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e number of aleuts were enserfed 12 10 13 14 flag of the russian american company 1806 1881 tlingit chieftain of sitka as the animal populations declined the aleuts already too dependent on the new barter economy fostered by the russian fur trade were increasingly coerced into taking greater and greater risks in the highly dangerous waters of the north pacific to hunt for more otter citation needed as the shelekhov golikov company of 1783 1799 developed a monopoly its use of skirmishes and violent incidents turned into systematic violence as a tool of colonial exploitation of the indigenous people when the aleutian serfs revolted and won some victories the promyshlenniki retaliated killing many and destroying their boats and hunting gear leaving them no means of survival citation needed the most devastating effects came from disease during the first two generations 1741 1759 1781 1799 of sibero russian promyshlenniki contact 80 percent of the aleut population died from eurasian infectious diseases these were by then endemic among eurasians but the aleuts had no immunity against the diseases 15 though the alaskan colony was never very profitable because of the costs of transportation most russian traders were determined to keep the land for themselves in 1784 grigory ivanovich shelekhov who later set up the russian american company 16 better source needed that developed into the alaskan colonial administration arrived in three saints bay on kodiak island with two ships the three saints russian три святителя and the st simon 17 the koniag alaska natives harassed the russian party and shelekhov responded by killing hundreds and taking hostages to enforce the obedience of the rest having established his authority on kodiak island shelekhov founded the second permanent russian settlement in alaska after unalaska permanently settled in 1774 on the island s three saints bay citation needed in 1790 shelekhov back in russia hired alexander andreyevich baranov to manage his alaskan fur enterprise baranov moved the colony to the northeast end of kodiak island where timber was available the site later developed into what is now the city of kodiak russian colonists took koniag s wives and started families whose surnames continue today such as panamaroff petrikoff and kvasnikoff citation needed in 1795 baranov concerned by the sight of non russian europeans trading with the natives in southeast alaska established mikhailovsk six miles 9 7 km north of present day sitka citation needed he bought the land from the tlingit but in 1802 while baranov was away tlingit from a neighboring settlement attacked and destroyed mikhailovsk baranov returned with a russian warship and razed the tlingit village he built the settlement of new archangel russian ново архангельск romanized novo arkhangelsk on the ruins of mikhailovsk citation needed it became the capital of russian america and later the city of sitka citation needed as baranov secured the russians settlements in alaska the shelekhov family continued to lobby empress catherine the great for a monopoly on alaska s fur trade 18 in 1799 shelekhov s son in law nikolay petrovich rezanov succeeded when he acquired a monopoly on the american fur trade from emperor paul i rezanov formed the russian american company as part of the deal the emperor expected the company to establish new settlements in alaska thus while the company was focused on its commercial enterprise it also effectively became an outpost for the russian empire in north america 19 1800 to 1867 edit aleutian russian allied forces defeat the tlingit tribe at the battle of sitka 1804 by 1804 baranov now manager of the russian american company had consolidated the company s hold on fur trade activities in the americas following his suppression of the tlingit clan at the battle of sitka the russians never fully colonized alaska for the most part they clung to the coast and shunned the interior citation needed alexander andreyevich baranov called lord of alaska by hector chevigny played an active role in the russian american company and was the first governor of russian america from 1812 to 1841 the russians operated fort ross california from 1814 to 1817 russian fort elizabeth was operating in the kingdom of hawaii by the 1830s the russian monopoly on trade was weakening the british hudson s bay company was leased the southern edge of russian america in 1839 under the rac hbc agreement establishing fort stikine which began siphoning off trade citation needed a company ship visited the russian american outposts only every two or three years to give provisions 20 because of the limited stock of supplies trading was incidental compared to trapping operations under the aleutian laborers 20 this left the russian outposts dependent upon british and american merchants for sorely needed food and materials in such a situation baranov knew that the rac establishments could not exist without trading with foreigners 20 ties with americans were particularly advantageous since they could sell furs at guangzhou close to the russians at the time the downside was that american hunters and trappers encroached on territory russians considered theirs citation needed starting with the destruction of the phoenix in 1799 several rac ships sank or were damaged in storms leaving the rac outposts with scant resources on june 24 1800 an american vessel sailed to kodiak island baranov negotiated the sale of over 12 000 rubles worth of goods carried on the ship averting imminent starvation 21 during his tenure baranov traded over 2 million rubles worth of furs for american supplies to the consternation of the board of directors 20 from 1806 to 1818 baranov shipped 15 million rubles worth of furs to russia only receiving under 3 million rubles in provisions barely half of the expenses spent solely on the saint petersburg company office 20 the russo american treaty of 1824 recognized exclusive russian rights to the fur trade north of latitude 54 40 n with the american rights and claims restricted to below that line this division was repeated in the treaty of saint petersburg a parallel agreement with the british in 1825 which also settled most of the border with british north america however the agreements soon went by the wayside and with the retirement of alexandr baranov in 1818 the russian hold on alaska was further weakened when the russian american company s charter was renewed in 1821 it stipulated that the chief managers from then on be naval officers most naval officers did not have any experience in the fur trade so the company suffered the second charter also tried to cut off all contact with foreigners especially the competitive americans this strategy backfired since the russian colony had become used to relying on american supply ships and the united states had become a valued customer for furs eventually the russian american company agreed with the hudson s bay company which gave the british rights to sail through russian territory citation needed colonies edit part of a series on european colonization of the americas first wave basque british scottish welsh curonian danish dutch french german hospitaller italian norse portuguese russian spanish swedish colonization of canada colonization of the united states decolonization europe north america latin america history v t e the first russian colony in alaska was founded in 1784 by grigory shelikhov 5 102 subsequently russian explorers and settlers continued to establish trading posts in mainland alaska on the aleutian islands hawaii and northern california alaska edit see also alaska boundary dispute the russian american company was formed in 1799 with the influence of nikolay rezanov to hunt sea otters for their fur 5 40 the peak population of the russian colonies was about 4 000 although almost all of these were aleuts tlingits and other native alaskans the number of russians rarely exceeded 500 at any one time 5 xiii california edit main article fort ross california the russians established an outpost called fortress ross russian крѣпость россъ krepost ross in 1812 near bodega bay in northern california 5 181 north of san francisco bay the fort ross colony included a sealing station on the farallon islands off san francisco 22 by 1818 fort ross had a population of 128 consisting of 26 russians and 102 native americans 5 181 the russians maintained it until 1841 when they left the region 23 as of 2015 update fort ross is a federal national historical landmark on the national register of historic places it is preserved restored in california s fort ross state historic park about 80 miles 130 km northwest of san francisco 24 spanish concern about russian colonial intrusion prompted the authorities in new spain to initiate when the upper las californias province settlement with presidios forts pueblos villages and the california missions after declaring their independence in 1821 the mexicans also asserted themselves in opposition to the russians the mission san francisco de solano sonoma mission 1823 specifically responded to the presence of the russians at fort ross and mexico established the el presidio real de sonoma or sonoma barracks in 1836 with general mariano guadalupe vallejo as the commandant of the northern frontier of the alta california province missionary activity edit further information russian orthodox church and alaskan creole people russian orthodox cathedral in present day sitka st peter the aleut a martyred aleutian creole an aleutian man and woman the sanctuary of st michael s cathedral at three saints bay shelekov built a school to teach the natives to read and write russian and introduced the first resident missionaries and clergymen who spread the russian orthodox faith this faith with its liturgies and texts translated into aleut at a very early stage had been informally introduced in the 1740s 1780s some fur traders founded local families or symbolically adopted aleut trade partners as godchildren to gain their loyalty through this special personal bond the missionaries soon opposed the exploitation of the indigenous populations and their reports provide evidence of the violence exercised to establish colonial rule in this period the rac s monopoly was continued by emperor alexander i in 1821 on the condition that the company would financially support missionary efforts 25 the company board ordered chief manager arvid adolf etholén to build a residency in new archangel for bishop veniaminov 25 when a lutheran church was planned for the finnish population of new archangel veniamiov prohibited any lutheran pastors from proselytizing to neighboring tlingits 25 veniamiov faced difficulties in exercising influence over the tlingit people outside new archangel due to their political independence from the rac leaving them less receptive to russian cultural influences than aleuts 25 26 a smallpox epidemic spread throughout alaska in 1835 1837 and the medical aid given by veniamiov created converts to orthodoxy 26 inspired by the same pastoral theology as bartolomé de las casas or st francis xavier the origins of which were in early christianity s need to adapt to the cultures of classical antiquity missionaries in russian america applied a strategy that placed value on local cultures and encouraged indigenous leadership in parish life and missionary activity when compared to later protestant missionaries the orthodox policies in retrospect proved to be relatively sensitive to indigenous alaskan cultures 25 this cultural policy was originally intended to gain the loyalty of the indigenous populations by establishing the authority of church and state as protectors of over 10 000 inhabitants of russian america the number of ethnic russian settlers had always been less than the record 812 almost all concentrated in sitka and kodiak difficulties arose in training russian priests to attain fluency in any of the various indigenous alaskan languages to redress this veniaminov opened a seminary for mixed race and native candidates for the church in 1845 25 promising students were sent to additional schools in either saint petersburg or irkutsk the later city becoming the original seminary s new location in 1858 25 the holy synod instructed for the opening of four missionary schools in 1841 to be located in amlia chiniak kenai and nushagak 25 veniamiov established the curriculum which included russian history literacy mathematics and religious studies 25 a side effect of the missionary strategy was the development of a new and autonomous form of indigenous identity many native traditions survived within local russian orthodox tradition and in the religious life of the villages part of this modern indigenous identity is an alphabet and the basis for written literature in nearly all of the ethnic linguistic groups in the southern half of alaska father ivan veniaminov later st innocent of alaska famous throughout russian america developed an aleut dictionary for hundreds of language and dialect words based on the russian alphabet the most visible trace of the russian colonial period in contemporary alaska is the nearly 90 russian orthodox parishes with a membership of over 20 000 men women and children almost exclusively indigenous people these include several athabascan groups of the interior very large yup ik communities and quite nearly all of the aleut and alutiiq populations among the few tlingit orthodox parishes the large group in juneau adopted orthodox christianity only after the russian colonial period in an area where there had been no russian settlers nor missionaries the widespread and continuing local russian orthodox practices are likely the result of the syncretism of local beliefs with christianity observers noted that while their religious ties were tenuous before the sale of alaska there were 400 native converts to orthodoxy in new archangel 26 tlingit practitioners declined in number after the lapse of russian rule until there were only 117 practitioners in 1882 residing in the place by then renamed as sitka 26 purchase of alaska edit check used for the purchase of alaska a map depicting the territory of alaska in 1867 immediately after the alaska purchase main article alaska purchase by the 1860s the russian government was ready to abandon its russian america colony over hunting had severely reduced the fur bearing animal population and competition from the british and americans exacerbated the situation this combined with the difficulties of supplying and protecting such a distant colony reduced interest in the territory in addition russia was in a difficult financial position after the crimean war and feared losing russian alaska without compensation in some future conflict especially with the british empire the russians believed that in a dispute with britain their hard to defend region might become a prime target for british aggression from british columbia and wo...