Friday 2 November 2012

Alaskan History: A Summary Of State Colonialism

By Tameka Ware


Alaska is the largest state in the United States of America because it occupying a size of about 1,717,854 km2 of land. It was declared the 49th State of USA in 1959. Alaskan history dates back to 10,000BC where Palaeolithic families moved into western Alaska, a time after which the area turned into an occupation land for the Inuit and some European groups.

The historical events of this State can be categorized into three main steps, the pre-historical era, the colonization era and the independence of this state. The pre historic era occurred between 16000 and 10000BC, which began with Palaeolithic moving across the Bering Land Bridge in western Alaska. Though many immigrants crossed this bridge, most of them chose to settle in the interior region and the coastal region was left for the Tlingit, the Haidas and the Tsimshians.

The colonial era is described by the invasion of coastal areas by the Russian colony. These colonialists invaded the area because the region was experiencing an economic thrive thanks to the sea otters. The sea otters from Alaska bore distinguishable characteristics from otters hunted in the other regions as they had better fur which was denser, glossier and beautiful.

The Russians invaded the coastal strip of Kodiak first lead by one Grigory Shelikhov Ivanovich. This man caused a lot of injustice to the inhabitants who were currently settled in the region. He called for mass killings of these people to provide an adequate settlement area for his compatriots.

Spain then appeared and claimed that it owned the state from 1493 and it was given total rights to colonize it. They came in to reclaim back their land after they heard that the Russians and the British were interested in it. These were orders made by King Charles III of Spain.

The colonial era is also denoted by the invasion of Spain who came to the region to claim back their land after rumors went round that the Russians and the British were interested in it. They defended their actions by saying that they had all the rights to colonize the region, which was awarded to them by the 1493 Inter Caetera. The Inter Caetera is a charter issued by the Pope of the Catholic Church to Catholic Monarchs and the heirs the right to own the land on the west and south.

The British were also in the picture. However, there is no enough statistics to prove their interest on the region. They were just settlers trying to win a piece of the cake posed by the economic thrive at the time where trading was prominent.

The climax of Alaskan history shows it was sold back to the Americans in 1867 by the Russians and this was called the Seward purchase. This signified the independence of the State from the Russian rule. The land was identified as the Seward folly in respect to the man who fought dearly for the sale negotiations.




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