Looking at the United States on the world map, it is indeed divided into two very obvious parts, a large United States and a small United States. The two places are not connected, and there is Canada in between. Students who are familiar with world geography know that these two places are the mainland and enclave of the United States, and the enclave is Alaska.
Alaska is located in the northwestern part of North America. It is the largest state in the United States with an area of 1.71 million square kilometers. From this data, the area of this state in the United States exceeds the largest in the world The area of most countries, you must know that Germany's land area is only 350,000 square kilometers, an Alaska area is nearly five times that of Germany, this is a very vast place.
Alaska borders the Arctic Ocean in the north, the Pacific Ocean in the south, and is separated from Russia by the Bering Sea to the west. It borders Canada to the east and has a long border with Canada. Nearly half of the area of Alaska is in the Arctic Circle. It can be said to be a place full of ice and snow all year round. The population is also very sparse, only about 720,000 (statistics in 2011). It is said to be a super large and sparsely populated area. The place is not an exaggeration. After all, many places in this area are difficult for humans to live in, because it is really too cold.
Actually speaking of Alaska being part of the United States, it goes back to the territorial expansion of the United States in modern history. In fact, after the end of the US-Mexico War in 1848, the United States successively invaded and occupied 2.3 million square kilometers of land from Mexico, and the expansion of US territory basically ceased.
However, history has given the United States another opportunity to get this area of Alaska, which is as much as 1.71 million square kilometers. The Crimean War broke out in 1853. Tsarist Russia and the Anglo-French allied forces fought a war in the Crimea region for more than two years. As a result, Tsarist Russia was defeated, and Tsarist Russia’s finances were also dragged close to bankruptcy. edge.
And this place in Alaska was originally a colony of Tsarist Russia, yes! The Russians used to be very fierce, and they once opened up their territory in North America. But the failure of Tsarist Russia in the Crimean War made this Alaska colony, which is thousands of miles away from the core area, unable to operate. Even Alaska faces the threat of the British directly sending troops to occupy it at any time, because Alaska is next to the British colony of Canada.
So after careful consideration, the Russians intend to sell the colony of Alaska, on the one hand to prevent the British from actually calling, on the other hand, they can also sell a little money to subsidize their finances. It just so happens that the most suitable buyer is the United States, because in the Americas, the United States is absolutely capable of withstanding British pressure. In the end, the United States and Tsarist Russia signed an agreement, and Alaska was officially sold to the United States in 1867 for $7.2 million.
This 1.71 million square kilometers of land fell into the hands of Americans, making the United States the fourth largest country in the world by land area.
