The Deal Everyone Laughed At… Until It Made America Rich

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]America bought Alaska for about 2 cents per acre. In 1867, the United States paid Russia $7.2 million in gold. That bought 586,000 square miles of land, nearly twice the size of Texas. But most people laughed.

[00:00:21]They called it Seward's Folly.

[00:00:24]Seward's Ice Box.

[00:00:27]Even Wall Russia. To them, Alaska was nothing but ice, snow, and useless frozen land. But beneath that ice were riches, gold, oil, timber, minerals, and some of the world's richest fishing waters. When gold was discovered, the world finally understood what Seward had seen. What they mocked as a foolish mistake became one of the smartest land deals in American history. Like and subscribe for Alaska.