Question

Why did journalists call the alaska purchase of 1867 "seawards folly"?

Answer 1

Hello.

One reason it was called seawards folly was because they thought the land was worthless. There was nothing in the land because it was just made of ice and snow so therefor nobody could live there. It was thought that this was a waste of money since it was so distant and seemingly uninhabitable.

Have a nice day

Answer 2

Because they did not know that that Alaska had any value at all. They thought it was a huge patch of frozen tundra filled with Natives and left over Russians. And the only resource was thought to be fur.

Then oil was found and tourism discovered, so now it's not so "worthless" any more.