WI:Alaska becomes a Russophone Mexico?

By this, I mean linguistically and religiously Russian, with a culture that is a mix of Russian and indigenous influences, and a majority of the population is of mixed Russian and indigenous descent.

IRL, Alaska was 93% Indigenous, 5% Creole, and 2% Russian when we bought it.
 
By this, I mean linguistically and religiously Russian, with a culture that is a mix of Russian and indigenous influences, and a majority of the population is of mixed Russian and indigenous descent.

IRL, Alaska was 93% Indigenous, 5% Creole, and 2% Russian when we bought it.
White Russians will flee there during the Civil War, giving it a huge population boost.
 
I think this belongs in the Before 1900 Section.

You’d have to figure a way for Russia to not have to worry about the UK invading and occupying Alaska, which lead Russia to sell it to the US to begin with. I don’t think that’s very easy to do. Maybe Napoleon III is more successful and the UK and Russia become allies at some point in the 1800s in opposition to him?
 
I think this belongs in the Before 1900 Section.

Yup.

... You’d have to figure a way for Russia to not have to worry about the UK invading and occupying Alaska, which lead Russia to sell it to the US to begin with. I don’t think that’s very easy to do. Maybe Napoleon III is more successful and the UK and Russia become allies at some point in the 1800s in opposition to him?

The other half is getting enough 'Russians' there to matter. I expect with enough attention and subsidies two or three port towns could be established by 1915. The discovery of gold would help, but that would attract non Russian riffraff. Maybe the English specking or European originated population in 1914 OTL would be a guidepost?

White Russians will flee there during the Civil War, giving it a huge population boost.

With a few lodgments of 10,000 each or more this is possible. A White Russian enclave in Alaska probably requires it being a US or British client state to keep the Reds out. That promises all sorts of tensions with the USSR and later Russia come the 1920s & far beyond to the present day.
 
I think this belongs in the Before 1900 Section.

You’d have to figure a way for Russia to not have to worry about the UK invading and occupying Alaska, which lead Russia to sell it to the US to begin with. I don’t think that’s very easy to do. Maybe Napoleon III is more successful and the UK and Russia become allies at some point in the 1800s in opposition to him?

I agree. You really need much larger scale settlement by Russia, while the territory is still Russian.
 
If some how Alaska remained part of the Soviet Union after the Revolution, I suspect that we have large number of the US and Canadian Troop near the border during the Cold War. The Alaskan Pipeline would run to the West to send the oil on tankers to the USSR.
Most likely serious ecological damage due to mining and oil drilling in the area.
 
Here's a possibility:
  • 1905: Russia loses Alaska in the Russo-Japanese War
  • 1906: Japan and Britain sign an agreement clarifying Japan-Canada border, as well as trade rules etc.
  • 1930: Japan discovers vast reserves of petroleum beneath Alaska
  • 1934: Japan develops this region, as it is critical to have oil for hypothetical future war efforts
  • 1937: Japan invades China. They have all the oil they need and never consider attacking Pearl Harbor
 
If some how Alaska remained part of the Soviet Union after the Revolution, I suspect that we have large number of the US and Canadian Troop near the border during the Cold War. The Alaskan Pipeline would run to the West to send the oil on tankers to the USSR.
Most likely serious ecological damage due to mining and oil drilling in the area.

Either that or the Whites do a Taiwan.
 
Here's a possibility:
  • 1905: Russia loses Alaska in the Russo-Japanese War
  • 1906: Japan and Britain sign an agreement clarifying Japan-Canada border, as well as trade rules etc.
  • 1930: Japan discovers vast reserves of petroleum beneath Alaska
  • 1934: Japan develops this region, as it is critical to have oil for hypothetical future war efforts
  • 1937: Japan invades China. They have all the oil they need and never consider attacking Pearl Harbor
OP specifically asks for a culturally russian Alaska. This would create a japanese Alaska, which while an interesting scenario, doesn't fit with the thread.

I think the Whites fleeing to Alaska is the best bet, but I'm not sure how many you could actually get there, considering how far Alaska is from just about every significantly populated part of Russia (the closest would probably be Vladivostok) and if I recall right, weren't most of the Whites on the opposite side of Russia from Alaska?
 
OP specifically asks for a culturally russian Alaska. This would create a japanese Alaska, which while an interesting scenario, doesn't fit with the thread.

I think the Whites fleeing to Alaska is the best bet, but I'm not sure how many you could actually get there, considering how far Alaska is from just about every significantly populated part of Russia (the closest would probably be Vladivostok) and if I recall right, weren't most of the Whites on the opposite side of Russia from Alaska?

He didn't say it had to survive into the present day... or that it couldn't be occupied at some points in it's history. The Russo-Japanese war is just my explanation for how it is separated from Russia proper.
Also I never said Japan holds on to it till present day, (as that was not the case with Sakhalin) or that the Russian whalers, miners, hunters etc. living there were removed by the Japanese.
OP compared his hypothetical Alaska to Mexico, which was also occupied by a foreign country for a while (France), but is still culturally similar to Spain.

I just meant that post to be a jumping off point for other ideas, not an end all be all timeline where nothing happens after '37.

As far as the civil war goes, Allied forces were holding the Trans-Siberian Railway for quite a while. A fraction of displaced whites could certainly take the train to Vladivostok and from there get a boat to Sitka (or Novo-Arkhangelsk, as it'd likely be called)
Here's a map of the war:
 
My question is that without USA, can Alaska be better in general or not? Exploitation of oil would happen much later without direct involvement from the USA. A counter example is Russia, Russia has lost 2.3 million people in nearly a decade according to the second Post-Soviet census.
https://sputniknews.com/infographics/20111222170405728/
Without USA, would Alaska lose such much population or be much harder to attract immigrants for its economy? Also, what scale would post-secondary education be? For example, Quebec the province of Canada has its own university system. Without USA, how would the University of Alaska system look like? Post-secondary education is more tied than in the past to tertiary and quaternary sector of industry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_sector_composition
So Alaska would definitely drop in GDP from association with #1 USA to #33 Norway...
 
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By this, I mean linguistically and religiously Russian, with a culture that is a mix of Russian and indigenous influences, and a majority of the population is of mixed Russian and indigenous descent.
IRL, Alaska was 93% Indigenous, 5% Creole, and 2% Russian when we bought it.
I like Russia refusing to sell, followed by the whites doing a Taiwan.

The Russians could also initiate a policy where drifting gold seekers from USA and Canada had to convert (either genuinely or nominally) to the Russian Orthodox church or be refused entry. This requirement would be followed mandatory Russian language proficiency for all drifters. Those unable to speak Russian would be expelled.
 
A 'White' Russian Alaska is probable with US assistance. But I'd see the new population & government as pretty dysfunctional for many decades.
 
By this, I mean linguistically and religiously Russian, with a culture that is a mix of Russian and indigenous influences, and a majority of the population is of mixed Russian and indigenous descent.

IRL, Alaska was 93% Indigenous, 5% Creole, and 2% Russian when we bought it.
That requires a pre-1900 POD (and you would still have the Gold Rushers coming regardless, giving English a boost); as research by linguists into the Alaskan dialects like those in Ninilchik has shown, it could be possible. Even if post-Purchase many "Russians" are actually Ukrainians, Belarusians, Jews, Poles, and other minorities rather than actual Russians themselves - unless they arrive from Vladivostok - due to how US immigration authorities operated in those days. Post-1900 it's more difficult even if you bring elements of the White movement along (leading to confusion with Belarusians, the original White Rus'ians). The religious bit, as various Russian Orthodox communities among indigenous peoples in Alaska can demonstrate, is easier and once ROCOR is established more doable with a post-1900 POD.
 
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