Alaskan History: A Summary Of State Colonialism

By Tameka Ware


Alaska is the largest state in the United States of America because it occupying a size of about 1,717,854 km2 of land. It was declared the 49th State of USA in 1959. Alaskan history dates back to 10,000BC where Palaeolithic families moved into western Alaska, a time after which the area turned into an occupation land for the Inuit and some European groups.

Though it is strongly believed immigrants from the coast of Asia were the first to cross the Bering Land Bridge, many choose to settle in what is currently known as Canada. Like every other state in what is now known as the USA, the great land was at first colonized by the Russians. Around 1700s, there was a peaceful co-existence between the locals and these colonialists but violence broke out which led to slavering of the locals in their own land but some were however wise enough to flee the area to avoid the skirmishes and torture, which constantly took place.

In 1784, Gregory Ivanovich arrived in Kodiak Island. He called for the manslaughter of the inhabitants so that he could establish a Russian settlement area, steal their source of livelihood, and exploit the resources in area. He had achieved this goal by the end of 1790 and he had forcefully seen to the grabbing of the economic tool of the, which was the sea otter.

Sea otters are sea mammals that are hunted by humans because of their thick furs, which can be used for the production of jackets or other warm clothing. However, the Russians hunted these animals to sell to the Chinese with an aim make extra coin for their country. It did not take long before there was a complete depletion of these resources and were forced to move into other areas to take over from other inhabitants.

By 1788, he had already achieved the mission of killing those that opposed him and drove out the rest. This allowed him to easily capture the coastal strip and hunt down sea otters for their fur. These mammals are probably the reason as to why the Russians were so interested in the area because there is no other reason given as to why they choose to colonize the state.

The colonial era is also denoted by the invasion of Spain who came to the region to claim back their land after rumors went round that the Russians and the British were interested in it. They defended their actions by saying that they had all the rights to colonize the region, which was awarded to them by the 1493 Inter Caetera. The Inter Caetera is a charter issued by the Pope of the Catholic Church to Catholic Monarchs and the heirs the right to own the land on the west and south.

The Russians were not able to colonize the State fully because of the role-played by some of the interested colonialists such as the Spaniards and the British. The Spaniards claimed a part of the region, which they voluntarily handed back to the Americans in 1891 and retreated to their country. The battle with the Russians was however a tough one.

Alaskan history shows that scuffles continued between the Russians and the USA. Nevertheless, there was a negotiation led by William Seward in 1867 Russia agreed to sell State to USA. In 1959, the state was admitted to the union and it became the 49th State in the USA.




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