An imperial crossroads of global—and in particular, economic—importance for centuries, the Western Arctic region remains largely underdeveloped (and underpopulated, with a population less than 20,000 across its sweeping breadth from Alaska’s North Slope to Canada’s Mackenzie Delta, a region encompassing one U.S. state and two Canadian territories) as compared to other such crossroads of empire around the world. It’s a vast, single region spanning two countries, encompassing one state and two territories that converge along a boundary once separating two global empires, Russia’s and Britain’s, at the zenith of their territorial breadth—until the consequential sale of Russian-America to a reunified United States soon after its victory over the rebellious southern confederacy to ensure American possession would serve as an effective buffer to contain British North America, and thereby protect Russia’s northeastern flank.