Перевести in the 18th century the russian government sent vitus bering to explore the lands behind russia.on one of his voyages bering discovered the strait, which separates north america from asia. it is now named after the discoverer. on a later voyage bering saw the mainland of north america. this discovery made in 1741 gave russia its right to alaska. bering died before he could take the good news back to russia. but alexei chirikov and some other men of bering’s expedition came back. the russians explored the north american continent as far north as the arctic ocean. others made settlements or built trading posts as far south as northern california. not long before george washington became president of the usa the russians made a settlement in alaska. for more than 100 years trade was carried on between russia and alaska. in 1867 the usa bought alaska. it paid russia a little more than seven million dollars for it. alaska is the largest of all the states of the usa. it is almost one fifth of the american territory. alaska is rich in minerals. there are large forests there, many animals and much fish.
