Why Does the US Own Alaska?

Morning Alaskans!

Have you ever looked at a map of North America and thought… 

So it’s the 1700s:

Some Russian dudes are floating in a boat when they stumble upon some new land right next to Russia.

It has mountains.

Rivers.

And a whole lot of otters…

And it isn’t long before they discover how otters made pretty awesome coats…

Russia thinks they hit the jackpot!!

So they do the very European thing of turning as many otters into fancy fluffy coats as they can. 

And they make a killing!

But now they have a problem…

They ran out of otters.

So Russia was like:

So they put it up for sale.

But not to Britain… Cause they didn't like Britain.

See, Russia just lost the Crimean War to Britain and France, and is kinda in a lot of debt. 

So, they really aren’t on very good terms with Britain.

Instead, the Russians decide to try to sell Alaska to the 2nd biggest power behind Britain… 

The United States.

But America was like:

So after some negotiation, they snatched it up for the low, low price of 7.2 million dollars!

Now this is INSANELY cheap lemme tell ya.

It's like $150 million in today's money, or about 50 cents per acre.

That's like you selling your whole garage to your neighbor for like 3 bucks…

Anyway, shortly after the sale, the US discover the equivalent of TRILLIONS of dollars in oil, gas, and gold. 

Making this perhaps one of the worst deals in history…

Stay Cute,
Henry & Dylan 🌈

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