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Russian Conquest Of Alaska Essay

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In 1725, Russia sent explorers out to claim Alaska. When Vitus Bering and George Steller discovered Alaska, they claimed some of the islands like Kayak Island. Russia wanted to expand and grow, so the large piece of land called Alaska was prime land for the country. Russia knew there was a lot of benefits to this land like the amount of resources and lack of population. Russian tsars started a trading company. Though fur was Alaska's biggest trade, Russia took advantage of all opportunities for exports even including ice which was traded to the Southern states of the United States. Even with the trading company, the population of Russians in Alaska only ever got up to roughly 400 people. Years later another couple of explorers landed on Alaska land like Captain James Cook, who landed in nowadays Cook Inlet in Anchorage. Even still, the first Russian settlement was on Kodiak Island in 1784.

In 1859, Russian Minister to the United States, Edouard de Stoecki, came to the United States and offered Alaska to purchase. The thought behind selling the piece of land to the U.S. was that the U.S. could help keep the threating Great Britian in check in the Pacific region of the world. Russia was involved in the Crimean War. The British, French and Turkish were against Russia. Russia could no longer defend the waterways around …show more content…

Today we gain so much from the state of Alaska. Oil was found in many different place in Alaska. There is a pipeline that carries the oil through the state, to processing plants. Because the pipeline is used by oil companies, the government taxes the oil companies and makes a large profit. Part of the profit goes back to the residents of Alaska called the Permanent Fund Dividend or PFD. Each resident of Alaska that can prove citizenship gets a check from the state. This year's PFD is estimated to be $2,100 to each

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