WITH SHAUN WALLACE

October 18, 1867

SIX HUNDRED thousand miles of frozen land was transferred from Russia to the USA, for the price of $7.2million dollars (around £100million in today’s terms). Given their 20th-century history as rival superpowers, it may seem odd today that Russia would sell Alaska to America. But at the time it made sense.

Russia lacked the resources to sustain a military presence in the area, which was seeing increasing interest from American explorers. It had fewer than 400 settlers in the vast tract of land. Defeat in the Crimean War also saw domestic interest in the windswept outpost dwindle, which, with its huge supply lines, cost a fortune to maintain.

By 1859, Tsar Alexander II sought a buyer. Britain showed little interest, and the US was about to plunge into civil war. But six years later the subject was revisited, and the Russian