Alaska for seven million
- Born March 30, 1867. After spending the night negotiating, at 4:00 a.m., Russia sold Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million. The frozen area of 1.5 million hectares amounted to a disbursement of $4.74 per square kilometre. At that time, 2,500 Russian settlers lived there, 10,000 of origin are under Russian jurisdiction and an estimated 50,000 other inhabitants were living in Aleutia, Inuit, Inupiaq, Yupik... The sale was signed by U.S. President Andrew Johnson and confirmed by the full Senate. The transfer ceremony was held on October 18 of the same year and the 7.2 million check was issued on August 1, 1868.
However, attempts to sell the territory began earlier in the 1850s. The Russian Empire had economic difficulties, it was not easy to defend the territory of Alaska militarily, and they feared that the British would take it easily. They sold Alaska at modest prices, and they kept something in their pocket. Otherwise, there was a risk of losing the colony for nothing. Moreover, by then, the Alaska nutrient population was already exploited and practically depleted.
Zar Alexander II first offered the British Alaska. His intention was probably to increase hostilities between British and American, and thus, weakened by the two powers, the position of the Russian Empire would be strengthened. But the British were not interested and in 1859 they were offered to the United States. They received another "no", as for Washington at the time the risk of the Civil War being declared a priority.
The intention of the Russians was not weakened and negotiations resumed after the end of the US Civil War. They sat in early March 1867 with U.S. Secretary of State William Seward.El contract was closed before the end of the month.
Was it a profitable purchase for the United States? The experts do not agree on the answer. David R. According to economist Barker, taxes collected in Alaska have never exceeded the cost of buying and governing the territory. John M. Miller considers that Alaska oil companies had no profit in compensating for an extraordinary investment. Scott Goldsmith and Terrence cole disagree on the criteria for drawing these conclusions, and consider the purchase for the domestic product to be excellent, as the most optimistic calculations indicate that in 50 years the Americans gained 100 times the price paid by the country.
In March 2014, the “Return to Russia” movement collected 35,000 signatures. It didn't occur to them to ask that Alaska leave its original inhabitants.
Pond of Venice, year 452. Prompted by the Huns' invasion, several inhabitants of the interior of the Italian peninsula took temporary refuge in the swampy area. But the Lombard invasions came in a few years, and it would become a permanent home for those immigrants. It was a... [+]
During a routine excavation in the Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome, archaeologists carried out the IX-XIII. They unexpectedly found the remains of a palace dating back to the centuries. And they think it could be the residence of the popes of the time. In other words,... [+]
More and more studies indicate that Neanderthals had more advanced cognitive abilities than previously thought. The latter, published in the Journal of Archeological Science, refers to the spearhead of bone found in the Mezmaiskaya cave in Russia in 2003.
Using microscopy,... [+]
The Indus Valley, about 5,000 years ago. The city of Mohenjo-Daro had about 35,000 inhabitants and, according to recent PNAS publication, had a very low Gini coefficient of 0.22 – a coefficient that measures the economic inequality of societies through the degree of... [+]
I've been enjoying a book lately. In a very short time I have read it twice; the first with pure delight and the second with a pencil in my hand. Hoces de piedra, martillos de bronce, by the Spanish archaeologist Rodrigo Villalobos, aims to explore prehistoric society to answer... [+]
In the Chinese province of Shanxi, in a tomb of the Tang dynasty, paintings depicting scenes from the daily lives of the dead are found. In one of these scenes a blonde man appears. Looking at the color of the hair and the facial expression, archaeologists who have studied the... [+]
Carthage, from B.C. Around the 814. The Phoenicians founded a colony and the dominant civilization in the eastern Mediterranean spread to the west. Two and a half centuries later, with the decline of the Phoenician metropolis of Tyre, Carthage became independent and its... [+]
Salvador Puig Antich frankismoaren kontrako militantea izan zen. Askapen Mugimendu Iberikoko kidea, 1973ko irailaren 25ean atxilotu zuten. Gerra-kontseilua egin zioten, eta garrotez exekutatu zuten handik sei hilabetera, 1974ko martxoaren 2an. Aurtengo otsailean baliogabetu du... [+]
Rudolf Botha hizkuntzalari hegoafrikarrak hipotesi bat bota berri du Homo erectus-i buruz: espezieak ahozko komunikazio moduren bat garatu zuen duela milioi bat urte baino gehiago. Homo sapiens-a da, dakigunez, hitz egiteko gai den espezie bakarra eta, beraz, hortik... [+]
Böblingen, Holy Roman Empire, 12 May 1525. Georg Truchsess von Waldburg overthrew the Württemberg insurgent peasants. Three days later, on 15 May, Philip of Hesse and the Duke of Saxony joined forces to crush the Thuringian rebels in Frankenhausen, killing some 5,000 peasants... [+]
