Monday, November 5, 2012

The History Of Alaska State

By Marcy Becker


Geographically, Alaska is the largest of all states in the United States of America. The region has a long, interesting and a fascinating anecdote but one, which at times its inhabitants do ignore. From the major series of events that have accrued over time, the history of Alaska is one to be told to the future American children.

The first inhabitants of the region were the Paleolithic families, who moved from Bering Land Bridge between 16,000 BC and 10,000 BC and made their settlement in the western side of the land. During this time, the land was mainly inhabited by the Inuit tribes and a huge group of Americans from India. The first European and Russian influence on the region began at the dawn of the 18th century.

When Russia fully settled in the region, it saw it worth to start a fur trade in the region, as it was by far a better place to produce and trade fur and within no time, fur business was established. However, the trade would not last long as the land went through degradation, which caused gradual decline and a sudden stop to trade. Consequently, Russia decided that it would let America Dominate the state bringing the Russian American Company to a halt.

The traders had the ability to established good relations with the local people although this was never the case at all times. With some parts in the region, it was a bit difficult to establish a rapport, as there were tribes who were never in good terms with the Russians. There were constant skirmishes observed between Aleut tribes and the Russian Troop.

Other states like Spain and Britain had had interest in this land. For example, Spain went ahead and sent its expedition squad to explore the land and the troop has several stopping points in which they renamed a few things. In addition, the squad made another exploration journey to locate a Northwest Passage, a time in which they had a chance to learn about the Tlingit community and its way of life.

The Russian history today shows that it never sold this large state to the United States of America but rather rented it out to them for a period of a hundred years. Another misconception that had its way as part of history is that the deal between Russia and the United States of America was orchestrated through bribery. The real records however show that the United States of America actually purchased the territory from Russia.

Russia therefore sold the state to the Americans for 7,200,000 US Dollars. They had to do this because of the low returns they got from their entire investment on fur business. Because of financial challenges and weaknesses, the Russians had no any other choice but to let go of the state to the United States of America.

The history of Alaska stipulates that after the Americans took over it, it called it the Department of Alaska. In between 1884 and 1912, USA changed to Constituency of Alaska. In 1912, the state gained its full territorial status.




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