#history
Alaska sold to the United States.
Countries have been trying to expand their borders from time immemorial through wars and conquests.
The Mongols, The Roman Empire in the past had expanded their boundaries across continents.
Alexander of Greece had even reached India.
The British Empire was called, an Empire where the sun never sets.
The occupation of almost all of the European nations by Hitler and his Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 40s was the biggest forcible expansion of territory in recent history.
Pakistan, in the 1970s ceded the Aksai Chin area, a part of the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to China. China built the massive Karakoram highway through the disputed territory thereby keeping India, China, Pakistan, border dispute boiling forever.
The Russian occupation of Ukranian territory is the latest example.
The sale of Alaska by Russia to USA is perhaps the only instance of increasing the size of a country through a financial transaction.
The US paid $7.2 million 1868, (roughly $135 million in 2022) to purchase Alaska, with which it doesn’t even enjoy a contiguous border.
In 1866, the Russian government had offered to sell the territory of Alaska to the United States. Secretary of State William H. Seward, enthusiastic about the prospects of American Expansion, negotiated the deal for the Americans. Edouard de Stoeckl, Russian minister to the United States, negotiated for the Russians.
On March 30, 1867, the two parties agreed that the United States would pay Russia $7.2 million for the territory of Alaska.
The check for $7.2 million was made payable to the Russian Minister to the United States, Edouard de Stoeckl, who negotiated the deal for the Russians.
– Joy Kallivayalil.
