twenty years ago in our this country. systems it. was have been trying. to teach began a journey. where did it take. three thirty am in moscow these iraqi headlines in libya reports gadhafi troops are targeting civilians in rebel held areas casting doubt on the success of allied military operations forces loyal to the libyan leader have stepped up attacks on misrata a city controlled by the opposition in the west of the country. japanese officials say radiation is likely to leak from the quake hit the fukushima plant for at least several more months. and it is a major anti terror operation

a russian security forces killed seventeen militants in the north caucasus this as moscow marks a year since the metro suicide bombings that left dozens dead and more than one hundred injured. i do our special report on a land that for more than a century was part of the russian empire before being sold to america alaska the great deal coming up next. once it was a part of russian territory there are still reminders to this day children wearing russian national costumes people having russian names and many orthodox churches are standing here but more than one hundred forty years ago it became the u.s. territory though some americans still don't know about. just over the last one i have no idea about that stuff like that i don't know anything about that alaska it's cold. it was cold a box of ice

a polar bear garden and one russia but in the language of the indigenous peoples the word alaska means the great land of. sven haakanson is steering his boat out of the narrow bay of kodiak island his ancestors have lived here since time immemorial. over the thousands of years they to solve this seascape in china they point out to sea to hunt. but they use mineral canoes with a couple of paddles instead of comfortable motor boats with powerful engines in the past yes it was very very difficult to hunt as an individual you need to group in order to. nor to actually capture for example you look at the sea lions over here in order for you to hunt one of those in the several people. on

a summer day and seven hundred forty one scores of elliot's natives of the land set out on a hunting expedition in canarios they spotted odd looking ships on the horizon. those big sailboats more launched to an expedition led by russian explorers daring and sure. that was how kodiak island made its appearance on russian maps the firm. we're guided by those maps landed on the island more than forty years later seventeen days before the city of kodiak was the capital of america for fifteen years. streets serve as a reminder of that. many of them still bear the names of russian travelers and merchants. there is still the street name a shell a cult who all founded with his who i cannot tell you the very first

russian permanent settlement in alaska and then their. son in law was sawn off and after nickel i was on. was representing the government of russia and also the russian american company. the russian american company was founded in seventy. primarily with the hunting and the selling of sea otters in the large colonies on the alaskan coast. this building was used as a warehouse here the fur went to russia and to china. this. pill has the think for any animal the most furs per square inch this is the animal itself the sea otter this animal was what caused the fur gold rush to alaska i rush.

russian traveler. first came to alaska two thousand and nine he organized an expedition to retrace the steps of his fellow countrymen love venti skim the ghost and was the first ever european to reach alaska's hinterland he mapped this unexplored land and establish contact with the aboriginal people. local people welcome to warmly just as their ancestors welcome his agustin two hundred fifty years ago their homes may have changed a lot but their attitude to russians remains the same. bullshit over clearly we welcome them like arenas east into places that it once served as places of as a girls can expect to. tell them we were russians many of the local people said they had russian ancestors. when the russians came to alaska with the lives of the

indigenous people changed. many of them began to work for the russian american company jobs involved hunting for sea otters fishing and taking part in the building of new settlements russian priests and monks visited alaska and baptized the locals and people with the dogs fish russian men married local girls. or the brother of the russian man she married local women and their children were called creole. creoles were well educated they held top posts in the russian capital to ship as well as in the colonial administration you know ask. how would you know if he's going to. surrender how concern lives a life entirely different from his ancestors to him putting out to sea is more like fun than work. sven is proud of his traditional bathhouse he sees it as a symbol of successive generations and imbedded russian traditions. when the

russians came. the thing that is similar are the rocks and he steaming the washing inside of anya and that's something that we've been doing for centuries and that's a tradition where the you know we have a wooden house which is a russian vanya we just adapted to it i mean i grew up taking one years for that. sven says telling the history of his people as a mission he curious the museum which is one of the principal tourist attractions of kodiak island when futurists visited during low season local people come here to one of the russians actually took over our claimed alaska for russia spirit don't simulate of one of the friends together with his family is listening to his story although his name is of russian origin he doesn't know a single word of the language spoken on the other side of the bering strait nor does he know much about where his last name comes from. earthing i powder is what

my mom told me. for here we were taken people after her grandfather underneath your honor and they couldn't say our last name forward to be of a russian. screw jones simul no it doesn't need to speak russian services in the orthodox church in kodiak city are held in english. father in a candy it was born in new england a place that is far away from here he has no russian roots nevertheless he decided to serve as an orthodox priest in alaska but it was a long story. it's a story of growing up in

a christian church a protestant sure but always wanting the seeking out for face for experiences and finding that roxy is elian and eventually answering a call into the priesthoods. the church where father in the camp he serves stands where the first church in the new world used to be alaska is still predominantly orthodox us state russians and and a priest said then came didn't force us to not speak our language they didn't force us to not follow our traditional ways of living and we did you know start practicing our older religious practices but pretty much everything else did the same thing language but then during the american period. when the americans came they wanted to civilize us. american archaeologist david mcmahon is exploring the remains of russian legacy on alaska. these are

lead seals they would have been used. and poise of the russian american company around bales of her this is one of the most important finds of his career some of the objects were found at the site of the first russian settlements others on the ocean floor silesia this is. the ship's frames this together with russian colleagues unashamed go david mcmahon raise the many remains of the russian ship kodiak from the depths of the ocean the ship belonging to the russian american company sank near the shores of kodiak island in eight hundred sixty i strayed was very lucrative because the gold miners in california needed ice for their drinks so even if half of it melted they would still make a good profit the ship was leaving and it hit a rock everyone got off the ship but because of the ice on board the ship stayed

afloat for several days before i sank. the archaeologist dives twenty five meters deep to explore the remains of the ship the kodiak was one of a dozen ships keeping the lines of communication with russia open similar ships regularly sailed the length of the north pacific many saw the ship wreck as a symbol the russian american company was in dire straits. at the beginning of the eight hundred sixty s. the company reached the edge of bankruptcy that caused a debate on whether alaska could be sold the vast territory was inhabited by eight hundred colonists at the very most this number was well below what russia needed to control and defend it. if those factors lead to serious discussion about a potential sale they were held in an atmosphere of secrecy laws only a handful of officials knew about them so i feel really good. america was not

particularly keen on buying the faraway territory a russian envoy to washington eduardo steckel was told to do his best to convince the u.s. government that it would gain enormous benefits by acquiring alaska. steckel have the support of u.s. state secretary william seward who was in favor of a u.s. territorial expansion. finally in eight hundred sixty seven after lengthy negotiations alaska was sold to the united states for the price of seven point two million dollars. on october the eighteenth age and sixty seven of the russian flag was lowered in the former alaskan capital of sitka. in its stead america's colors were raised. today happy alaska day is one of the major holidays of the forty ninth state. during the bright showed the residents of citgo reenact the procedure of handing

over the flag from russians to americans. in eight hundred sixty seven the ceremony for placing the russian colony under u.s. control was much more modest. the american government was weary of accusations that they had wasted a lot of money headlines and splashed across the newspapers scoffed at the purchase describing it as nothing more than a box of ice. rumor even had as that of the seven point two million dollars paid some two hundred thousand was given to senators in the form of kickbacks. but opinion but opinion put it on their side deliberate steps which they could have filled with fellow quips when he and some senators towards the hitch free ratification of the treaty. after alaska came under u.s. control of the russian american company lost its influence and the russian settlers

were offered a choice. either return to russia or live in the reservation like settlement of ninilchik. what became of the money earned in the alaska deal was shrouded in mystery. the official version that the whole payment reached russia and was spent on the construction of railways. rumors persisted however that a ship carrying the gold received from the sale of alaska had sunk in the pacific. sure is that so much of. it. is us president still an honorable recipient of the nobel peace prize. he inherited two wars with swimming office. the latest. from.

geary and was born and raised in alaska like many alaskans he refers to other states as in the lower forty eight gary is sure that americans have a poor impression of the forty nine most people in the lower forty eight don't know that alaska is part of america some believe it or russia but many believe that it's own country and they wonder what kind of money they're going to have to use when they're here and. i've actually had people compliment me you sound just like in america. gary has lived in the small settlement of. since birth there are more than twenty school cos here his grandfather knew

a few english words gary however doesn't speak russian my grandfather passed away a couple of decades ago and my grandmother. passed away soon after that just some distance from here my father's buried and most of my relatives and one day i will be too. right after the peninsula was sold to the americans the village and he'll check was built on the sea shore all of the employees of the russian american company who refused to move to russia had been banished here by the us government one of the older buildings is right down below it doesn't have a window in it and built in the old log dovetail design with a dovetail corner there are several other buildings that are better throughout here including sheds that were used for fishing the older ones were built as as old as the late eighteen hundreds all the residents of neal chick are related to each other one way or another there is this irene she died in one nine hundred eighty

five one of the most successful people born in india is laurent lehman who is a distant relative of gary a school called four years ago he was the lieutenant governor of alaska for us because he's only passing through today and has decided to stay with his uncle and aunt their ancestors were russians and they still use russian words in their everyday lexicon but in the first instance you know when she's married which is were you ever to. a few hours later he will visit his father at a nursing home in the town of sold. your interview to i tell him i tell my father that every time. oh no you. mourn leaman it doesn't see that russian heritage simply as a distant episode in the history of his native state he remembers well that when he

was a child far more people spoke russian than english i talked about that with my brothers about the russian herds and we often joked about it when we got within about ten miles of the week doing what we call speaking then we start talking like my father telling some of the stories it is still a very. part of my heritage. more in a rise it's old around lunchtime he visits his father at the local nursing home he says a few phrases in russian at them with the rico i. was no contest because. nick lehman can't remember names and faces clearly last year he had a stroke. it was. you know here we lost the human. rights my son nick lehman's condition sometimes makes him imagine he's not it's old news nursing home but in the old settlement of the real chick

where everyone has a boat where christmas is celebrated in early january rather than in december and where people in nearly every home speak russian. bugs or why they want to know it is probably a good value very. a group of. policemen is one of the few people here who still remember the russian era of the land its former legacy is gradually being forgotten much in the same way as old people's memories fade away i'd write to teach my children about their heritage we've shared it it's caught on especially with our oldest child our son and i think the best way we can do it was talked about it serves some of the stories and maybe some of the language i want them to understand are very rich cultural heritage is it makes you think and.

phrase and here is one of the most popular teachers and don't know high school. already used to teach english to russian children in the russian town of mogadon which today he teaches russian in alaska none of the children in his class has a slavic name all of them are americans who've decided to learn the language that was once dominant in this part of the worlds. your war on curing prion was. this the lying the best thing that could be done here. and not. with me now here he. sees himself as a representative of the new wave of russian settlers of alaska who fears he makes himself at home the russian legacy is everywhere. because today there are at least

about seven hundred. names place names on the map of conspicuously russian for example. from reed boot sale dog or from cell device then the presence of the churches here so you know the words. let's put it like this here in alaska will live in the presence of the past. is another russian enclave in alaska it emerged here on hundred years after the sale of the peninsula. its four hundred inhabitants trying to stick to a lifestyle reminiscent of siberia rather than america. you thought people first came here in one thousand six to eight ear and this is the first house they have built here to be safe why they feel me whew you know so young you know how do you choose an innovative woman for some reason trying to guess why there's no escape for you dressed to kill. and he is famous in nicholai amsc and she is

known for causing a stir the locals are not particularly fond of her because she is the only settler who is always ready to talk to journalists. the reason is that all believers live in the settlement and they always prefer a reclusive lifestyle. the founders of nikolai fled the soviet union to america to escape persecution on religious grounds in alaska the old believers tried to distance themselves from civilization much like they would do in russia. initially it was a private sale age no doubt about that but the signs had been removed and now people can visit us they can talk to us and meet. is no longer settlements today it is even something of a tourist attraction the cafe run by the feel of the most lucrative business in the settlement. this is my. big.

for three decades it never occurred to the old believers that someday americans might be among their neighbors they tried to escape visiting other towns but now the american houses stay near the russian ones i think you know matthew has five children he moved. seven years ago after buying one third of the local land and his american dream is slowly becoming a reality the land was. pretty good price the russians i'm sure the russians the people that are here your thoughts. have a nice set of values. and you know maintains friendly relations with matt but as the years ago by she becomes ever more apprehensive of the prospect of nikolayev losing its status as a russian enclave and turning into just another client settlement in alaska. children in the settlement still where russian national dress but english is now

their mother tongue. for growing up in a russian village but we go through english school learning english not as much russian i think or the time our church will probably go more americanized faith i believe that. the grade which american. the new wave of settlers who moved to alaska during the last decades came from siberia twentieth century russian destinations changed in comparison with the eighteenth century the majority preferred alaska's largest city anchorage rather than kodiak island or the can. out of the city's three hundred thousand strong population five thousand are migrants from russia. this fun group is rehearsing in a garage situated in an. anchorage

a suburb. is the youngest of the band everybody calls him. his perfect english hides his true origin he was born in this i'd been in town of. children of the russians who came here in one nine hundred eighty nine or in the early one nine hundred ninety s. the girls are about twenty years old now just some of this russian generation has grown up in alaska they speak very good english and understand spoken russian and it is indeed a new generation of music when you're. one of the songs of the greenberg group says there's a place where everyone is going to it's the place to be actually entirely different places mentioned the song but the new russian submarines have taken the hymn lifelines close to the heart.

russians don't see themselves as masters of alaska they see themselves as guests. of the traveler is among them he and his friends are embarking on a second expedition to the peninsula. once again they will retrace the steps of early russian explorers. team will have to go through a strenuous course of training before the second expedition they intend to use the same gear that the early russian explorers had no motorboats only can do. nothing since we are repeating the historical roots of the alaskan discover a. then we want to know the actual truth and that's why we didn't have a choice of transport means. venue haakanson head of the community of indigenous people living in kodiak island takes a dim view of the desire of europeans to make their lives more difficult. his ancestors used to put out to sea. keeper for. as motorboats. soon

thinks giving up the perks of civilization is a foolish thing to do. yet despite embrace of the modern era inwardly he still remains committed to the simple principles preached by his ancestors. we were here for thousands of years. but you know we didn't have this system of paper saying that we can claim this land because in our philosophy in our world you know. you can't own land the land owns you you know how can you say you own there when you're only here for a little bit and then you got it's a whole different philosophy of owning it versus living with it.

all. great.