Russian America (,
Russkaya Amerika) was the name of the Russian colonial possessions in the
Americas from 1733 to 1867. Settlements spanned parts of what are now the US states of
California,
Alaska, and two ports in
Hawaii. Formal incorporation of the possessions by Russia did not take place until the
Ukase of 1799 which established a
monopoly for the
Russian-American Company and also granted the
Russian Orthodox Church certain rights in the new possessions. Many of its possessions were abandoned in the 19th century. In 1867 Russia sold its last remaining possessions to the United States for $7.2 million ($120 million in 2013 dollars).