Annexation of Alaska cover art

Annexation of Alaska

Annexation of Alaska

Listen for free

View show details

Summary

In 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia in a deal that reshaped the map of North America... but what did that moment mean for the people already living there? In this episode, we explore Alaska before European contact, the rise of Russian colonial settlement, and eventually the American takeover.


Our guest today is Professor Thomas Swensen at the University of Utah. He’s the author of Where Next, Columbus?: A Native Punk Mixtape and his new book, The Great Land: An Indigenous History of Alaska, will be published in October of 2026.


Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.


Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


All music from Epidemic Sounds.


American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c
No reviews yet