High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Russian colonization of the Americas was a period of time in which Russia tried to build colonies and lay claim to parts of the Americas. The colonization proceeded in several places including Alaska and parts of California. The United States bought Russian America, renaming it Alaska, from Russia for a vast sum of money in 1867. Europeans first sighted the Alaskan coast line in 1732; sighting was made by the Russian Ivan Fedorov near Cape Prince of Wales, but he did not land. The first landfall took place in southern Alaska in 1741 during the Russian exploration conducted by Vitus Bering and Aleksei Chirikov. The first Russian colony in Alaska was founded in 1784 by Grigory Shelikhov. The Russian-American Company was formed in 1799 with the influence of Nikolay Rezanov for the purpose of hunting sea otters for their fur. The peak population of the Russian colonies was about 40,000, although most of these were Aleuts. The Russians also expanded and explored into modern day British Columbia, forming trading outposts and hunting settlements.