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An Empire Sells What It Never Owned: The Alaska Purchase
The U.S. paid $7.2M to buy Alaska from Russia - but Tlingit elders say Russia only had one hill; who actually owned the land?
An Empire Sells What It Never Owned: The Alaska Purchase
In this episode, we trace the transaction recorded in a 1867 check and follow the 135-year imperial presence that led to it. We ask how a sale priced at two cents an acre could rest on decades of extraction, coerced labor, epidemic collapse, and contested claims of ownership.
Person: Vitus Bering
Date: 1867
Location: Sitka, Alaska
Event: Alaska Purchase
Topic: Russian colonial extraction and indigenous…
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