F.+Alaska,+Klondike+Gold+Rush,+Yukon+River,+1867

**
 * The Alaska Purchase (1867)
 * The Alaska Purchase reinforced the feeling that any form of imperialism has great benefits to the people, further indenting the strategy of imperialising into American Culture.**
 * 600,000 square miles for $7.2 million
 * Purchase narrowly passed (27 for, 12 against)
 * Purchased from Russia who felt no need to inhabit land as desolate as Alaska
 * Bribed American administration into making the purchase, who stated that their were valuables to be found their to justify their position
 * Considered to be a massive mistake on Secretary of State William Seward's part
 * Newspapers at the time described it as "A national iceberg, consisting of nothing but walrus covered icebergs" [[image:http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASsteward.jpg width="122" height="187" align="left"]]
 * "Seward's Folley"

**​Klondike Gold Rush
 * However...**

media type="youtube" key="-CJ6XnMjnSM" height="385" width="480"** **Significance**
 * Began July 1879 in Yukon territory (Yukon River)
 * Two ships brought miners back who had bags filled with gold
 * Sparked gold rush/gold fever
 * Within half a yeay, 100,000 miners, or "stampeders" as they were called, went off in hopes of striking it rich
 * However, only 30,000 returned from their trip
 * Most ethical form of imperialism
 * No conflict, no bloodshed, just a transaction which permitted America to take control of Alaska
 * Rich with natural resources like: Oil, Copper, Diamonds, Gold, Lumber
 * Revived the feeling that taking more land means that America and its people will prosper
 * Shown Americans that any land, no matter how barren and unforgiving, could potentially have a hidden gem
 * Seward died on October 10th, 1872
 * He never got to see that he proved the public opinion wrong and that there //was// valuables and raw materials in Alaska