L'erreur de la Russie face aux USA : l'Alaska russe

Exploration of territorial acquisitions between States, notably how Russia sold Alaska to the USA in 1867, contrary to what Cold War tensions might suggest.

• Purchase of Louisiana from the French • Acquisition of Florida from the Spanish • Occupation of Arizona and New Mexico • Purchase of the Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917

Although Russians and Americans have been perceived as enemies since the Cold War, they historically negotiated and exchanged territories.

A journey to the North Pacific to discover why Russia sold Alaska to the United States.

Peter the Great orders Danish navigator Vitus Bering to reconnoiter the Pacific coast and determine whether Asia and America are connected or separated by a strait.

• Over three years to cross Siberia: eight thousand kilometers through forests, swamps and snow-covered volcanoes • The crossing was finally completed in 1728 • Discovery of the Bering Strait proving that Asia and America are two separate continents

Tsarina Anne orders Bering to explore Japan, the Kuril Islands, the American coast and to conquer America by founding cities, ports and churches, which he considers impossible but undertakes anyway.

After eight years of travel, Bering embarks in 1741, briefly explores Alaska but must winter on Bering Island where he dies in December 1741; only a few survivors return to Russia.

• Bering's survivors return with sea otter pelts that sell for a fortune • In 1743, a single expedition brings back 1,200 sea otter pelts and 4,000 Arctic fox pelts • Taxes on fur exports represent approximately one-third of Russian state revenue

Trappers are forced to venture ever farther east in search of furs, gradually discovering the Aleutian Islands and the American coast in the 1750s.

Trappers, often escaped criminals and ruthless adventurers, pillage and massacre local populations; the Aleutian peoples respond with weapons, resulting in several thousand deaths through the 1760s.

Russian merchants organize into trading companies exporting furs to the Chinese market in exchange for silk cloth, porcelain and tea resold in the West; Tsarina Elizabeth imposes a Cossack officer on each ship.

• The Spanish found San Francisco in 1776 to challenge the Russian monopoly • In 1779, three British ships discover at Petropavlovsk that sea otter pelts are worth two years of a sailor's wages • The rumor triggers a gold rush in all English ports

Grigori Ivanovitch Chelikhov, a visionary and unscrupulous merchant from Irkutsk, understands that permanent colonies on the other side of the ocean are necessary to simplify logistics and maximize profits.

His first expedition in 1783 carries not only hunters but also settlers, children and pregnant women to Kodiak Island; he aims to make the indigenous Koniags allies and employees rather than enemies.

Chelikhov founds villages, sows fields, encourages intermarriage and establishes a school; he plans to colonize the entire North Pacific and even launch ships southward to compete with Europeans and Americans.

In 1788, Chelikhov travels to Saint Petersburg to convince Empress Catherine II but she refuses even to meet him; obsessed with the West and an adherent of Adam Smith's liberalism, she fears conflict with England or Spain.

Until the end of the 18th century, Russian expansion in America remains a 100% private enterprise; after Chelikhov's death, his wife and associates continue his work.

In 1799, Tsar Paul I signs a decree founding the Russian-American Company with a monopoly on all commercial activities above the 55th degree north latitude; director Alexander Baranov founds Novo-Arkhangelsk on Tlingit territory.

The Company becomes a pure product of 19th-century capitalism, exploiting territories and populations solely to pay dividends to shareholders; foreign ships hunt sea otters without paying and even resell weapons to indigenous peoples.

The indigenous Tlingit attack Novo-Arkhangelsk in 1803 with weapons sold by foreign ships, sack the village and plant the heads of over 80 men on stakes facing the sea; Baranov watches helplessly from Kodiak as the colony collapses.

• Supplies must travel such a long distance that they often arrive spoiled • Mail exchanges take almost two years • Weapons and clothing rarely arrive and at exorbitant prices • Settlers are regularly plagued by scurvy or famine

Nikolai Rezanov explores the south and discovers that the rich California lands could supply the colonies; Baranov founds Fort Ross 150 kilometers from San Francisco in 1812 as a fortified grain warehouse.

San Francisco feels threatened and restricts trade with the Russians; underpaid and mistreated Native Americans flee; the Russians must capture and force them to work; Fort Ross proves unprofitable and is sold in 1841 to John Sutter.

• In 1849, Captain Nevelskoy discovers the mouth of the Amur River, believed to be non-navigable • This new river route changes everything by eliminating the crossing of Siberia • From 1860 to 1880, 14,000 Russian settlers descend the river • In 1859, the city of Vladivostok is founded to dominate the Orient

In 1853, France, the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire declare war on Russia; the Russians hastily reinforce their Pacific ports but a Franco-British fleet destroys Petropavlovsk in Kamchatka.

Russian America is cut off from the world in the 1850s and must turn to American merchants for supplies, marking the effective Americanization of Russian America.

Russian America becomes too distant, too isolated and unprofitable compared to Manchuria's potential; it is decided that selling it would yield more money to invest and strengthen Asian Siberia.

• The colonies no longer profit Russia, which is cut off from them • Only a thousand Russians live there • Gold has been discovered, attracting American settlers who exhaust the land's wealth • Russia would be unable to defend itself in case of conflict; better to sell before being robbed

On December 16, 1866, the Tsar offers Alaska to the United States rather than to Canada, dominated by the British, to humiliate the English; in March 1867, negotiators agree on 7 million 200,000 dollars, equivalent to 126 million today.

• American side: the press criticizes this worthless purchase and the treaty nearly fails in Congress • Russian side: shock at the paltry price for such vast land • Intense lobbying and bribes allow Congress to ratify the agreement on April 9, 1867

Novo-Arkhangelsk, rebuilt in 1804, protected sea otters, diversified its economy with wood, coal, fish, whale and ice; despite these successes, disgruntled Russian settlers return massively to Asia, overwhelmed by Americans.

Russian America becomes Alaska, meaning the great land in the language of the local Aleutian peoples.

• For the Russians: a disastrous deal given the natural resources • For the Americans: the deal of the century transforming an unprofitable colony into a valuable asset • Despite promises of religious freedom and protection of private property, Russian settlers leave en masse

Thanks to all its natural resources, Alaska quickly became profitable for the United States; in just 80 years, it repaid 450 times its purchase price.

How would the world wars and Cold War have unfolded if Alaska had remained Russian? This alternate history raises the question of the geopolitical impact of a simple 19th-century commercial decision.