In 1867, US Secretary of State William Seward purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million, which was criticized as “Seward’s Folly”. However, the discovery of gold in 1890 changed opinions. Alaska became a state in 1959 and is now a popular tourist destination with oil reserves.
The term “Seward’s Folly” refers to US Secretary of State William Seward’s decision to purchase the Alaska Territory from Russia in 1867. At the time, Seward’s decision to purchase the land was considered dire by many critics in the United States .
In 1867, Tsar Alexander II of Russia decided to sell the country’s territory in Alaska, because Russia was having economic problems and would not be able to defend the territory sufficiently against invaders. The tsar thought it would be better to sell the territory than to wait for it to be annexed by another country. He offered to sell the land to the United States and sent a Russian diplomat to negotiate with William Seward.
Those negotiations resulted in the purchase of 6,000,000 square miles (15,539,928.66 square km) for $7,200,000 US Dollars (USD) – just a few cents per acre. While public opinion of the purchase was generally positive, it was the words of several critics that gave “Seward’s Folly” its name, most notably Horace Greely of the New York Tribune, who said that Alaska “contained nothing of value if not fur-bearing animals, and these had been hunted until nearly extinct. Except for the Aleutian Islands and a narrow strip of land extending along the southern coast, the country would not be worth taking as a gift.”
In 1890, however, large quantities of gold were discovered in the Alaska Territory, causing critics to change their minds and praise Seward for his foresight. Unfortunately, he never got to see his decision recognized for the great success it was, as he died in 1872, before the gold reserves had been found.
Today, “Seward’s Day” is celebrated in Alaska on the last Monday in March of each year, in honor of Seward’s purchase of Alaska territory from Russia. Although it was established as an organized territory in 1912, it finally didn’t become a state until 1959. Alaska is now by far the largest of the US states.
Alaska has transformed into a tourist destination for those who love the outdoors. Oil has also been found in the state, though there remains an ongoing controversy over whether it’s okay to drill for it in a wildlife refuge, where much of the oil is found. As of 2005, Alaska had a population of approximately 663,000, making it the least densely populated state in the nation.
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