AMERICA TOOK OVER ALASKA

BIJELJINA, OCTOBER 17 /SRNA/ - The United States formally assumed sovereignty over Alaska on October 18, 1867, having purchased the territory from Russia for just $7.2 million.

During the first 50 years of American rule, the United States earned at least 100 times that amount from the territory.

Russia established a presence in North America during the first half of the 18th century, but few Russians settled in Alaska.

After the Crimean War, Russian Emperor Alexander II began exploring the possibility of selling Alaska, which would have been difficult to defend against conquest by Russia's main rival, Great Britain, in any future war.

Following the end of the American Civil War, US Secretary of State William Seward began negotiations with Russian Minister Eduard de Stoeckl for the purchase of Alaska.

Seward and de Stoeckl reached an agreement on March 30, 1867, and the US Senate ratified the treaty by a substantial majority.

The purchase added 1,518,800 square kilometres of new territory to the United States.

Alaska remained a territory until 1959.

Thanks to the lobbying efforts of lawyer Mike Stepovich, the son of miner Marko Stijepović, a Serb from Risan who arrived in the Klondike in 1897 in search of gold, Alaska was officially admitted to the Union as a state on January 3, 1959.