Alaska sold for two cents an acre

In the early hours of March 30, 1867, after an all-night negotiation, Secretary of State William Seward signed the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire: 7.2 million dollars for a territory of over a million and a half square kilometres. That came to about two cents an acre. Russia wanted rid of a distant, indefensible colony; in the United States, much of the press laughed at the deal: they called it "Seward's Folly", "Seward's Icebox", a polar bear garden bought at a premium. Thirty years later the real gold turned up, and the Nome and Fairbanks rushes filled the ice with prospectors. In 1968, Prudhoe Bay revealed one of the largest oil fields in North America. Today the Alaska purchase is taught as one of the best real-estate deals in history. Seward died in 1872, before his vindication. When asked about his greatest achievement, he is said to have replied: "The purchase of Alaska. But it will take a generation to realise it."