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In 1867 the Russian Empire sold Alaska to the US of A. Now this was called things such as "Sewards' Folly" or "Seward's icebox" at the time and it was generally thought of as a bad deal, paying a large lump sum to buy what, at the time, was thought of as a lump of ice.

But what if Seward had chosen to not buy Alaska from the Russians? As I've said it was thought of as a bad deal and Seward mainly wanted it due to the thought of 'Manifest Destiny', and the Russians only wanted to sell it as the extensive hunting had resulted in it not being very profitable at the time, and of course they didn't want British Canada to invade it (as at the time Alaska only had 700 settlers.)

Of course this would affect many things, I'll list all the ones I can think of:
  • Possibly less thoughts of an expansionist USA.
  • A mildly richer America (at the time.)
  • The natural gas not being found by the Americans.
  • A possible invasion by British Canada on Alaska.
  • A different owner of Alaska (whether it still be Russia or British, maybe even independent though it'd need massive immigration.)
  • In the long run maybe a richer Russia or Britain/Canada through the gas in Alaska.

Which of these do you think is most plausible? And if you don't think any of these what are your ideas? personally I don't think Britain would want it until Russia discovered the gas, in which there'd be a possible invasion from Britain.
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