Alaska, Seward, Russia... and Canada???

Here's something a Russian friend who is studying in Regina showed me recently: 

• Google "Canada sells"
• the first auto-completion will almost surely be "Canada sells Alaska"

Huh??

The US bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7m. It was called "Seward's Folly".

But now skim down through the links that pop up on that search, after the wikipaedia entry. You see evidence that LOTS of people believe Canada sold Alaska to the US. 

Good grief.

But one thing I didn't know: Russia apparently sold Alaska to the US to keep Britain from getting too close to Russia. Russia apparently believed the US would jealously protect its purchase and keep the Brits from using Alaska as a base for attacking Russia across the Bering Strait.