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Alaska Purchased From Russia – Dale’s Daily Data
October 18, 2011 It was purchased from Russia for $7.2 million or less than two cents an acre. It was originally an American territory and eventually became a state. It’s more than twice the size of Texas and it’s about one fifth the size of the lower 48 states combined. It was on this date in 1867 that the United States took possession of Alaska. Russia wanted to sell it. It was hard to defend, there wasn’t much there and they didn’t want to lose it in war. So they sold it to the United States.