Why is Russia so BIG???
Feed the hungry mind
Around a thousand years back, Russia was a relatively small sized loose federation populated by the Slavs and ruled by the Vikings. It was called Kievan Rus’. It bordered Khazars in the east and Christian Controlled-Byzantine Empire in the west.
From the very beginning, they had deep relations with the Byzantine Empire. Vladimir the Great, the ruler of Kievan Rus introduced and forced Christianity on all the inhabitants as well as encouraging trade with the Byzantine Empire. And later Byzantine Missionaries created alphabets for the Slavic language based on a modified Greek script. Kievan Rus flourished at that time with its rich resources and trade and with deep relations with the Byzantine Empire.
Fratricidal disputes between the rival princes over succession in the Kievan Rus began to erode central power. Furthermore, the fall of the Byzantine Empire caused by the Fourth Crusade and the decline of Constantinople devastated the trade integral to Rus's wealth and power.
The Kievan Rus had a huge patch of grassland in its east which the Mongol Empire used in its favor to invade and capture the already weak Kievan Rus’. The Kievan Rus’ was under Mongol rule for over a century (until the 14th century).
A remote trading post Muscovy (Present day “Moscow”), which remained under Mongol rule, revolted against Mongols, conquering parts of their fragmenting empire, and in many ways, succeeding it. As it absorbed other eastern Rus territories till the Ural Mountain Range, it reclaimed the old name in its Greek form, Ruscia. This is how Russia came into existence.
However, the grassland could again be used to bypass the mountain range to attack Russia. So, under the rule of Ivan the Terrible, Russia began to expand eastwards until they found any natural barriers like River or Mountain Range. And eventually, they reached the Pacific Ocean.
They found even more furry animals expanding eastwards, which fueled this expedition as furs were incredibly valuable in the European markets. So, they kept on going, passing the Pacific Ocean and Alaska.
Alaska was really far from the capital of the Russian Empire, St. Petersburg. Agriculture and settlement were impossible. Hence, they decided to sell this land to utilize their forces in the west and revamp their economy which the Crimean War crushed.
Russian Empire had two options to sell their territories to, the British Empire (as they controlled Canada) and the USA. Russian Empire hated British Empire and so did the USA. Due to the common dislike between the two, both the Russian Empire and the USA were allies at that time. That’s the reason Russian Empire sold Alaska to the USA for $7.2 million. The “Treaty of Alaska” was signed on May 28, 1867, between William Seward (USA) and Eduard de Stoeckl (Russia)
This forms the Russia we see on the world map today.