Ellis MacVey
Donor
Part 1 - The Alaskan Gold Rush of 1867
For most of the 19th century, the Russian Empire had been in decline. An old-fashioned, conservative absolutist monarchy with a vast colonial empire spanning both Europe and Asia, it suffered from political instability, a harsh, repressive government, and a backward and uneducated peasantry.
In addition, Alaska, the Russian Empire's only remaining overseas colony, seemed more of a burden than a benefit, as it was difficult to navigate, extremely underpopulated, and constantly under threat of British invasion through Canada (at least, the Russian Imperial government was constantly worrying about British invasion, the Brits actually had no interest in Alaska for the most part). It had many natural resources, but the Russians were largely unaware of the vast reserves of gold, oil, coal, and other resources that lay at their fingertips in Alaska. At least, they were until 1866...
On July 7th, 1866, Russian colonist Ivan Aleksandrovich Prerovsky* stumbled upon gold in an unnamed creek in the Alaskan wilderness. Little is known of Ivan, but that he lived on an isolated plot of land with a wife and no children. Although he lived far from the capitol of Russian America, Novo Archangelsk, he felt obligated to personally share the news of his discovery with the colonial governor of Russian America, Dmitry Petrovich Maksutov.
News of this discovery quickly spread through Russian America and into Russia, despite a distinct lack of infrastructure and small population. The news reached Saint Petersburg in early 1867, just as the Tsar was beginning to consider selling the territory and making it some other nation's problem. It is unknown whether the empire would have actually sold Alaska, but it has been an interesting, if under-explored, point of speculation by Russians and Americans alike.
The resulting boom caused migration on a previously unseen scale, as Russians of every class and occupation flocked to Alaska to strike it rich in the icy wasteland. Though the trip was hard, and many died, the colonist population of Alaska multiplied dramatically, from a few hundred to more than a hundred thousand, mostly composed of newly-emancipated serfs.
The migration, however, was not limited to Russians. Americans and Canadians, though they mostly stayed on the Canadian side of the border, did travel northwest into Russian territory, much to the initial dismay of the Alaskan colonial government.
This mass migration, of course, caused a great deal of conflict with the natives. In 1871, this escalated into a brief conflict which would become known as the Russo-Indian war. During this time, tensions escalated between Russia and America due to (not entirely unjustified) fears of American merchants selling guns to natives. The war resulted in a much greater Russian military presence in Alaska (which in turn resulted in further Russian migration to Alaska) and a crackdown on the native populations.
However, though revenue continued to flow to the empire from the newly discovered resources (gold in particular) in Alaska, the colonization craze had died down by 1872, and the world slowly lost interest in Alaska. Well, for the most part...
The next few decades of Alaskan history are uneventful, and mostly constitute of the growth of the Russian population, decline of the native population, trickle of revenue to Russia, and gradual growth of Canadian and American minorities within Alaskan borders, although it is worth noting that the Canadian minority population, initially larger than their American counterparts, had by far the roughest of luck, grew much slower than the Americans, and actually found themselves in stasis or even decline at several points in the intervening decades.
However, with the turn of the century, Alaska would become rather more of interest to the rest of the world once again...
Edit: * after a character's name indicates that, to the best of my knowledge, this character is fictional. You will see a few of these, mostly attached to minor characters.
For most of the 19th century, the Russian Empire had been in decline. An old-fashioned, conservative absolutist monarchy with a vast colonial empire spanning both Europe and Asia, it suffered from political instability, a harsh, repressive government, and a backward and uneducated peasantry.
In addition, Alaska, the Russian Empire's only remaining overseas colony, seemed more of a burden than a benefit, as it was difficult to navigate, extremely underpopulated, and constantly under threat of British invasion through Canada (at least, the Russian Imperial government was constantly worrying about British invasion, the Brits actually had no interest in Alaska for the most part). It had many natural resources, but the Russians were largely unaware of the vast reserves of gold, oil, coal, and other resources that lay at their fingertips in Alaska. At least, they were until 1866...
On July 7th, 1866, Russian colonist Ivan Aleksandrovich Prerovsky* stumbled upon gold in an unnamed creek in the Alaskan wilderness. Little is known of Ivan, but that he lived on an isolated plot of land with a wife and no children. Although he lived far from the capitol of Russian America, Novo Archangelsk, he felt obligated to personally share the news of his discovery with the colonial governor of Russian America, Dmitry Petrovich Maksutov.
News of this discovery quickly spread through Russian America and into Russia, despite a distinct lack of infrastructure and small population. The news reached Saint Petersburg in early 1867, just as the Tsar was beginning to consider selling the territory and making it some other nation's problem. It is unknown whether the empire would have actually sold Alaska, but it has been an interesting, if under-explored, point of speculation by Russians and Americans alike.
The resulting boom caused migration on a previously unseen scale, as Russians of every class and occupation flocked to Alaska to strike it rich in the icy wasteland. Though the trip was hard, and many died, the colonist population of Alaska multiplied dramatically, from a few hundred to more than a hundred thousand, mostly composed of newly-emancipated serfs.
The migration, however, was not limited to Russians. Americans and Canadians, though they mostly stayed on the Canadian side of the border, did travel northwest into Russian territory, much to the initial dismay of the Alaskan colonial government.
This mass migration, of course, caused a great deal of conflict with the natives. In 1871, this escalated into a brief conflict which would become known as the Russo-Indian war. During this time, tensions escalated between Russia and America due to (not entirely unjustified) fears of American merchants selling guns to natives. The war resulted in a much greater Russian military presence in Alaska (which in turn resulted in further Russian migration to Alaska) and a crackdown on the native populations.
However, though revenue continued to flow to the empire from the newly discovered resources (gold in particular) in Alaska, the colonization craze had died down by 1872, and the world slowly lost interest in Alaska. Well, for the most part...
The next few decades of Alaskan history are uneventful, and mostly constitute of the growth of the Russian population, decline of the native population, trickle of revenue to Russia, and gradual growth of Canadian and American minorities within Alaskan borders, although it is worth noting that the Canadian minority population, initially larger than their American counterparts, had by far the roughest of luck, grew much slower than the Americans, and actually found themselves in stasis or even decline at several points in the intervening decades.
However, with the turn of the century, Alaska would become rather more of interest to the rest of the world once again...
Edit: * after a character's name indicates that, to the best of my knowledge, this character is fictional. You will see a few of these, mostly attached to minor characters.
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