Let's Buy Alaska

On October 18th, 1867, the United States formally took possession of Alaska, after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre. This certainly looks like an incredibly good deal today but at the time the American public believed the land to be barren and worthless and dubbed the purchase “Seward’s Folly” and “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden”, among other derogatory names. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discuss how the the discovery of gold served to change Americans' attitude to their purchase; explain why Alaska natives maintain that their land was never Russia's to sell; and reveal why the handover ceremony was a thoroughly unedifying spectacle… Further Reading: • ‘U.S. takes possession of Alaska’ (History.com, 2009): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-takes-possession-of-alaska • ‘There Are Two Versions of the Story of How the U.S. Purchased Alaska From Russia’ (Smithsonian, 2017): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-russia-gave-alaska-americas-gateway-arctic-180962714/ • ‘Why did Russia sell Alaska to America?’ (History Matters, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoR_k4Go9W8 Love the show? Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY! Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast. Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks! We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/Retrospectors The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill. Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King. Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices