What name is given to the 1867 U.S. purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire?

The 1867 U.S. purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire is called the Alaska Purchase. The United States paid $7.2 million for the territory, an amount that worked out to about two cents per acre.

Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the agreement with Russia, whose leaders believed Alaska would be difficult to defend in a future conflict with Britain. The treaty was signed on March 30, 1867, and the Senate ratified it on May 15.

The formal transfer took place in Sitka on October 18, 1867. For decades, many Americans mocked the deal as “Seward's Folly” or “Seward's Icebox,” but gold discoveries and Alaska's strategic and natural resources later changed public opinion. Alaska became the 49th U.S. state in 1959.