK

State of Alaska

Alaska is considered the last American frontier. It is the largest state in terms of size, although in terms of population (it is over half a million people), it ranks second to last. It is estimated that there are 2.6 square kilometers of territory per inhabitant of the state.

When talking about their state, Alaskans often use the word “most” in speech: Mount McKinley in the Alaska Range is the highest peak in North America (6194 meters), the Yukon River, with a length of 2879 kilometers, is one of the longest water arteries in the entire North America, the Malaspina glacier, whose length is 110 kilometers, is larger in area than the entire state of Rhode Island (glacier area - 3880 square kilometers). The territory of Alaska is so large (1,530,693 square kilometers) that its acquisition increased the United States by one-fifth.

Alaska is home to many rare birds and animals: bald and golden eagles, hawks, owls, fur seals live on the Pribylov Islands, and sea otters, seals and whales live in the sea. Here you can see grizzlies, brown and polar bears, caribou, elk, bison. Kodiak Island is home to the largest Kodiak bear in the world. The state of Alaska is widely known among hunters and fishermen, so lovers of sport fishing and hunting rush here.

Alaska is a land of the most unexpected contrasts. Here you can see smoking volcanoes and cold tundra, hot springs and glaciers spouting from underground, virgin forests and vast open spaces.

The name "Alaska" comes from the Aleutian word alaxsxaq, which literally means "land on which the sea rushes", i.e. "mainland".

The fact that Alaska was once Russian is now reminded by such Russian toponyms as the Shelikhov Strait, Chirikov Island, Shumagin Islands, Pavlov's Volcano, Mount Veniaminov, Shishaldin's Volcano, Lake Bocharova, Makushin's Volcano, Baranov's Island. The development of Alaska is really connected primarily with Russia. In 1724, Peter I ordered Captain Vitus Bering (1681–1741) to explore the lands and waters east of Siberia. During his second trip in 1741, Bering ended up in Alaska and proclaimed it Russian territory. On the way back to Russia, Bering died, but the rest of the expedition reached Russia, and the stories of travelers about the wealth of this region, about the abundance of furs there, inspired Russian merchants to develop this distant land. One such entrepreneur, Alexander Andreevich Baranov (1746–1819), lived in Alaska from 1790 to 1818, being director of the Russian American Company, which existed from 1799 to 1818. Baranov's name is immortalized in the name of the large island of Baranov, 140 kilometers south of the city of Juneau. The city of Novoarkhangelsk was built on the island, which is now called Sitka. The city of Sitka was the capital of Alaska from 1867 to 1906, but initially Russian explorers, merchants and other merchants made a place near the Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island their center of trade.

The ability to make a quick profit from the fur trade led to the fact that fur animals began to be exterminated in such quantities that many breeds, such as the sea otter, were on the verge of extinction. Such ruthless extermination of animals stopped in 1799, when the Russian Emperor Paul I ordered the foundation of the Russian-American Company in order to purposefully populate and develop the territory of Alaska. The director of the company was Alexander Baranov, who led Russian America for 19 years as the governor of the Russian emperor and created 15 Russian settlements on this continent, including Fort Ross in California. The history of the development of Alaska by the Russians is quite dramatic: it also remembers skirmishes with the local population - Eskimos, Aleuts and Indians, and conflicts with American fur traders. So, in 1802, a group of Tlingit Indians destroyed the Russian settlement of Mikhailovsk. In response, the Russian colonists decided to punish the Indians and destroyed the Indian village in 1804, creating the nearby city of Novoarkhangelsk, which later became not only the capital of the Russian colony, but the center of the joint Russian-American company. In 1812, Russian and American merchants entered into an agreement between themselves, which marked the beginning of the development of trade and good relations between Russia and the United States. At one time, Novoarkhangelsk was called the "Pacific Paris", so impressive was the city, which was ruled by Alexander Baranov. The Russian churches that have been preserved in Sitka are reminiscent of the glorious times of the exploration of Alaska.

Russia first tried to sell Alaska in 1855. By that time, the military-political rivalry between the United States and Great Britain had made the activities of the Russian-American Company risky and even unprofitable, and Russia's participation in the Crimean War turned the colony in Alaska into an unprotected and vulnerable place. Negotiations to acquire the territory began in 1867 under President Andrew Johnson (1808–1875) at the urging of Secretary of State William Seward. The United States paid Russia 7,200,000 dollars (11 million tsarist rubles) for Alaska. October 18, 1867, the day Alaska came under United States jurisdiction, is now celebrated as Alaska Day. The skeptics of the time were witty, coming up with epithets for the cold territory in the far northeast, off the coast of the Arctic Ocean, such as "Seward's glacier", "polar bear reserve" or "Frigidia land". However, the real nickname of the state was the name "land of the midnight sun." In addition, the state motto "North to the Future" is intended to dispel doubts about the usefulness of the deal and inspire skeptics with the idea that Alaska is not the last place in the United States.

The management of Alaska was successively taken over by the US Army, the Treasury Department, and the Navy. There was no civil administration, and until 1884 Alaska lived under the laws of the state of Oregon. A new dramatic and vibrant period in the history of Alaska began with the discovery of gold deposits in the Klondike, in northwestern Canada, in 1896. Hundreds of gold prospectors rushed in search of a convenient path to the Klondike - one of those was the path through the city of Skagway in southeast Alaska. Even before the gold boom in the Klondike had subsided a little, there was a new wave of excitement around the discovery of gold near the city of Nome on the Seward Peninsula. At this time, a disagreement arose between the United States and Canada over the southern section of the border between the two countries. Under the 1867 treaty under which the United States acquired Alaska from Russia, the border between the United States and Canada was established along the coastline approximately between the 55th and 60th parallels at a distance of 48 kilometers from the coast. Access to the Klondike was through a bay called Linn's Channel. Canada claimed this channel for itself. This dispute was resolved in a joint arbitration panel, which included the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. In 1903, the decision was made to keep the border along the coastline and leave the Lynn Canal to the United States. In 1912, President William Howard Taft (1857–1930) signed into law a law making Alaska a territory.

During World War II, in 1942, the Japanese occupied the islands of Kiska and Attu in the Aleutian Ridge. In the summer of 1943, these islands were returned to the United States, and in order to consolidate their victory, the Americans began to hastily develop the area. Their first step was the creation of the Trans-Alaska Highway. At the same time, a military program began to develop to strengthen the area.

For more than 40 years, Alaska has been claiming to become a state. This happened only in 1958, when the Senate voted for the admission of Alaska to the United States as a state, and on January 3, 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a law according to which Alaska officially became the 49th state.

If you look at a map of North America, Alaska will seem like a huge peninsula. In fact, the Alaska Peninsula is only a part of the state, located in the southwest of this tip of the North American continent. The entire state is named after the peninsula. The length of the Alaska Peninsula from Naknek Lake to the western tip is approximately 800 kilometers. The peninsula is predominantly mountainous, with almost 50 volcanic peaks here and on the Aleutian Islands. The climate on the peninsula is cool: an average of -7 ° C in winter, but in summer the mercury column does not rise above +10 ° C. The volcanic Aleutian Ridge, stretching for 1,900 kilometers southwest of the Alaska Peninsula, consists of fourteen large and more than a hundred small islands. The Aleutian Islands are mostly uninhabited, with the exception of small settlements of the Aleuts, numbering about 6 thousand people, and personnel serving military installations. A common occurrence in the Aleutian Islands, which are almost treeless, are winds and fogs.

In the southeast, Alaska borders on the Canadian province of British Columbia, and in the east - on the Canadian territory of Yukon. The northernmost point of Alaska, which is also the northernmost point of the United States, is Cape Barrow on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. Approximately one third of the territory of Alaska lies beyond the Arctic Circle.

In the east, Alaska is washed by the Bering Sea, which separates Siberia from North America. The shortest distance between Cape Dezhnev in Siberia and the easternmost point of the Seward Peninsula in Alaska is only 85 kilometers. This is the Bering Strait, which contains the Large and Small Diomede Islands, which belong respectively to Russia and the United States. Between them is the international demarcation line of daytime.

The Bering Sea is considered one of the most difficult in terms of navigation, very strong winds blow there in winter, there are frequent storms, the mercury column sometimes drops to -45 ° C, which leads to heavy icing of ships, and waves can reach a height of 12 meters. Cold currents coming from the Arctic Ocean and warm Pacific currents collide in the sea, which leads to frequent fogs and storms. One-sixth of Alaska, covered with tundra, has a polar climate, that is, a cold winter lasts approximately 280 days. However, during the short polar summer, the sun shines almost all day, the earth thaws a little, and moss turns green on it and bright northern flowers bloom.

The northern part of the state is occupied by the Brooks Range, which stretches for 960 kilometers and is a deserted realm of snow and ice. Some peaks of this ridge reach a height of over two thousand meters. The southern foot of the Brooks Range is forested.

South of the Brooks Range is the Inner Plateau, an upland along which the Kuskokwim and Yukon Rivers flow with tributaries. This area is occupied by forests, swamps and lakes. The slopes of the hills are covered with coniferous forests. The climate of this region is sharply continental. The temperature range on the Inner Plateau is from -48°C in winter to +38°C in summer.

The territory in the south of Alaska, closer to the Pacific Ocean, is occupied by mountains. Here the climate is maritime, moderated by warm ocean currents, as well as warm air masses moving from Asia.

In the southeast of Alaska, between the 55th and 60th parallels, a narrow coastal strip stretches for 500 kilometers from north to south, bounded from the west by the Pacific Ocean, and from the east by the border with Canada. Coastal mountains in this area rise sharply right out of the water. The Alexander Archipelago is located in this part of the state. It is believed that the most memorable way to get to Alaska is to travel by sea through more than a thousand islands of this archipelago. The slopes of the Coastal Mountains are covered with dense forests, where spruce, hemlock and cedar are harvested for the local timber industry. The height of some peaks of the Coast Mountains reaches three thousand meters, and to the north, where the coastline turns to the west, there is Mount St. Elias with a height of 5488 meters. Glaciers sliding down the mountain form entire valleys, the largest of which is the valley of the Malaspina glacier. The Muir Glacier is also located in the Alaska National Glacier Reserve. Glaciers sliding down from the mountains deepen the river valleys and make these places look like Norwegian fjords.

South of mainland Alaska is Kodiak Island, home to salmon farms and a US Coast Guard base. The city of Kodiak on this island is one of the largest fishing ports in the United States.

Alaska, of course, is of great strategic importance in the plans of the US military. Numerous facilities run by the Pentagon are located here. According to the law on the admission of Alaska to the United States, in the event of a military threat, the entire territory of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands come under federal control. Between 1954 and 1957, a chain of radar installations was built in Alaska serving all of North America. The city of Anchorage is the northwestern headquarters of the Department of Defense. Anchorage is home to the Elmendorf military base, which has one of the largest military airfields in the world. There is also a military base and an army command center at Fort Richardson. Eielson and Fort Wainwright Air Force Bases are located near Fairbanks. The Pentagon traditionally conducts military exercises in Alaska, developing skills for conducting military operations in conditions close to those of the north, in particular Siberia, the Urals and the Russian Arctic. For this, Fort Greely near the city of Delta Junction is used. Air defense systems with early warning systems for the approach of a potential enemy are also located in Alaska.

On March 27, 1964, a strong earthquake struck South Alaska, destroying Anchorage and surrounding cities, killing 100 people. And in 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker sank off the coast of Alaska, and more than 37,850,000 liters of oil spilled into the waters of Prince William Bay. The accident severely disrupted the state's coastline and caused extensive damage to wildlife and fisheries.

Alaska's main source of income is fishing. In some years, up to half of all US fish products were produced here. The main types of fish and marine products harvested are salmon, halibut, herring, crabs, shrimp and sea clams. Most of the catch is frozen for export to Japan and Western Europe. One-third of the catch is processed in canneries, with pink salmon being preferred.

The mining industry is the second most important industry in the economy of the state. Alaska is primarily known as a gold-bearing region. In addition to gold, other metals are also mined in the state. However, due to the remoteness of the state from other industrial centers of the country and excessively expensive transportation, the development of the extractive industry is rather slow. Two major mining areas began to be developed in 1989 and 1990 to the southeast at Greens Creek (near Juneau) and to the northwest at Red Dog (near Kotzebue). The minerals mined here are those that are scarce outside the state and that other industries cannot do without: gold, platinum, chromium, mercury, silver, molybdenum, zinc, copper, lead and nickel.

In 1957, commercial oil production began on the Kenai Peninsula, and since 1968, oil platforms have been operating in Prudhoe Bay, which is considered the largest oil field in North America. To transport oil from north to south, in 1977 an oil pipeline was built with a length of 1280 kilometers leading to the ice-free port of Valdiz. Alaska also produces natural gas, building sand, gravel, and coal.

The remoteness of Alaska from the rest of the United States, the halo of northern exoticism, its unusual landscape, nature and climate make the state extremely attractive for lovers of tourism and recreation in the wild. Tourism is the third largest branch of the state's economy. Most tourists arrive in Alaska on sea ferries, but there is an increase in the flow of people arriving by car and in buses along the Trans-Alaska Highway. This is the only land route connecting Alaska with Canada and the "lower" American states. Most of the highway runs through Canada. It begins in the town of Dawson Creek in British Columbia and stretches for two thousand kilometers. The road was built during World War II to connect military airfields. Today, the Trans-Alaskan Highway has become an unforgettable tourist route. It passes through forests, past lakes, along glacial valleys, winding through picturesque mountains.

One of the most visited places by tourists is the Denali National Park and Wildlife Refuge, where hunting is prohibited, but you can stay in tents and fish.

A third of the territory of Alaska is occupied by forests in which birch, poplar, and aspen grow, but logging in the state is carried out on a small scale, especially compared to such leaders in the forest industry as the states of Washington and Oregon. The timber is rafted along the rivers along the southern and southeastern coasts to deep sea harbors. Hemlock and spruce, as well as red and yellow cedar are subject to industrial felling. The main timber processing plants are located in the cities of Ketchikan and Sitka.

Agriculture, due to the natural conditions of Alaska, is slightly developed. 90 percent of agricultural products and foodstuffs are imported from outside. Areas suitable for agriculture are mostly forested and difficult to develop. The agricultural season in Alaska is unusually short, but cultivated plants grow well because the polar day is long enough. The most suitable land for agriculture is in the Matanuska Valley, 80 kilometers northeast of Anchorage, as well as in the Tanana River Valley near Fairbanks, in the lowlands of the Kenai Peninsula and in several areas of the southeast coast. In Alaska, they grow what immediately goes to the table. Fruits, potatoes, carrots, greenhouse vegetables, huge cabbages, berries, as well as milk, eggs are in great demand, because, unlike many other regions of the United States, they are not imported, do not contain preservatives, and most importantly, they are fresh.

Fur production is another important industry in Alaska's economy. For this purpose, mink is actively bred here, they hunt for beaver, marten, lynx, coyote, otter and muskrat.

The population of Alaska is over 0.5 million people, of which approximately 85 thousand people are Eskimos, Aleuts and Indians, that is, the indigenous population of the state. Among representatives of other nationalities, Russians, Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese and people from Scandinavia are the most common.

Although most of the indigenous people gravitate towards their own cultures and are engaged in traditional trades and crafts, many of them move to the cities. Local Eskimos settle mainly along the coast of the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean and in the deltas of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers. They are engaged in fishing, hunting and fur trade.

The Indians, mostly belonging to the Tlingit tribe, live on the islands in the south of the state. They are engaged in fishing, hunting and traditional crafts - wood and bone carving, as well as work in fish canning factories.

Two-thirds of the state's residents live in cities and large towns. Although the cities of Alaska look as modern as other US cities, they are separated from each other by large distances. In many cases, communication between them is carried out only by water or air.

Anchorage, with a population of 230,000, Alaska's largest city, was founded in 1914 near Cook Inlet as the headquarters of the Alaska Railroad Authority, and was rebuilt after the 1964 earthquake. It is the main commercial, transportation and military center of the state. Anchorage grew rapidly in the 1970s. It is home to a major international airport, referred to as the "air crossroads of the world", which serves millions of passengers flying between the US, Canada and East Asia. The city has everything necessary to be called a major modern center - theaters, musical groups, a museum of history and art with a collection of masterpieces of local folk crafts, a museum of natural history, and a zoo.

Fairbanks - the second largest city in Alaska with a population of over 30 thousand people - was founded by gold miners in 1902 in the center of the state, on the Chena River, which is a tributary of the Yukon River. In this place, and now continue to mine gold, but the main importance of Fairbanks due to its role as a transport hub. This city is the last station of the railroad that runs through Alaska. This is where the Trans-Alaska Highway ends. Important defense facilities are located near the city, including a satellite tracking station.

Juneau - the capital of Alaska, a city with a population of about 27 thousand people - is located in the southeast of the state. The city got its name from the gold digger Joe Juno, who in 1880 discovered gold in these parts. The settlement founded here became the center of the extractive industry, and in 1900 the town became the capital of the territory, although all administrative institutions moved here from Sitka only in 1906. In 1976, a survey was conducted among Alaskans about moving the state capital to the city of Willow, north of Anchorage, due to the fact that Juneau's economy was in decline. However, over time, Juneau gained economic power, mainly through tourism and extractive industries, so a second vote in 1982 retained the city's capital status.

Juneau can only be reached by air or water. The main sectors of the city's economy are tourism, mining and fishing industries. Near Juneau is the Greens Creek Mine, one of the largest silver deposits in the United States. Juneau is picturesquely located on the Gastineau Channel, which resembles a Norwegian fjord. A canal bridge connects the business part of the city with Douglas Island, where residential areas are located. Juneau is a bit like San Francisco - the houses in both cities crowd the winding streets and climb up the hills. Juneau Harbor is an ice-free port. To the north of the city, the Lynn Canal begins, leading to the cities of Haynes and Skagway. Ferries connect these cities with Seattle, Washington, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada. Juneau attractions include the Museum of Alaska with a fine collection of traditional northern art. The city is home to the University of Alaska and a major library.

About 10,000 people now live in Sitka, the former city of Novoarkhangelsk on Baranov Island. This is a port city, famous for its fish canning enterprises, the center of the timber industry. Sitka is one of the largest centers of "Russian America" with a "Russian Quarter". The city has a national historical park, created on the site of the battle in which Russian troops defeated the Tlingit Indians.

Ketchikan in the "panhandle" - the state of Alaska on the map has a southern ledge that resembles a bucket handle - is a port city where the state's largest wood pulp factories are located, and the largest fishing fleet in Alaska is based here.

From the book of 100 great geographical discoveries author Balandin Rudolf Konstantinovich

From the book Essay on Gold author Maksimov Mikhail Markovich

Alaska (the last classic gold rush) The gold-bearing region of Alaska extends beyond the borders of the US state of the same name into the territory of Canada and is actually located in the middle and lower reaches of the river. Yukon. Alaska was discovered in 1741 by the Russians, that is, it is the last