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How much was Alaska sold for by Catherine? Why did Russia sell Alaska to America? How much did the American government pay for Alaska?

TASS DOSSIER. October 18, 2017 marks 150 years since the official ceremony of transferring Russian possessions to North America under the jurisdiction of the United States, which took place in the city of Novoarkhangelsk (now the city of Sitka, Alaska).

Russian America

Alaska was discovered in 1732 by Russian explorers Mikhail Gvozdev and Ivan Fedorov during an expedition on the boat "St. Gabriel". The peninsula was studied in more detail in 1741 by the Second Kamchatka Expedition of Vitus Bering and Alexei Chirikov. In 1784, on Kodiak Island south coast An expedition of the Irkutsk merchant Grigory Shelikhov arrived in Alaska and founded the first settlement of Russian America - the Harbor of the Three Saints. From 1799 to 1867, Alaska and its surrounding islands were administered by the Russian-American Company (RAC).

It was created on the initiative of Shelikhov and his heirs and received a monopoly right to fisheries, trade and development of minerals in the north-west of America, as well as on the Kuril and Aleutian Islands. In addition, the Russian-American company had the exclusive right to open and annex new territories to Russia in the northern part Pacific Ocean.

In 1825-1860, RAC employees surveyed and mapped the territory of the peninsula. Local tribes that became dependent on the company were obliged to organize fishing fur-bearing animal under the leadership of RAC staff. In 1809-1819, the cost of furs obtained in Alaska amounted to over 15 million rubles, that is, approximately 1.5 million rubles. per year (for comparison - all income Russian budget in 1819 it was calculated at 138 million rubles).

In 1794, the first Orthodox missionaries arrived in Alaska. In 1840, the Kamchatka, Kuril and Aleutian diocese was organized, in 1852 the Russian possessions in America were allocated to the Novo-Arkhangelsk Vicariate of the Kamchatka diocese. By 1867, about 12 thousand representatives of indigenous peoples who converted to Orthodoxy lived on the peninsula (the total population of Alaska at that time was about 50 thousand people, including about 1 thousand Russians).

The administrative center of Russian possessions in North America was Novoarkhangelsk, their general territory was about 1.5 million sq. km. The borders of Russian America were secured by treaties with the USA (1824) and British Empire (1825).

Plans for selling Alaska

For the first time in government circles, the idea of selling Alaska to the United States was expressed in the spring of 1853 by the Governor General Eastern Siberia Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky. He presented a note to Emperor Nicholas I, in which he argued that Russia needed to give up its possessions in North America. According to the Governor General, the Russian Empire did not have the necessary military and economic means to protect these territories from US claims.

Muravyov wrote: “We must be convinced that the North American States will inevitably spread throughout North America, and we cannot help but keep in mind that sooner or later we will have to cede our North American possessions to them.” Instead of developing Russian America, Muravyov-Amursky proposed focusing on the development of the Far East, while having the United States as an ally against Britain.

Later, the main supporter of the sale of Alaska to the United States was younger brother Emperor Alexander II, Chairman of the State Council and Manager of the Naval Ministry, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich. On April 3 (March 22, old style), 1857, in a letter addressed to Foreign Minister Alexander Gorchakov, he proposed for the first time at the official level to sell the peninsula to the United States. As arguments in favor of concluding a deal, the Grand Duke referred to the “cramped situation public finance"and the supposedly low profitability of the American territories.

In addition, he wrote that “one should not deceive oneself and must foresee that the United States, constantly striving to round off its possessions and wanting to dominate inseparably in North America, will take the aforementioned colonies from us, and we will not be able to return them.”

The emperor supported his brother's proposal. The note was also approved by the head of the foreign policy department, but Gorchakov proposed not to rush to resolve the issue and postpone it until 1862. The Russian envoy to the United States, Baron Eduard Stekl, was instructed to “find out the opinion of the Washington Cabinet on this subject.”

As the head of the Naval Department, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich was responsible for the security of overseas possessions, as well as for the development Pacific Fleet and the Far East. In this area, his interests collided with the Russian-American company. In the 1860s, the emperor's brother began a campaign to discredit the RAC and oppose its work. In 1860, on the initiative of the Grand Duke and Minister of Finance of Russia Mikhail Reitern, an audit of the company was carried out.

The official conclusion showed that the annual treasury income from the activities of the RAC amounted to 430 thousand rubles. (for comparison, total state budget revenues in the same year amounted to 267 million rubles). As a result, Konstantin Nikolaevich and the Minister of Finance who supported him managed to achieve a refusal to transfer the rights to the development of Sakhalin to the company, as well as the abolition of many trade benefits, which led to a significant deterioration financial indicators CANCER.

Closing the deal

On December 28 (16), 1866, a special meeting was held in St. Petersburg in the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the sale of Russian possessions in North America. It was attended by Emperor Alexander II, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, Minister of Finance Mikhail Reitern, maritime minister Nikolai Krabbe, Russian envoy to the United States Baron Eduard Stekl.

At the meeting, an agreement was unanimously reached on the sale of Alaska. However, this decision was not made public. The secrecy was so high that, for example, Minister of War Dmitry Milyutin learned about the sale of the region only after the signing of the agreement from British newspapers. And the board of the Russian-American company received notification of the transaction three weeks after its official registration.

The conclusion of the treaty took place in Washington on March 30 (18), 1867. The document was signed by the Russian envoy Baron Eduard Stekl and Secretary of State USA William Seward. The transaction amount was $7 million 200 thousand, or more than 11 million rubles. (in terms of gold - 258.4 thousand troy ounces or $322.4 million in modern prices), which the United States undertook to pay within ten months. Moreover, in April 1857, in a memo by the main ruler of the Russian colonies in America, Ferdinand Wrangel, the territories in Alaska belonging to the Russian-American Company were valued at 27.4 million rubles.

The agreement was drawn up in English and French. The entire Alaska Peninsula, the Alexander and Kodiak archipelagos, the islands of the Aleutian chain, as well as several islands in the Bering Sea passed to the United States. Total area The land area sold amounted to 1 million 519 thousand square meters. km. According to the document, Russia transferred all RAC property to the United States free of charge, including buildings and structures (with the exception of churches), and pledged to withdraw its troops from Alaska. The indigenous population was transferred to the jurisdiction of the United States, Russian residents and colonists received the right to move to Russia within three years.

The Russian-American company was subject to liquidation; its shareholders eventually received minor compensation, the payment of which was delayed until 1888.

On May 15 (3), 1867, the agreement on the sale of Alaska was signed by Emperor Alexander II. On October 18 (6), 1867, the Governing Senate adopted a decree on the execution of the document, the Russian text of which, under the heading “The Highest Ratified Convention on the Cession of the Russian North American Colonies to the United States of America,” was published in the Complete Collection of Laws Russian Empire. On May 3, 1867, the treaty was ratified by the US Senate. On June 20, the instruments of ratification were exchanged in Washington.

Execution of the contract

On October 18 (6), 1867, the official ceremony of transferring Alaska to the United States took place in Novoarkhangelsk: the Russian flag was lowered and the American flag was raised amid gun salutes. On the Russian side, the protocol on the transfer of territories was signed by a special government commissioner, captain 2nd rank Alexey Peschurov, on the United States side - by General Lowell Russo.

In January 1868, 69 soldiers and officers of the Novoarkhangelsk garrison were taken to the Far East, to the city of Nikolaevsk (now Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, Khabarovsk region). Last group Russians - 30 people - left Alaska on November 30, 1868 on the ship "Winged Arrow" purchased for this purpose, which was heading to Kronstadt. Only 15 people accepted American citizenship.

On July 27, 1868, the US Congress approved the decision to pay Russia the funds specified in the agreement. At the same time, as follows from the correspondence Russian minister Reitern's finances with the Ambassador to the United States Baron Steckl, $165 thousand of the total amount went to bribes to senators who contributed to the decision of Congress. 11 million 362 thousand 482 rubles. in the same year they came into use Russian government. Of these, 10 million 972 thousand 238 rubles. was spent abroad on the purchase of equipment for the Kursk-Kyiv, Ryazan-Kozlov and Moscow-Ryazan railways.

Today Russia is considered the most big country on planet Earth. Its area, scale and length are striking in its size. However, a few centuries ago the territory of the Russian Federation was even larger, because it included the cold northern lands of Alaska.

This part of the land in North America was first discovered for the world community back in 1732 during an expedition by Russian military surveyor M. S. Gvozdev and traveler-navigator I. Fedorov.

Now Alaska is the 49th state in the United States and at the same time the northernmost, coldest and largest in size. The climate there is predominantly arctic, which causes snowy and very cold winters and constant winds from the sea. Only a small area along the Pacific coastline has a climate suitable for human life.

Russia was able to own the newly discovered lands as its legal territory only in 1799. At the first stages of the development of new lands, the main contribution to their development was made by private entrepreneurs, philanthropists and companies. Only 67 years after the discovery, the development of Alaska was carried out with the help and resources of the Russian-American company, created by decree of Paul the First and under the leadership of G.I. Shelikhov.

In 1867, the Russian Empire sold its Arctic territories to America, and since then many people have been interested in the details and nuances of this historical course of events

Background and reasons for sale

Prerequisites for the sale of Alaska began to arise back in 1853 before the start of Crimean War, when N.N. Muravyov-Amursky, being at that time the governor of the Eastern Siberian lands, raised the issue of the resale of Alaska, citing the geopolitical situation in the Far East with the further opportunity to strengthen influence in Eastern Siberia. He addressed a letter to Nicholas I, in which he outlined in detail his thoughts about the eastern territories and the need to donate land for the sake of mutually beneficial relations with the United States.

At that time, diplomatic relations between Britain and Russia were on the verge of breakdown and were hostile. There was even a threat of a possible British invasion of the Russian Pacific coast after their attempt to land and gain a foothold in Petropavlovka-Kamchatsky. Muravyov believed that the time would come when Alaska would have to be given to the United States, since Russia would not be able to resist the enemy on its own, especially since, according to estimates, there were only up to eight hundred Russian people in the overseas territories.

The government in Petrograd carefully studied the proposals of the governor general and made a positive decision. Emperor Alexander II ordered the development and destruction of Sakhalin Island in order to prevent its development by foreign companies and investors. This was supposed to be done by the above-mentioned Russian-American company

An interesting fact is that the idea to sell Alaska was promoted by brother the ruler of our state is Prince Konstantin, who was at that time the head of the Naval Ministry. Konstantin inspired his brother that in the event of an attack by Britain, Russia could lose not only Alaska as a territory, but also all the mineral reserves located in its depths. Since the emperor did not have a defensive fleet or army in that region, the sale was a chance to receive at least some amount rather than lose everything and, at the same time, win over the US Government.

Alexander II knew about the volume of gold reserves in the bowels of the Arctic land and the potential possibilities for their extraction and use, however, despite a number of reforms implemented in the country, the depleted budget as a result of the lost Crimean War and the rather large external debt of the state persuaded the tsar to accept the proposal Konstantin.

Transaction agreement and land transfer

In 1866, Alexander II held a meeting at which the ministers of the economy, the maritime ministry, the ministry of finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs A. M. Gorchakov, Prince Konstantin and the Russian ambassador to Washington, E. Stekl, gathered. All those present came to the conclusion that the amount for which the sovereign’s lands could be given away should be no less than five million dollars, and in gold equivalent

A few days later, the limits and boundaries of the given territories were approved.

In March 1867, Secretary of State W. Seward, empowered by the President of America, held a series of meetings and negotiations with Steckl, at which the delegates discussed all the nuances of the transfer of Russian possessions. The price was set at $72,000,000

On March 30, 1867, documents were signed in Washington in English and French, which stipulated the conditions for the transfer of the Russian North American colonies to the jurisdiction of Washington. The area of transferred land was more than 1.5 million square kilometers. In addition to the areas, all archival and historical documents, as well as real estate, were transferred to the United States. Soon, the document was signed by Alexander II and ratified by the American Senate. Already on June 8 of the same year, an exchange of signed regulations took place.

Consequences of the Alaska transfer

In the mid-20th century, Americans found large reserves of oil and gas, as well as gold deposits. After that historical fact about the transfer of Alaska was constantly distorted and interpreted. Many were of the opinion and still believe that there was no act of sale, and the possessions were only given for temporary use. Another group believes that since the ship with gold for the sold resources sank, therefore, there can be no talk of any transaction, but this contradicts the facts and references from historical archives, according to which the proceeds were spent on the needs of the state.

“Don’t be a fool, America!”, “Catherine, you were wrong!” - the first thing that comes to mind for the average Russian when the word “Alaska” is mentioned.

The hit of the Lyube group established in the mass consciousness of the citizens of our country the idea that the Empress Catherine the Great, getting excited, sold America a huge piece of Russian land.

The fact that under Catherine II the territory of the Russian Empire was in fact rapidly expanding, and that it had nothing to do with the sale of Alaska, ordinary people don’t want to hear - historical myths are extremely stable.

By the way, it was not the Lyube group that was the first to “lay the blame” on Ekaterina - the myth that it was she who got rid of Alaska circulated in the Soviet Union long before the appearance of this song.

In fact, during the reign of Catherine II, the development of Alaska by Russians was only gaining momentum. The Empress, who did not welcome the creation of various monopolies, for example, rejected the project of granting a trade and fishing monopoly in this region to the Shelikhov-Golikov company.

“Sooner or later you will have to give in”

Paul I, who did a lot to spite his late mother, on the contrary, reacted positively to the idea of creating a monopoly on fur fishing and trade in the New World. On this basis, in 1799, the Russian Federation was formed “Under the Highest Patronage of His Imperial Majesty” American company”, which spent the next decades managing and developing Alaska.

The first Russian expeditions reached these lands in the middle of the 17th century, but it took about 130 more years to create the first large settlements.

The main source of income for Russian America was the fur trade - hunting sea otters, or sea beavers, which were found in abundance in these places.

By the middle of the 19th century, people in St. Petersburg began to talk about how it would be nice to get rid of Alaska. One of the first to voice this idea in 1853 Governor General of Eastern Siberia Count Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky. “With the invention and development of railroads, we must become more convinced than before that the North American States will inevitably spread throughout North America, and we cannot help but bear in mind that sooner or later we will have to cede our North American possessions to them, — the governor wrote. - It was impossible, however, with this consideration not to have another thing in mind: that it would be very natural for Russia to not own all of East Asia; then dominate the entire Asian coast of the Eastern Ocean. Due to circumstances, we allowed the British to invade this part of Asia... but this matter can still be improved by our close connection with the North American States.”

Local population of Alaska, 1868. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Far and unprofitable

Actually, Muravyov-Amursky explained main reason, according to which it was necessary to part with Alaska - Russia had enough problems with the development of closer regions, including the Far East.

And now, in the 21st century, the Russian government is thinking about what measures can be taken to stimulate the development of Siberia and the Far East. And by the middle of the 19th century there were no railways, and ordinary roads were a serious problem. Is it as far as Alaska?

Another serious argument in favor of a radical solution to the issue was that the fur trade in Alaska had fallen into decline. The sea otter population was simply exterminated, and the region, speaking modern language, finally threatened to become subsidized.

A number of researchers believed that there was gold in Alaska. Subsequently, these assumptions will be confirmed, and even turn into a real “gold rush”, but this will happen when Alaska becomes a possession of the United States. Yes and big question, the Russian Empire had enough resources to organize gold mining in Alaska, even if this discovery had been made earlier. And the oil reserves discovered in Alaska in the 20th century were not suspected at all in the mid-19th century. And the fact that oil would turn into the most important strategic raw material became clear only a few decades later.

Alexander II gives the go-ahead

Perhaps the issue of the sale of Alaska could have remained in “suspense” for many more years, if not for the disastrous Crimean War for Russia. Its defeat showed that in order to keep the country among the leading countries in the world, it is necessary to immediately engage in modernization various fields life. And at the same time refuse what becomes an unbearable burden.

Alaska has also become a “distressed asset” in a geopolitical sense. It bordered Canada, which at that time was a colonial possession of the British Empire. During the Crimean War, there was a threat of a military takeover of Alaska, which Russia did not have the strength or means to prevent. In the end, everything worked out, but the danger of losing Alaska “for nothing” has not gone away.

Younger brother of Emperor Alexander II Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich And Russian Envoy to the USA Baron Eduard Stekl in the late 1850s they actively advocated for the sale of Alaska to the United States. This idea was also supported by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The meaning of this deal was not only in its financial component - Russia, by selling Alaska, hoped to strengthen ties with the United States, while simultaneously increasing the territory of the main opponent of the British Empire in North America.

However, the idea was shelved again as the Civil War broke out in the United States.

Finally, on December 16, 1866, a special meeting was held, which was attended by Alexander II, Grand Duke Constantine, the ministers of finance and the naval ministry, and Baron Stekl. It was unanimously decided to sell Alaska. The Minister of Finance named the price - the proceeds should not be less than 5 million dollars in gold.

“Why do we need Alaska?”

Envoy Stekl was given instructions to enter into negotiations with the US authorities and agree on the sale of Alaska.

Only at first glance it may seem that it was simple task. Indeed, the Americans practiced the purchase of territories. For example, in 1803, the so-called “Louisiana Purchase” took place - the United States bought French possessions in North America. But in that case we were talking about developed lands. And Alaska seemed to many Americans to be a huge “piece of ice,” moreover, separated from the main territory of the United States by British possessions. And the question “Why do we need Alaska?” sounded very loud in the United States.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Baron Stekl made every effort. March 14, 1867 at a meeting with US Secretary of State William Seward The main provisions of the agreement were discussed.

President Andrew Johnson, having received Seward's report, signed him with official authority to negotiate the deal.

Having received them, Seward went to another meeting with Glass. The diplomats shook hands and agreed - the United States is buying Alaska for $7.2 million in gold. All that remained was now to formalize the acquisition in the appropriate manner.

Washington deal

On March 30, 1867, the agreement on the sale of Alaska was officially signed in Washington. The transaction cost was $7.2 million in gold. The entire Alaska Peninsula, a coastal strip 10 miles wide south of Alaska along the western coast, passed to the United States British Columbia; Alexandra archipelago; Aleutian Islands with Attu Island; the islands of Blizhnye, Rat, Lisya, Andreyanovskiye, Shumagina, Trinity, Umnak, Unimak, Kodiak, Chirikova, Afognak and other smaller islands; Islands in the Bering Sea: St. Lawrence, St. Matthew, Nunivak and the Pribilof Islands - St. George and St. Paul. The total size of the land territory sold was approximately 1,519,000 square kilometers. Along with the territory, all real estate, all colonial archives, official and historical documents related to the transferred territories were transferred to the United States.

The agreement was signed in English and French.

On May 3, 1867, the document was signed by Emperor Alexander II. On October 6, 1867, the decree on the implementation of the treaty was signed by the Governing Senate. The “Highly Ratified Convention on the Cession of the Russian North American Colonies to the United States of America” was included in the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire.

Alaska map. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Captain Peschurov surrendered Alaska

Problems with the ratification of the deal in Russia were not expected, but in America there were plenty of opponents. There is a version that Baron Stekl privately met with American parliamentarians, persuading them to support the deal. Now this would be called “Russian interference in the American political process.” But then President Andrew Johnson was interested in ratifying the deal, and in order to speed up the process, he convened an emergency session of the Senate.

The Senate supported ratification of the Alaska Purchase Treaty by 37 votes to two against. Ratification took place on May 3, 1867.

October 6, 1867 to Julian calendar, which operated in Russia, or on October 18, Gregorian, which operated in the United States, the ceremony of transferring Alaska took place. On board the American sloop of war "Ossipee", stationed in the port of Novoarkhangelsk, special government commissioner, captain 2nd rank Alexey Peschurov signed the transfer document. Following this, American troops began to arrive in Alaska. Since 1917, October 18 has been celebrated in the United States as Alaska Day.

Has Russia undercut itself? This is a rather abstract question. Based on the minimum transaction amount announced by the Russian Ministry of Finance, Baron Stekl fulfilled his mission very successfully.

Sold forever, money spent on railways

One of the most common myths about the sale of Alaska is that it was not sold, but was leased for 99 years. The most surprising thing is that it is quite popular in the USA. During the Soviet period, USSR diplomats even had to officially declare that the country had no claims to Alaska.

Alexander Petrov, leading researcher at the Institute general history RAS, in an interview with Arguments and Facts, explained: “In fact, in the contract of 1867 there was neither the word “sale” nor the word “lease.” It was a question of concession. The word “concession” in the language of that time meant sale. These territories legally belong to the United States."

The last myth worth mentioning concerns the money paid for Alaska. There is a widespread version that they did not reach Russia - either they drowned along with the ship carrying them, or they were plundered. The latter is easy to believe in domestic realities.

However, a document compiled by an employee of the Ministry of Finance in 1868 was found in the State Historical Archive of the Russian Federation:

“For the Russian possessions in North America ceded to the North American States, 11,362,481 rubles were received from the said States. 94 kopecks Of the number 11,362,481 rubles. 94 kopecks spent abroad on the purchase of accessories for the railways: Kursk-Kyiv, Ryazansko-Kozlovskaya, Moscow-Ryazan, etc. 10,972,238 rubles. 4 k. The rest are 390,243 rubles. 90 kopecks were received in cash.”

Thus, the money for Alaska was used to build what Russia most lacked for further development their vast territories - railways.

This was far from the worst option.

In the glass display case of the provincial museum there is a copper plate 20 by 20 cm with the words embossed on it: “Land of Russian Dominion.” More than 200 years ago, this small piece of metal meant: Russia began to grow miles on another continent.

All newly annexed territories were staked out by Russian pioneers,” Natalya Volkova, director of the Shelekhov City Museum, tells TASS that Irkutsk region. “But there was no point in installing wooden poles in Alaska - they could easily be burned by indigenous people or competing colonialists. Therefore, Grigory Shelikhov ordered to bury the mortgage boards in the ground of Alaska.

Grigory Shelikhov (in some historical documents his last name is written as Shelekhov, hence the name of the city) is an industrialist, merchant, explorer, and the man thanks to whom the Russian colonization of Alaska began. Contemporaries called him nothing less than “Russian Columbus.”

He did a lot to ensure that North America was considered Russian for almost a century.

How Russia colonized North America

Shelikhov was far from the first merchant whose ships reached the shores of Alaska. When in 1742 the surviving members of Vitus Bering's expedition, having “discovered” the west coast of America, returned to Russia, they brought with them sea otter furs. And their value created a sensation among Siberian merchants.

The following decades were a time of continuous expeditions of Russian industrialists to the Commander Islands, Aleutian Islands and the coast of Alaska. On fragile ships, without experienced sailors... Every third ship that went for fur sank in the waters of the Bering Sea.

The navigators on such ships were men “who were simply lucky to survive several voyages and acquire knowledge about these dangerous waters, for which there were no maps,” historian Mary Wheeler wrote about these expeditions.

Four decades passed before Grigory Shelikhov filled the fur trade with not only commercial, but also geopolitical meaning. Approaching Kodiak Island in 1784 on three ships, he founded the first permanent settlement here, declaring Russian not only commercial, but also territorial claims to Alaska.

Shelikhov arrives to the shores of America with his 20-year-old wife Natalya Alekseevna, who, as the merchant would later explain in his travel book (a St. Petersburg bestseller of his time), “wanted to follow me everywhere and endure all the difficulties,” as well as with three young children. On the American islands, Shelikhov from the very beginning does not strive to hit the big jackpot on fur mining, but behaves like a homely owner.

Shelikhov has been in Russian America for only two years. During this time, starting with armed skirmishes with the Aleuts and Tlingits, he quickly found contact with the local residents. Aboriginal children are on the territory of the outpost in the same conditions as the Russians; schools are beginning to be opened for them, they are taught crafts. Some are sent for further training to the eastern capital of Russia, Irkutsk. Grigory Ivanovich requests an Orthodox mission for Alaska, local residents are baptized, churches are built,” says Volkova.

It was thanks to Shelikhov that the Russian colonies in North America soon acquired their unique features.

The uniqueness of Russian America

Shelikhov died in 1795, a little before the implementation of his most ambitious business plans - his company defeated all competitors, and in 1799 Emperor Paul I granted it an official monopoly on fur and other trade throughout the entire space from the Aleutian Islands to California.

The vision of Alaska as a space for experimentation was present from the beginning. The only overseas colony was for St. Petersburg something like a testing ground for management strategies, which at that time were not used anywhere in the vast expanse of Russia

Ilya Vinkovetsky

Shelikhov's company becomes the basis for the creation of the Russian-American Company (RAC) - a joint-stock company that also receives the functions of administrative management of the Russian colonies.

In the domestic economy, RAC becomes a pioneer three times: the first monopoly, the first public-private partnership, to which the state functions of managing a specific territory are transferred, and the first joint stock company with the participation of members of the imperial family.

In fact, Russia will try the Anglo-Saxon method of managing colonies - following the example of the British East India Company. But at the same time, except purely economic activity RAK performed the most important function a conductor of Russian geopolitical interests in North America and the entire Pacific region.

Research expeditions were organized with her money, including round the world travel, the Russian merchant fleet was being built, the company invested in the development of territories, not only Alaska, but also Sakhalin, Primorye, and the Amur region.

RAC is a kind of “imperial construction contractor,” states Canadian historian Ilya Vinkovetsky in his book “Russian America.” He also notes that Alaska, “the only overseas colony, was for St. Petersburg something like a testing ground for management strategies, which at that time were not used anywhere in the vast expanse of Russia.”

Why did the Russians only colonize Alaska?

The expansion of Russian colonists along the Pacific coast of America was slow, not least because of difficult relations with the local population. If the inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands - Aleuts, Kodiaks, Eskimos - were drawn into their business by the colonists and assimilated, the Tlingit tribes that inhabited the coast of North America and a number of coastal islands were less friendly.

In 1802, they completely destroyed the Russian settlement of Sitka. It was possible to regain control over this territory only two years later, when the warship Neva came from St. Petersburg to the aid of the colonists.

After this, a peace treaty was concluded with some Tlingit tribes, they gradually began to accept Orthodoxy, and one of the leaders of the RAC, Alexander Baranov, even became godfather the leader of the Kixadi tribe, Skautlelt, who was baptized with the name Michael.

However, the truce was fragile, which was also facilitated by the presence of British and American traders, competitors of the RAC, on the northwestern coast of America. On their part, “there was certainly incitement of the restless Tlingit tribes,” noted Vadim Shakherov, a professor at Irkutsk State University, in an interview with TASS. It was from them that the Tlingits acquired guns, gunpowder and even cannons.

It is curious that the final line under that war was drawn only 200 years later - in 2004, when the descendants of the Kixadi clan initiated an official ceremony for concluding peace with Russia - with all the subtleties of the local “protocol”, at the totem pole of their tribe.

The first conversations about the sale of Alaska: “This idea is worth considering”

The barbaric destruction of sea otters, which lasted for decades, led to their almost complete disappearance, and income from the activities of the RAC decreased. At the same time, in the Far East, Russia annexed vast territories of Primorye and Amur region. It was their development that was now given special attention in St. Petersburg.

Of all the countries on earth, the United States remains the most popular in Russia. There was never any antipathy or serious conflict of interests between Russians and Americans, and only from Russia did the United States invariably hear words of sympathy and friendship

Mikhail Katkov

Russian publicist, 1866

The idea of selling North American possessions was first voiced in March 1857 by Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov. Referring to the “constrained situation of public finances” after the Crimean War (1853–1856. - Approx. TASS) and difficulties in reducing the budget of the Navy Ministry without significant damage to the development of the Russian fleet.

“This sale would be very timely, because one should not deceive oneself and must foresee that the United States, constantly striving to round off its possessions and wanting to dominate inseparably in North America, will take the aforementioned colonies from us, and we will not be able to return them. Meanwhile, these colonies bring us very little benefit, and their loss would not be too sensitive,” the prince wrote.

Apparently, part of the Russian ruling elite fell under the influence of the theory of “manifest destiny”, which during this period became very popular in the United States - propagandists of expansionist ideas argued that providence itself destined the United States to dominate the entire American continent.

Constantine's letter was handed over to Emperor Alexander II and he personally put a note on it: “This idea is worth considering.” Informal contacts began with the United States on this matter, but they were stopped by the outbreak of the Civil War.

"There has never been any antipathy between Russians and Americans"

The North's victory in the Civil War unusually strengthened relations between the two countries, because Russia was the only major power that supported the federal government during the conflict.

The sale (of Alaska) would be very timely, because one should not deceive oneself and must foresee that the United States, wanting to dominate North America undividedly, will take the aforementioned colonies from us, and we will not be able to return them

Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov

From a letter to Emperor Alexander II, March 1857

“Of all the countries on earth, the United States remains the most popular in Russia. There has never been any antipathy or serious conflict of interests between Russians and Americans, and only from Russia has the United States invariably heard words of sympathy and friendship,” wrote the influential Russian publicist Mikhail Katkov in January 1866, illustrating the extent of pro-American sentiment in Russia at that time.

The rapprochement of the countries was facilitated by the fact that Russia and the United States at that time had one common enemy and geopolitical adversary - Great Britain.

Difficulties of the North American Colonies

The mood in St. Petersburg and Moscow was also influenced by the situation in Alaska. RAC no longer brought the same profits to shareholders. Moreover, its existence required huge subsidies from the state. In 1866, Alexander II forgives the RAC a debt to the treasury in the amount of 725 thousand rubles. and approves her “an annual allowance of two hundred thousand rubles from the state treasury.”

Huge sums for those times, especially in conditions of budget deficit. Around the same days, Finance Minister Mikhail Reitern wrote a note to Alexander II about the financial situation of Russia: “With all the cuts... our expenses will not yet be covered by income, but on the contrary, in three years it will be necessary to purchase up to 45 million rubles of extraordinary resources (in the form of foreign loans )".

Not surprisingly, Reitern calls the sale of Alaska “highly desirable,” noting that “the company (RAK. - Note TASS) does not even bring significant benefit to the shareholders ... and can only be supported by significant donations from the government." "The transfer of the colonies ... will relieve us of possession, which in the event of a war with one of the sea powers we are not able to defend,” the minister concludes.

The owners of RAC shares were members of the royal family, nobility and aristocracy. Virtually all of the company's income was used to pay them dividends - there was simply no talk of investing in development

Vadim Shakherov

Historian, professor at Irkutsk State University

Historians, however, note that financial situation CANCER in recent years existence, was undermined precisely by the position of shareholders from among the aristocracy and the inept personnel policy of officials.

“The owners of RAC shares were members of the royal family, the nobility and the aristocracy. Their natural desire was to receive maximum income from the shares. Virtually all of the company’s income was used to pay them dividends - there was simply no talk of investing in development. About the fact that very soon here gold will be found, and then oil, and we just have to wait, investing in infrastructure development, no one thought,” notes Professor Vadim Shakherov.

"IN certain moment it was decided to replace the rulers of Russian America - experienced managers, Siberian industrialists - with military officers who were devoted to the Motherland and brave, but far from commercial concerns. These people were simply not capable of putting the economy of the RAC on a new track, reorienting it from the fur trade,” emphasizes the professor, chairman of the Irkutsk State University, in an interview with TASS. regional branch Russian Geographical Society Leonid Korytny.

They knew about gold before the sale

By the way, the first reports of gold deposits on the territory of Russian possessions in North America appeared in the summer of 1852. In 1861, hundreds of American prospectors were already developing mines near the borders of Russian America.

But, oddly enough, this information was one of the arguments in favor of... the sale of Alaska. “The government not only knew about the presence of gold placers in Alaska, but it was precisely this that they were afraid of, because after the army of gold miners armed with shovels, an army of soldiers armed with guns could come,” he wrote on this occasion Soviet historian Semyon Okun.

How Alaska was sold

The final meeting on the sale of Alaska took place on December 16, 1866. Emperor Alexander II, Grand Duke Constantine, Foreign Minister Alexander Gorchakov, Finance Minister Mikhail Reitern, Naval Minister Nikolai Krabbe and Russia's permanent representative in Washington Eduard Stekl took part.

Originally Mr. Seward told me about five and five and a half million. I asked for seven. Gradually he reached six and a half, but told me that the entire cabinet was against him and he could not go further. However, since I saw that he was wholeheartedly trying to conclude an agreement, I refused to give in

Eduard Stekl

Permanent Representative of Russia in Washington; from an official report

Alexander II got acquainted with short summary, prepared for a meeting where all known economic and military arguments in favor of selling Alaska were listed. And in the end, everyone present agreed with this.

Eduard Stekl entered into long and complex negotiations with the American side, in which the main issue was the amount of compensation. The Americans started the bargaining with $5 million, but eventually agreed with the $7.2 million requested by Russia.

This amount seemed insignificant given that the annual expenses of the Russian treasury in those years amounted to about 400 million rubles. But at least they spent the money wisely - on the construction of railways.

Economic interests outweighed geopolitical ones, which was not shared by some of Alexander II’s contemporaries or by some modern historians. “It is not superfluous to remember here the principle of Emperor Nicholas I: “Where the Russian flag was once raised, it should no longer be lowered.” But Nicholas’s direct ancestor retreated from this principle,” Leonid Korytny complains in a conversation with TASS.

Purchase of Morzherossiya: reaction in the USA to news of the purchase

In the United States, news of the deal was initially received with disbelief and amazement. At first, the American press allowed itself to sneer at the purchase of Alaska, calling it “Morger Russia,” “(President) Johnson’s polar bear zoo,” and “an ice chest.” However, soon the potential opportunities associated with the accession of a huge northern territory, became obvious to Americans.

In the US Senate, 37 votes were cast in favor of ratifying the agreement and only two were against.

Maybe the Americans listened to Karl Marx? He reacted to the deal like this: “From the economic side, this acquisition is not worth a cent yet, but thanks to this, the Yankees will cut off England from the sea on one side and speed up the annexation of all of British North America to the United States. That’s where the dog is buried!”

"Magnificent Duck": reaction in Russia to the news of the sale

In Russia, the first reports about the sale of Alaska were also not believed. Petersburg newspaper " People's voice“called the news a “magnificent American duck,” doubting that the United States agreed to pay $7 million for “several wooden houses” in Sitka and “half-obsolete sea sailing ships and steamships.”

But other publications were amazed at the surprisingly low price for such a huge territory. And besides, arguments of a patriotic nature were heard loudly. The newspaper "Voice" of the famous publisher Andrei Kraevsky wrote that "rumors" about the sale of Alaska "deeply upset all truly Russian people", because the Russian-American company "conquered the territory and established colonies on it with a huge donation of labor and capital and even the blood of Russian people , with which they sealed Russia’s right to own this region.”

However, the official media, in particular the St. Petersburg Vedomosti, reassured the reader a few days later by saying that “as far as we know, society is not hostile to the cession of Russian possessions in North America to the United States. Many recognize it as a completely rational measure and base it on This concession, perhaps, not without a reason, the hope for a strong and lasting alliance with the Americans."

Was it possible not to sell Alaska?

Modern scholars agree that although the arguments in favor of the sale were serious, at least in 1867, there was really no need to sell Alaska.

"At that moment, the United States and I had the most warm relations, an agreement was concluded with England guaranteeing peace. There was nowhere to rush, but we still left the northern part of America, providing the United States with a huge strategic bridgehead,” notes Leonid Korytny.

Withdrawal from the North American continent meant a new direction for Russia's imperial ambitions rather than capitulation. Strengthening its position in Eurasia was more consistent with Russia’s long-term strategy than continuing the experiment with overseas colonization

Ilya Vinkovetsky

“It would be wrong to perceive such a step (the sale of colonies. - Note TASS) as inevitable and predetermined, - Ilya Vinkovetsky supports this idea in absentia. “The profit received by the empire thanks to the fur trade began to decline, but the colony was able to provide the metropolis with other resources.” And the danger of an attack by the British, according to the historian, was not the most obvious.

Nevertheless, Vinkovetsky notes, “leaving the North American continent meant<...>a new direction for Russia's imperial ambitions rather than capitulation. Strengthening positions in Eurasia (in Primorye and Amur region. - Approx. TASS) was more consistent with Russia's long-term strategy than continuing the experiment with overseas colonization."

Leaving the colonies and missionary work of the Russian Orthodox Church

At the time of the sale, 812 Russian colonists and 1.5 thousand Creoles officially lived in Alaska - two generations of children from mixed marriages of colonists and local women had grown up.

According to the agreement on the sale of Alaska, everyone wishing to remain Russian subjects had to leave Alaska within three years. But soon after the sale, RAC ceased to function, Russian ships they no longer went to the shores of America, and there was simply nothing to travel to their homeland.

The Russian authorities left the colony without much regret. But the Russians did not leave these territories Orthodox Church. After all, at the time of the sale of Alaska, more than 12 thousand natives who converted to Orthodoxy lived there.

The Russian Orthodox Church continued to send missionaries and finance their activities in Alaska until 1917. And she achieved such success in her activities that even today Orthodoxy remains the dominant religion among some groups of Indians and Eskimos of Alaska.

Orthodoxy “has strengthened its position so much that indigenous peoples consider it their aboriginal faith, contrasting it with the religious beliefs of “white” Americans,” notes Ilya Vinkovetsky. “For representatives of the indigenous population to be Orthodox Christian often means being an orthodox Indian, that is, following the traditions of your people and resisting assimilation into the general American culture."

Victor Dyatlikovich, Ekaterina Slabkovskaya

The background

The area of territory sold was 586,412 square miles ( 1,518,800 km²) and was practically uninhabited - according to the RAC itself, at the time of the sale the population of all Russian Alaska and the Aleutian Islands was about 2,500 Russians and up to about 60,000 Indians and Eskimos. At the beginning of the 19th century, Alaska generated income through the fur trade, but by mid-century it began to seem that the costs of maintaining and protecting this remote and geopolitically vulnerable territory would outweigh the potential profits.

The first question about the sale of Alaska to the United States to the Russian government was raised by the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, Count N. N. Muravyov-Amursky in 1853, indicating that this, in his opinion, is inevitable, and at the same time will strengthen Russia’s position in Asia Pacific coast in the face of increasing penetration of the British Empire:

“...now, with the invention and development of railroads, one must be more convinced than before that the North American States will inevitably spread throughout North America, and we cannot help but keep in mind that sooner or later we will have to cede our North American possessions to them. It was impossible, however, with this consideration not to keep in mind something else: that it would be very natural for Russia to not own all of East Asia; then dominate the entire Asian coast of the Eastern Ocean. Due to circumstances, we allowed the British to invade this part of Asia... but things can still get better our close connection with the North American States."

Immediately east of Alaska lay the Canadian possessions of the British Empire (formally the Hudson's Bay Company). Relations between Russia and Britain were determined by geopolitical rivalry, and were sometimes openly hostile. During the Crimean War, when british navy tried to land troops in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the possibility of a direct clash in America became real. Under these conditions, in the spring, the American government, which wanted to prevent the occupation of Alaska by the British Empire, received a proposal for a fictitious (temporary, for a period of three years) sale by the Russian-American Company of all its possessions and property for 7 million 600 thousand dollars. RAC entered into such an agreement with the American-Russian Trade Campaign in San Francisco, controlled by the US government, but it did not come into force, since RAC managed to negotiate with the British Hudson's Bay Company.

Sale negotiations

Formally, the next proposal for sale came from the Russian envoy in Washington, Baron Eduard Stekl, but the initiator of the deal this time was Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich (younger brother of Alexander II), who first voiced this proposal in the spring in a special letter to Foreign Minister A. M. Gorchakov . Gorchakov supported the proposal. The position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was to study the issue, and it was decided to postpone its implementation until the expiration of the RAC's privileges in . And then the question temporarily became irrelevant due to the American Civil War.

The fate of the treaty was in the hands of members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The committee at that time included: Charles Sumner of Massachusetts - chairman, Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, William Fessenden of Maine, James Harlan of Iowa, Oliver Morton of Indiana, James Paterson of New Hampshire, Raverdy Johnson of Maryland. That is, the issue of annexing the territory, in which the Pacific states were primarily interested, had to be decided by representatives of the Northeast.

The decision to allocate funds provided for by the treaty was made by the House of Representatives of the US Congress a year later, by 113 votes to 48. On August 1, 1868, Steckl received a check from the Treasury, but not for gold, but for Treasury bonds. He transferred the amount of 7 million 35 thousand dollars to London, to the Baring brothers bank.

Comparison of the transaction price with similar transactions of that time

The Russian Empire sold the inaccessible and uninhabited territory for 2 cents per acre ($0.0474 per hectare), that is, nominally one and a half times cheaper than it was sold 50 years earlier (at a different cost per cent) by Napoleonic France (in conditions of war and successive confiscation of French colonies by Britain) and much larger ( 2,100,000 km²) and the fully developed territory of historical Louisiana: for the port of New Orleans alone, America initially offered 10 million dollars in the more “weighty” dollar itself early XIX century.
At the same time that Alaska was sold, a single three-story building in the center of New York - the New York District Court, built by the "Tweed Gang", cost the New York State Treasury more than all of Alaska.

Popular myths and misconceptions

Notes

Literature

team of authors chapters 9, 10, 11 // History of Russian America (1732-1867) / Rep. ed. acad. N. N. Bolkhovitinov. - M.: International. relations, 1997. - T. 3. - P. 480. - ISBN 5-7133-0883-9