Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2017 number

The article’s objective is to provide an analysis of changing views of American and Canadian historians on reasons and consequences of the Alaska Treaty signed in 1867. In the study the author analyzes relevant papers on the topic published in USA and Canada in the late XIX - early XXI centuries; identified basic concepts proposed by the historians; determined their contribution to the problem elaboration. It is established that since the late XIX century American and Canadian researchers paid special attention to the factor of amicable relations between the United States and Russia facilitating a positive outcome of negotiations and permitting Russia to achieve the stated objective (works by H. Bancroft, F.A. Golder, T. Bailey, S. Tompkins, D.H. Miller, R.J. Jensen et al.). Despite the widespread perception that the 1867 Treaty provided greater benefit to Russia, some researchers (V.J. Farrar, R. Luthin et al.) persisted that even if Alaska’s purchase was not economically justified, the bargain was in line with the military-strategic interests of the United States. In the postwar period, in the context of Cold War Western scholars paid greater attention to the policy of colonial expansionism pursued both by Russia and USA in the North Pacific Region (C. Manning, C. Hulley et al). In the 1960s-1970s historians of the so-called “revisionist” school (H. Kushner and others) argued that the sale of Alaska occurred not because of friendship, but intense competition and struggle for markets (therefore, the territory cession looked like a win to one side, and like a loss - to another). They were opposed by those researchers who believed that Russia was guided not by economic considerations, but by political ones, so both countries benefited from this treaty in one or another way. The recent studies have revived the idea of struggle between the colonial powers while emphasizing the international implications of the 1867 Treaty (I. Vinkovetsky, L. Farrow). The author comes to a conclusion that American and Canadian historiography evaluated the 1867 Treaty based on general understanding of Russian-American relations interpreted either in terms of cooperation or rivalry.