The Alaska Purchase was the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire by the United States for a sum of $7.2 million in 1867.
The purchase of Alaska marked the end of Russian efforts to expand trade and settlements to the Pacific coast of North America, and became an important step in the United States’ rise as a great power in the Asia-Pacific region.
-Office of the Historian (.gov) and Wikipedia
Happy Friday. It is wet here in Seattle with drizzly rain that started last night and continued on and off all day.
With Trump and Putin’s meeting in Anchorage today, I was reminded that Alaska was bought from the Russian Empire (in 1867).
Here is a map from 1815 that showed the empires of the world at that time .. and why it was said ‘the sun never sets on the British Empire’.
The saying “The sun never sets on the British Empire” refers to the vast geographical reach and global dominance of the British Empire at its peak. It means that at any given moment, the sun would be shining on at least one part of the British Empire’s territories around the world. This was due to the empire’s extensive colonies and possessions across multiple continents and time zones. – Google AI Overview