Before Alaska was bought by the United States for 7.2 million $ back in 1867, the Russian Empire under Tsar Alexander II. Alaska Natives, which are around 20% of the Alaskan population, would have been close to 100%, according to expert Russian historian and president Vladimir Putin.
A new historical piece has been published by president Putin, in collaboration with Alexander Dugin – Alaska before its downfall: How Russia saved Alaska natives and made the region flourish (available on Kremlin.ru).
Russian expansion to Alaska was not purely economic. The paper claims that Russian soldiers were met by the Alaska natives with gifs. In return, Russia had built them infrastructure and provided them with weapons to defend from a potential invasion coming from Canada (dominion of the British Empire at the time) or the United States.
Russia’s record of colonialism is irrelevant here as most countries it colonized never resisted for more than a decade or two. More importantly, colonization of places like Tatarstan and the peoples of the far east are absent from Russian history books, hence, they probably never happened. As for Alaska, this great record only continued. Alaskan-Russian trade flourished and the natives were extremely satisfied. That was until Tsar Alexander II’s weakness took over and he sold Alaska to the United States. Since then, everything for the Alaskans went downhill, according to Putin’s and Dugion’s writing.
Many Alaskans, both native and non-native are eager to immigrate to Russia to search for a better life. However the cold conditions and the long distances may play a part in the fact none of them ever do.
New History Essay: Russian Empire Tried To Stop Oppression Of Alaska Natives Before US Takeover
