Russian Period AK Studies

Early Exploration  Russians were first Westerners to explore North Pacific  Ivan IV the Terrible ( )  By the late 1580s, had explored into Siberia  Goal was to trade and to conquer the land and its people (indigenous people)

Russian Exploration  Tsar Peter the Great  Ruled Russia from  Known for expanding the Russian Empire and creating a major European power  By 1725 had conquered lands from Baltic Sea to Pacific Ocean, and, from the Arctic Ocean to India and China

 Peter the Great’s Goal= find out if Asia and North America were separate continents  Why?

Russian Exploration cont.  1725 Vitus Bering (Danish, but joined Russia’s Navy) was commissioned to sail from Kamchatka  Sailed through “Bering” Strait and into the Chuckchi Sea  Saw the Diomede Islands, but did not see mainland AK  This voyage took 5 years!  He failed, but Siberian Natives told him the answer to the Tsar’s question

Russian Exploration cont.  Mikhail Gvozdev (a Cossack- part of extreme military group)  Sailed from Kamchatka north through Bering Strait in 1732  First Russian-Native encounter was met with arrows shot at the Russians just off the Diomede Islands  First true Russian-Native contact was on King Island- Native approached them on kayaks

Bering gets a second chance…  1732, Bering is approved for exploration to investigate unmapped areas of Siberia and to search for a sea route to China  Vitus Bering in the St. Peter  Alekski Chirikov in the St. Paul  They set sail in 1741, ships get separated in by fog

Alaska is Discovered!  “Officially discovered” in 1741  Bering- sighted Mt. St. Elias, investigated Kayak Island, sighted Kodiak, and encountered Natives off the Shumagin Islands  St. Peter wrecks and many die of illness, including Bering (winter of )  Chirikov- investigated Chichagof Island and were approached by Natives, traded with Aleuts on Adak

Goozekwan  Native tradition that the Great White Raven had been sighted  The wings Goozekwan turned out to be the white sails of the Russian’s ships

Impact of Exploration  Fur hunters rushed to Alaska in 1743  Furs in demand in China; sea otter pelts  Started in Attu and pushed eastward  Russia completed over 60 voyages to “Russian America”  Recorded geography, data about Natives, animals and plants, climate, resources, ebb and flow of ice pack  Hunted furbearers

Russian Empire 1866

Russian Settlements  Trading posts were established to cut down on costs  Shelikhovs, first family to establish posts in 1780s  Kodiak and Sitka were Alaska’s first towns, Sitka later is colonial capital  Later, the Russian American Company ran all of the posts  In 1799 there were 225 Russians in Alaska, in 1839 there were over 800 Russians in Alaska  Cultural disruptions, posts were often near Native settlements Grigory Shelikhov

Three Saints Bay  The settlement was founded in 1784 by Grigory Shelikhov, but the main settlement was moved to now the city of Kodiak, in  The Three Saints Bay Site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978.

Three Saints Bay

Exploit of Natives  Fur traders used Natives, forcefully, to hunt  Russians took women and children as hostages until hunters produced enough pelts  Essentially Natives were taken as slaves, many were murdered  Disease also severely weakened the Natives  Several groups fought back- Aleuts and Tlingits  Native resistance failed- lacked technology  Disease  Relocation (Aleuts brought to Southeast AK)  Russian Orthodox missionaries came to spread Christianity to “civilize” Natives

Ioann Veniaminov (Veni-amin-off  Russian Orthodox priest and missionary in AK ( )  Worked in Aleutian Islands, and later Southeast Alaska (Sitka)  Helped develop writing systems for Native languages  Vaccinated Natives  Native languages and cultures flourished  Known as “Saint Innocent of Alaska”

Other Interests in Alaska  Other countries became interested in what Russia was doing in the North Pacific  Spanish- 1760s-1790, unsuccessful (Cordova and Valdez)  French- 1780s-1830s, claimed Lituya Bay for France  British- late 1700s, Captain James Cook  1778 Cook sighted Alaska (Mt. Edgecumbe) and claimed it for England; Killed in Hawaii after exploration of Alaska  Hudson Bay Company establishes itself in AK in 1800s

American Interests  American interests began in 1780s  Trade  Whaling, 1830s  Expansion- Manifest Destiny  Pursued talks with Russia in 1860  Civil War disrupted interests, but were renewed after war  Purchased in 1867