Russia sold Alaska for peanuts. Now it guards America against Moscow

Neither side could have foreseen how dramatically Alaska's economic and military importance would grow. Look at a map of the world and Alaska seems out of place. It belongs to the United States, yet sits apart from the rest of the country, separated by Canada and facing Russia across the narrow Bering Strait.How did this vast territory become a part of America?In 1867, the Russian Empire sold Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million in gold. Covering nearly 600,000 square miles, the territory cost the Americans less than two cents an acre. In hindsight, it looks like one of the greatest real-estate bargains in history.But the deal was more than a cheap purchase of land. For Russia, Alaska was a remote and expensive colony that had become increasingly difficult to defend. For the United States, it was an opportunity to expand its territory and influence in the North Pacific.The Alaskan timeline.Neither side could have foreseen how dramatically Alaska's economic and military importance would grow. More than a century and a half later, the sale remains a striking example of how a decision shaped by the strategic calculations of one era can transform the balance of power in another...