Russian America Shelikhova and Baranova
Grigory Shelikhov's settlement on Kodiak Island
240 years ago, Grigory Shelikhov founded the first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska. He decided to expand Russian possessions on the northwestern coast of America from the Bering Strait to California.
Towards the sun
The dissatisfaction of existence always pulled the Russian freemen "towards the sun. Part of the Russian freemen, including the Cossacks, moved to the east. There the taiga was populated by precious fur animals, especially sable. In pursuit of this prey, the Russians reached the Pacific Ocean in the 17th century.
The Russians did not stop there. The first Russians to discover the Alaskan Peninsula (America) from Siberia were the sailors of Semyon Dezhnev's expedition in 1648.
In 1732, Mikhail Gvozdev and Fedorov sailed to the shores of the "Big Land" (northwestern America) on the boat "Saint Gabriel". They were the first Europeans to reach the coast of Alaska in the area of Mys Gvozdev. In 1741, Bering's expedition on two packet boats "Saint Peter" (Bering) and "Saint Paul" (Chirikov) explored the Aleutian Islands and the shores of Alaska.
The results of this expedition were enormous. Eyewitnesses said that beyond Kamchatka the sea is strewn, beyond them lies the "Big Land". It is teeming with all kinds of animals. One species, the sea otter, has especially rich fur.
This attracted Russian industrialists and merchants. Industrial Siberia rushed to the Pacific Ocean. Within a few years, dozens of companies were operating on the Aleutian Islands, making large profits.
Kodiak
History Russian America began in the first half of the 22th century, but the first permanent Russian settlement in the lands of Alaska appeared there only on September 1784, XNUMX.
On that day, the first permanent settlement was founded on the shore of the bay of Kodiak Island (the island's name comes from the Eskimo word meaning "point"), located south of Alaska, by the Russian explorer Grigory Shelikhov.
Russian navigator, industrialist and merchant Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov (Shelekhov) was from a merchant family. Shelikhov's partners, merchants who traded in Siberia, were already establishing routes to the islands in the Pacific Ocean. Shelikhov organized expeditions to Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands, the Aleutians, where his navigator Pribilov discovered previously unknown islands (the Pribilof Islands).
In mid-August 1783, Shelikhov entered into partnership with the Golikov brothers, with whom he set off for the shores of Alaska on three ships, with a crew of 192. A month later, having passed Bering Island, they arrived in the New World, having lost one of the ships (St. Michael).
On July 22, 1784, the expedition landed on Kodiak Island in a harbor that Shelekhov called Trehsvyatitelskaya. Here he founded the first settlement. The settlement received its name from one of the ships that were part of the detachment: "Trehsvyatitelskaya Harbor". According to Shelekhov's plan, the settlement was to become an important trading center for Russian merchants, industrialists, and Orthodox missionaries.
A little over 10 years later, the settlement was moved to the site of what is now the island's main city, Kodiak. The reason for this was an earthquake.
Portrait of Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov 1790 – 1810s. Unknown artist
Russian America
The privileged position of our industrialists lasted for several years. Then foreign rivals began to appear in the waters discovered by the Russians. The English navigator Cook found a way to the Russian part of the Pacific Ocean. Other travelers followed him. Foreign merchants mercilessly exterminated the "sea beaver" (as the sea otter was then called). They got them drunk and armed them with firearms. weapons local natives, who became dangerous. The trade became less profitable and dangerous.
In such circumstances, Shelikhov displayed the vision of a true statesman. He decided to unite all independent Russian industrialists into one powerful company. To expand Russian possessions on the unowned northwest coast of America from the Bering Strait to Spanish California. To establish trade with Manila, Canton, Boston and New York. To place Russian possessions under the protection of the government. To establish an arsenal and a station for Russians on the Hawaiian Islands. fleet.
In essence, Shelikhov was the founder of Russian America, which made Russia the leading empire on the planet.
In 1791, Shelikhov founded the North-Eastern Company, but did not live to see his plans realized. In 1795, he died in Irkutsk, but his plan was approved by the authorities. In 1799, his company was transformed into the Russian-American Trading Company (RAC), which received exclusive rights to hunt, trade, and other activities in the waters open to Russians and the northern part of the Pacific Ocean.
Alexander Andreevich Baranov (November 23, Kargopol – April 16, 1819, near the island of Java)
"Russian Pizarro"
The top management of the RAC's activities was left with the main shareholders in St. Petersburg, and management of affairs on the spot was entrusted to the closest associate and friend of the late Shelekhov, Alexander Andreevich Baranov.
This man demonstrated the talent of a natural leader and a great statesman. At the same time, having ample opportunities for personal enrichment, he was distinguished by his selflessness.
Baranov moved the capital of Russian America from Kodiak Island to the mainland. On the shore of the ice-free Sitka Bay, he founded Novo-Arkhangelsk. A fort armed with cannons and a shipyard for building ships were built here. The capital, which grew quickly, was adorned with a church, a school, a library, etc.
As the center of the most important fur trade at that time, Novo-Arkhangelsk became the main port on the Pacific Ocean, bypassing the Spanish San Francisco. All the ships that sailed in those waters converged on it. At the same time, Baranov conducted business in such a way that he quickly pushed aside our main competitors - the English. The Americans also greatly reduced the number of their ships and began to cooperate with the Russians.
Baranov worked tirelessly to strengthen our position in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. He smashed the aggressive natives. The number of our ships at sea grew every year, he established relations with foreign ports. He dotted the islands with Russian trading posts, on land he went further and further into the mainland, built forts and used Russian Orthodox missions. Russian possessions were constantly growing.
In fact, Baranov, who he called himself "Russian Pizarro", conquered and donated to Russia the northern half of the Pacific Ocean by 1818. At that time, it was a "Russian lake". He subjugated vast territories to Russia, which he began to populate with Russians, providing them with fortifications, arsenals, and workshops.
In 1812, Ivan Kuskov founded Fort Ross (80 km north of San Francisco in California), which became the southern outpost of the Russian colonization of America.
The Titan was brought down by human envy. Baranov, who earned millions annually and did not take advantage of his position, was suspected of theft and removed from his post in 1818. Baranov waited for several months for the audit of his affairs to be completed and died while sailing, near the island of Java on April 16 (April 28, new style), 1819, and was buried at sea.
Novo-Arkhangelsk. Drawing by P.N. Mikhailov, participant of the 1819-1821 voyage on the sloop "Vostok" under the command of F.F. Bellingshausen
Unfortunately, his titanic work was not continued. No new "Pizarro" was found for Russian America. The British and Americans again poured north. American President Monroe declared that the USA looked upon the American continent, discovered and developed by the Spanish, French and Russians, as its own property.
The result of the negotiations that had begun was the Anglo-Russian Convention of February 16 (28), 1825, on the delimitation of their possessions in North America (in British Columbia): a border line was established separating the possessions of Britain, which ran 10 miles from the edge of the ocean. Before that, the Rocky Mountain range was considered the unofficial border. The Russian side never attempted to cross the Rocky Mountains, although for almost half a century there was absolutely uninhabited territory there.
Thus, Russia itself gave up the uninhabited territories that it could occupy, leaving only Alaska. Russia was further pressed, right up to the sale of Alaska to the USA in 1867.
This was the Romanovs' biggest strategic mistake. Russia lost the opportunity to become the dominant force in the northern Pacific Ocean. A holy place is never empty. Our positions were immediately occupied by the British and Americans, who began an offensive against the Russian Far East. In particular, with the help of Japan.
Russian possessions in North America, 1835. Source: Atlas of the Russian Empire. St. Petersburg, 1835.
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