And D. I. Pavlutsky -1735. Gvozdev's expedition fixed the territory of Cape Prince of Wales.

Russian America

In 1763-1765, an uprising of natives took place in the Aleutian Islands, which was brutally suppressed by Russian industrialists. In 1772, the first Russian trading settlement was founded on the Aleutian Unalashka. In the summer of 1784, an expedition under the command of G. I. Shelekhov (-) landed on the Aleutian Islands and on August 14 founded the Russian settlement of Kodiak. In 1791, Fort St. Nicholas. In 1792/1793, the expedition of the industrialist Vasily Ivanov reached the banks of the Yukon River.

In September 1794, an Orthodox mission arrived on Kodiak Island, consisting of 8 monks from the Valaam and Konevsky monasteries and the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, headed by Archimandrite Joasaph (since April 10, 1799, Bishop of Kodiak). Immediately upon arrival, the missionaries immediately began to build a temple and convert the pagans to the Orthodox faith. From 1816, married priests also served in Alaska. Orthodox missionaries made a significant contribution to the development of Russian America.

Russia clashed with the British Hudson's Bay Company. To avoid misunderstandings, in 1825 the eastern border of Alaska was delineated by agreement between Russia and Great Britain (now the border between Alaska and British Columbia).

Sale of Alaska

As part of the USA

To meet the spiritual needs of the Orthodox inhabitants of Alaska, the Aleutian Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church was established in 1870 (currently the Diocese of Alaska as part of the Orthodox Church in America). Until 1917, bishops and priests came from Russia to Alaska, icons, vestments and church utensils, spiritual and liturgical literature were sent, funds were received for the construction and maintenance of churches and schools.

In 1880, the leader of one of the tribes of the Tlingit Indians named Kovi led two prospectors to the stream flowing into the Gastineau Strait. Joseph Juneau and Richard Harris found gold there and claimed the rights to the site - "Golden Stream", which turned out to be one of the richest gold mines. A settlement grew up nearby, and then the city of Juneau, which in 1906 became the capital of Alaska. The history of Ketchikan began in 1887, when the first cannery was built. The region developed slowly until the start of the Klondike gold rush in 1896. During the years of the gold rush in Alaska, about one thousand tons of gold was mined, which in April 2005 prices corresponded to 13-14 billion dollars.

"Golden fever"

The fever began after prospectors George Carmack, Jim Skookum and Charlie Dawson discovered gold on August 16, 1896, on Bonanza Creek, which flows into the Klondike River. News of this quickly spread to the inhabitants of the Yukon Basin. However, it took another year for the information to reach the big light. Gold was not exported until June 1897, when navigation opened and the ocean liners Excelsior and Portland took cargo from the Klondike. The Excelsior arrived in San Francisco on July 17, 1897, with a cargo worth about half a million dollars, piqued the interest of the public. When the Portland arrived in Seattle three days later, it was greeted by a crowd. Newspapers reported half a ton of gold, but this was an understatement as the ship carried over a ton of the metal.

In 1911, August 17 was declared Opening Day in the Yukon Territory. Discovery Day). Over time, the third Monday in August became a day off. The main festivities take place in the city of Dawson.

Alaska Territory

In 1912, Alaska received the status of a territory. In 1916, the population of Alaska numbered 58 thousand people. The economy was based on copper mining and fishing.

On June 3, 1942, Japanese aircraft attacked Dutch Harbor Naval Base and Fort Mears in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. In the same year, the Japanese took possession of a number of islands near Alaska for a year: Attu (June 6) and Kyska. In 1943, the bloody Battle of Attu took place there between the Japanese garrison of the island and the American-Canadian landing. As a result of this battle, 3,500 soldiers died on both sides.

US state

The post-war confrontation between America and the Soviet Union, the years of the Cold War further strengthened the role of Alaska as a shield against a possible transpolar attack and contributed to the development of its deserted expanses. Alaska was declared a state on January 3, 1959. Various mineral resources have been exploited since 1968, especially in the Prudhoe Bay area, southeast of Point Barrow. In 1977, an oil pipeline was laid from Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil spill caused serious environmental pollution.

Write a review on the article "History of Alaska"

Notes

For more than a century, the Russian Empire owned Alaska and the adjacent islands, until in 1867 Alexander II ceded these lands to the United States for more than seven million dollars. According to an alternative version, Alaska was not sold, but leased for a hundred years, but Comrade Khrushchev actually presented it to the Americans in 1957. Moreover, some are convinced that the peninsula is still ours, because the ship that carried the gold as payment for the deal sank.

One way or another, this whole story with Alaska has become clouded over the years. We propose to figure out how it happened that part of another continent became part of Russia and why they decided to sell the land on which 200 million dollars of gold was mined in 30 years after the sale.

Read also: Reports from the militia of Novorossia today

Turnips and potatoes for you

In 1741, the outstanding Russian traveler of Danish origin Vitus Bering crossed the strait between Eurasia and North America (which was later named after him) and became the first person to explore the coast of Alaska. Half a century later, a merchant and part-time navigator Grigory Shelikhov arrived there, who taught the local population to turnips and potatoes, spread Orthodoxy among the natives, and even founded the agricultural colony "Glory to Russia". Since that time, Alaska began to belong to the Russian Empire as a discoverer, and its inhabitants, unexpectedly for themselves, became subjects of the emperor.

Indian diversions

View of the capital of Russian Alaska - Novo-Arkhangelsk.

The Indians, and one can understand them, were unhappy that foreigners seized power over their lands, and even forced them to eat turnips. They expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that in 1802 they burned the Mikhailovsky fortress, which was founded by the company of Shelikhov and his business partners. Together with the church, elementary school, shipyard, workshops and arsenal. And three years later, another stronghold of the Russians was set on fire. These audacious undertakings would never have succeeded for the natives if they had not been armed by American and British entrepreneurs.

No matter what happens

A lot of money was pumped out of Alaska: sea otter fur cost more than gold. But the greed and short-sightedness of the miners led to the fact that already in the 1840s there were practically no valuable animals left on the peninsula. True, by that time oil and gold had been discovered in Alaska. This, paradoxically, was the most important incentive to get rid of these territories as soon as possible. The fact is that American prospectors began to actively arrive in Alaska, and the Russian government reasonably feared that American troops would come after them or, even worse, the British would rush in. The empire was not ready for war, and it would be completely stupid to give Alaska for thanks.

Onerous Acquisition

The first page of the treaty "on the cession of the Russian North American Colonies to the North American United States."

The idea to sell Alaska, while it is still possible, was born by the Emperor's brother Konstantin Romanov, who served as head of the Russian Naval Staff. This proposal was approved by the autocrat Alexander II and on May 3, 1867, he signed an agreement on the sale of overseas lands to the United States for 7.2 million dollars (at the current rate - about 119 million in gold). On average, it turned out to be somewhere under four and a half dollars per square kilometer with all the real estate located on it.

In accordance with the procedure, the treaty was submitted to the US Congress. The Committee on Foreign Affairs (you can look at the faces of the members of this committee in the above illustration) expressed doubts about the advisability of such a burdensome acquisition in a situation when the civil war had just ended in the country. Nevertheless, the treaty was ratified, and the Stars and Stripes flew over Alaska.

Where's the money, Zin?

Check for the purchase of Alaska. Issued in the name of Eduard Andreevich Stekl.

Baron Eduard Stekl, Chargé d'Affaires at the Russian Embassy in Washington, received a check for $7,200,000. He took 21,000 for his labors, and distributed 144,000 as promised bribes to senators who voted for the ratification of the treaty. The rest was sent to London by bank transfer. The gold bars purchased for this amount were taken by sea to St. Petersburg. When converting the currency, first into pounds, and then into gold, they lost about one and a half million.

But it's still half the trouble. The ship "Orkney", carrying gold bars, sank on the way to the Russian capital. The company that registered the cargo declared itself bankrupt, and the damage was only partially reimbursed. Meanwhile, a gold rush began on the peninsula, and, as already mentioned, over 30 years gold was mined there for 200 million dollars.

On October 18, 1867, Alaska, formerly part of the Russian Empire, was officially transferred to the United States of America. The protocol on the transfer of Alaska was signed on board the American sloop of war "Ossipy", on the Russian side it was signed by a special government commissioner, Captain 2nd Rank Alexei Alekseevich Peshchurov. The transfer of Alaska, then better known as "Russian America", was carried out as part of an agreement concluded with the United States of America on the sale of the territories belonging to Russia in the northwest of the American continent to the United States.

Recall that back in the 18th century, the territory of modern Alaska began to be actively developed by Russian explorers. In 1732, Alaska was discovered by a Russian expedition on the boat "St. Gabriel" under the command of Mikhail Gvozdev and Ivan Fedorov. Nine years later, in 1741, the Aleutian Islands and the coast of Alaska were explored by Bering on the St. Peter packet boat and Chirikov on the St. Pavel packet boat. However, the full development of the North American coast by Russian colonists began only in the 70s of the 18th century, when the first Russian settlement was founded on Unalaska. In 1784, galliots “Three Saints”, “St. Simeon" and "St. Mikhail", who were part of the expedition under the command of Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov. The Russian colonists who arrived on galliots built a settlement - Pavlovsk Harbor, and entered into relationships with local natives, trying to convert the latter to Orthodoxy and, thereby, strengthen Russian influence in these places.

Blessing of the Aleuts for fishing. Artist Vladimir Latyntsev

In 1783, the American Orthodox Diocese was founded, which marked the beginning of a new era in the colonization of the North American coast. In particular, in 1793, the famous Orthodox mission of Archimandrite Ioasaph (Bolotov), ​​consisting of 5 monks of the Valaam Monastery, arrived on Kodiak Island. The activity of the mission was to establish Orthodoxy among the aboriginal population of Kodiak Island. In 1796, the Kodiak vicariate was established as part of the Irkutsk diocese, headed by Joasaph (Bolotov). On April 10, 1799, Archimandrite Joasaph was consecrated bishop by Bishop Veniamin of Irkutsk and Nechinsk, after which he set off back to Kodiak Island. However, the fate of the 38-year-old father Joasaph was tragic. The ship "Phoenix", on which the bishop sailed with his assistants, sank in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. All the people on board were killed. After that, plans to establish an American diocese were put on hold for a long time.

The Russian state did not refuse to further assert its political and economic presence in Alaska. Measures aimed at the development of new lands were especially intensified even after the accession to the throne of Emperor Paul I. The most important role in the development of Alaska was played by Russian merchants, who were most interested in the fur trade and trade in the region of Japan and the Kuril Islands. In 1797, preparations began for the creation of a single monopoly company that could take control of trade and fishing in the Alaska region. On July 19, 1799, the Russian-American Company (hereinafter - RAC) was officially established.

The uniqueness of the Russian-American Company lay in the fact that it was, in fact, the only true colonial monopoly company in the Russian Empire, which modeled its activities on foreign trading companies. Not only did the RAC have monopoly rights to trade and fishing functions on the coast of North America, it also had administrative powers delegated to it by the Russian state. Although back in the 1750s, four decades before the emergence of the Russian-American Company, the first trading monopolies—Persian, Central Asian, and Temernikov—already appeared in the Russian Empire, it was the Russian-American Company that in the fullest sense was a classic colonial administrative and trade monopoly. organization. The activity of the company satisfied the interests of both large entrepreneurs and the Russian state.

In 1801, the board of the company was transferred from Irkutsk to St. Petersburg, which inevitably resulted in a significant increase in the status and capabilities of the company. A huge contribution to this move was made by the actual State Councilor Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov, the son-in-law of the merchant and traveler Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov. Rezanov achieved not only the relocation of the company to the capital of the empire, but also the entry into the ranks of shareholders of members of the imperial family and the emperor himself. Gradually, the Russian-American Company turned into a de facto state institution, for the management of which, since 1816, only officers of the Russian navy were appointed. It was believed that they would be better able to manage and maintain order in the distant overseas territories of Russian America. At the same time, although the effectiveness of the political and administrative sphere after the transition to the practice of appointing naval officers as company leaders increased markedly, the trade and economic affairs of the Russian-American Company were not successful.

The entire Russian development of Alaska was connected with the activities of the Russian-American Company in the 19th century. Initially, the city of Kodiak remained the capital of Russian America, also known as Pavlovskaya Harbor, located on the island of Kodiak, about 90 km from the coast of Alaska. It was here that the residence of Alexander Andreevich Baranov, the first head of the Russian-American Company and the first chief ruler of Russian America in 1790-1819, was located. By the way, Baranov's house, built at the end of the 18th century, has survived to this day - in the American city of Kodiak, where it is the oldest monument of Russian architecture. Currently, the Baranov House in Kodiak houses a museum, which was included in the National Register of Historic Places in the United States in 1966.

Back in 1799, on the shore of the ice-free Sitka Bay, the Mikhailovskaya Fortress was founded, around which the village of Novo-Arkhangelsk arose. In 1804 (according to other sources - in 1808) Novo-Arkhangelsk became the capital of Russian America, which was first included in the Siberian Governor General, and then, after its separation, in the East Siberian Governor General. Twenty years after its founding, in 1819, more than 200 Russians and about 1,000 Indians lived in Novo-Arkhangelsk. An elementary school, a church, as well as a ship repair yard, an arsenal, storehouses and workshops were opened in the village. The main activity of local residents, which provided the economic basis for the existence of the village, was hunting for sea otters. Valuable furs, which the natives were forced to extract, were sold.

Naturally, life in the farthest possession of the Russian Empire was difficult. Novo-Arkhangelsk depended on the supply of food, equipment, and ammunition from the "mainland". But since ships rarely came to the port, the townspeople had to save money and live in Spartan conditions. In the early 1840s. Naval officer Lavrenty Alekseevich Zagoskin visited Novo-Arkhangelsk, who then published a valuable book “Pedestrian inventory of Russian possessions in America, produced by Lieutenant Lavrenty Zagoskin in 1842, 1843 and 1844. with a Mercartor map, engraved on copper. He noted that in the city, which was considered the capital of Russian America, there were no streets, no squares, no courtyards. Novo-Arkhangelsk consisted by that time of about a hundred wooden houses. The two-story residence of the governor was also wooden. Of course, for a strong enemy, the fortifications of Novo-Arkhangelsk did not pose any threat - a normally armed ship could not only destroy the fortifications, but also burn the entire town.

However, until the second half of the 19th century, Russian America managed to avoid tense relations with the neighboring British possessions in Canada. There were no other serious opponents near the borders of Russian possessions in Alaska. At the same time, the Russians during the development of Alaska came into conflict with the local natives - the Tlingit. This conflict went down in history as the Russian-Indian War or the Russian-Tlingit War of 1802-1805. In May 1802, an uprising of Tlingit Indians began, seeking to liberate their territories from Russian colonists. In June 1802, a detachment of 600 Tlingits, led by the leader Katlian, attacked the Mikhailovskaya fortress, in which there were only 15 people at the time of the attack. The Indians also destroyed a small detachment of Vasily Kochesov, who was returning from fishing, and also attacked a larger Sitka party of 165 people and completely defeated it. From imminent death, about twenty Russians who were captured by the Indians were saved by the British from the Unicorn brig that sailed, commanded by Captain Henry Barber. Thus, the Indians took control of the island of Sitka, and the Russian-American Company lost 24 Russians and about 200 Aleuts in battles.

However, in 1804 the main ruler of Russian America, Baranov, took revenge for the defeat of two years ago. He set out to conquer Sitka with a detachment of 150 Russians and 500-900 Aleuts. In September 1804, Baranov's detachment approached Sitka, after which the shelling of the wooden fort built by the Indians began from the ships Yermak, Alexander, Ekaterina and Rostislav. The Tlingits put up fierce resistance, during the battle Alexander Baranov himself was wounded in the arm. Nevertheless, the artillery of the Russian ships did their job - in the end, the Indians were forced to retreat from the fortress, losing about thirty people dead. So Sitka again fell into the hands of the Russian colonists, who began to restore the fortress and build an urban settlement. Novo-Arkhangelsk was revived and became the new capital of Russian America instead of Kodiak. However, the Tlingit Indians continued their periodic raids against the Russian colonists over the years. The last conflicts with the Indians were recorded in the 1850s, shortly before the transfer of Alaska to the United States of America.

In the middle of the XIX century. among some Russian officials close to the imperial court, the opinion is beginning to spread that Alaska is more of a burden for the empire than an economically advantageous territory. In 1853, Count Nikolai Nikolaevich Muravyov-Amursky, then the East Siberian governor-general, raised the question of the possibility of selling Alaska to the United States of America. According to Count Muravyov-Amursky, the remoteness of Russian possessions in Alaska from the main Russian territory, on the one hand, and the spread of railway transport, on the other hand, will lead to the inevitable development of the lands of Alaska by the United States of America. Muravyov-Amursky believed that Russia would sooner or later have to cede Alaska to the United States. In addition, the Russian leaders were also concerned about the possibility of the capture of Alaska by the British. The fact is that from the south and east, Russian possessions in North America bordered on vast Canadian lands belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, and in fact - to the British Empire. Considering that the political relations between the Russian Empire and Great Britain were very tense by this time, fears about the possibility of the British invading Russian possessions in Alaska were quite justified.

When the Crimean War began, Great Britain tried to organize an amphibious landing in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Accordingly, the probability of an invasion of British troops into Russian America sharply increased. The empire would hardly have been able to provide significant support to the few settlers in Alaska. In this situation, the United States, which themselves feared the occupation of Alaska by Great Britain, offered to buy the possessions and property of the Russian-American Company for a period of three years for 7 million 600 thousand dollars. The leadership of the Russian-American Company agreed with this proposal and even signed an agreement with the American-Russian Trading Company in San Francisco, but soon they managed to come to an agreement with the British Hudson's Bay Company, which ruled out the possibility of an armed conflict in Alaska. Therefore, the first agreement on the temporary sale of Russian possessions in America to the United States never entered into force.

Meanwhile, discussions continued in the Russian leadership about the possibility of selling Russian America to the United States. So, in 1857, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich expressed this idea to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Empire, Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov. The head of the diplomatic department supported this idea, but it was decided to temporarily postpone consideration of the issue of selling Alaska. On December 16, 1866, a special meeting was held, in which Emperor Alexander II himself, the initiator of the idea of ​​selling Alaska, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, the ministers of finance and the naval ministry, and the Russian envoy to Washington, Baron Eduard Stekl, took part. At this meeting, it was decided to sell Alaska to the United States of America. After consultations with representatives of the American leadership, the parties came to a common denominator. It was decided to cede Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million.

On March 30, 1867, an agreement was signed in Washington between the Russian Empire and the United States of America. On May 3, 1867, the treaty was signed by Emperor Alexander II. According to the treaty, the entire Alaska Peninsula, the Alexander Archipelago, the Aleutian Islands with the island of Attu, the Near Islands, Krys'i, Lis'i, Andreyanovskie, Shumagina, Trinity, Umnak, Unimak, Kodiak, Chirikov, Afognak and other smaller islands passed to the United States; islands in the Bering Sea: St. Lawrence, St. Matthew, Nunivak and the Pribylov Islands - St. George and St. Paul. Together with the territory, the United States of America was given all the property that was in Russian possessions in Alaska and the islands.

Attention! Copyright! Reprinting is possible only with written permission. . Copyright infringers will be prosecuted in accordance with applicable law.

History of the State of Alaska

The first inhabitants of Alaska

According to scientists, Alaska was discovered by Siberian hunters - the progenitors of most of the native American Indians, who migrated north during the Ice Age in search of mammoths - the main animal that people of the Stone Age hunted.

Ancient people migrated to the American continent through the Bering Strait, which at that time was a 1600-kilometer natural ice bridge between the two continents. When the climate changed and warming came, the ice melted and the water level of the world's oceans rose, flooding this bridge and dividing Siberia and Alaska by the Bering Sea.

Excavations by researchers and scientists in Alaska have revealed interesting facts to us: items from human everyday life were found that were used in his household 12 thousand years ago - that is, several centuries before the end of the Ice Age. Apparently, the progenitors of the Eskimo nation appeared as early as 6 millennia BC.

Settlement of the northwestern lands

The coast of the American Northwest once belonged to the domain of Prince Wilhelm. The Indians who inhabited these lands of northern California also gradually migrated north, bringing their culture to these lands. The north was rich in fish: salmon, flounder, cod, herring, edible species of shellfish and marine mammals were found in abundance in the coastal waters of Alaska. Thousands of species of plants suitable for food grew on the fertile soil of these lands, and many animals lived in the forests. Therefore, the lands of Alaska were so attractive to people.

Three indigenous peoples became the founders and first inhabitants of these places: Tlingit (Tlingit,) Haida (Haida) and Tsimshian (Tsimshian). The people of these tribes settled south of Alaska.

The most numerous was the Tlingit tribe. They founded many settlements on these lands. The Tlingit had their own language, which scientists attribute to the inner American group of Athabasca Indian languages. Since the Tlingit were the most numerous tribe, it was they, as the owners of this territory, who first came into contact with Russian travelers and explorers who came to these lands in 1741.

The people of the Haida tribe lived on the lands of British Columbia, on the Queen Charlotte Islands and in the southern part of Alaska - on the Prince of Wales Islands. It is traditionally believed that the peoples of the Haida began moving north about 1,700 years ago.

The Tsimshian people inhabited the southeast coast and nearby islands in the area of ​​what is now Fort Simpson, in the District of British Columbia. This fort was founded in 1834 as a result of the activities of the British Hudson's Bay Company. And in 1887, a large group of Tsimshian Indians, led by an Anglican church missionary William Duncan, settled Anette Island off the coast of Alaska .

The peoples of all three tribes were engaged in fishing. They fished with fish traps and nets. For hunting marine life, a harpoon with a rope was widely used. For sea hunting - canoes of various shapes and sizes were built. And for their hunting for forest animals, they made bows and arrows, arranged various tricky traps: loops. Arcana and holes. The Indians usually made their hunting tools from wood, and the tips of harpoons and arrows from sharpened, honed stones or seashells. The Indians decorated their products, skillfully finishing them with amazing patterns.

The Indians of these tribes lived in large houses, in which, as in dormitories, the whole village lived, traditionally considering all its inhabitants to be one family.

Social relations in these tribes were built on the principle of matriarchy. They traced their lineage through their mother. However, in the Tlingit and Haida tribes, marriages between relatives in a straight line: siblings were forbidden. The Tlingit also had clans in which social relations were traced back to the first legendary ancestors. The ancestors of the forefathers constituted a special aristocracy of clans: leaders, elders, masters and slaves. However, these class distinctions were constantly subject to some kind of change and were not static.

Each clan and each tribe usually had political independence from other tribes. All the prey from the hunt was shared within the circle of one family-clan, in which their leader or elder disposed of. Each clan had its own deity, its leader, its own personal name, its own songs and ritual dances. The deities of the Indian clans were animals that served as the main prey of hunting, as well as the forces of nature, which, according to the Indians, are responsible for the length of human life and the fertility of the earth. The Indians were pagans and endowed with a magical spirit all living things, all the surrounding nature.

Political leadership was achieved through prestige competitions. If a clan man aspired to leadership, he had to be the most successful hunter, on whom the well-being of the entire tribe would depend.

Unlike the inhabitants of the coast, who had their own rich natural resources, representatives of the peoples of the Athabaskan language group lived in the more severe conditions of the Arctic and subarctic regions in the north of the continent. This vast expanse had extremely poor natural conditions, and people had to find and get their own food with great difficulty. The weather conditions of this region have always been characterized by long winters and short cold summers. The Attabasca Indians hunted moose, musk deer, grizzly bears, wild goats and fished.

The Athabaskans led a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle, moving from one area to another in search of prey for hunting and fishing. In the rivers they caught trout and pike, in the forests they hunted mainly musk deer, hares and polar partridges. Tools for hunting and fishing used the same as all the Indians of the North American continent. And although the Athabaskans hunted animals and birds a lot, however, periods when their tribes were starving were not uncommon in the life of the Athabaskans.

They designed the construction options for their wigwam houses depending on the coming season. All Athabaskans built their houses of wood and poles in such a way that, in addition to the family, domestic animals and birds could also fit in them. Nomadic groups of Indians built lighter dwellings. The Indians of such tribes of the Athabasca people as the Ingalik (Ingalik) that lived on the Yukon River or the tribe of Kaskokwim (Kuskokwim) usually built a temporary settlement for the winter, and moved to camps for summer fishing. They built winter houses on the principle of Eskimo dugouts.

The Athabaskans had very simple social divisions of society. Most of the year they spent in the circle of small groups of neighboring families. The similarity between them existed in that they professed the principles of matriarchy and relatives maintained close relations, observing all the obligations of members of the same family. A family member had to find a spouse not among close relatives, but in another tribe.

When natural resources allowed, several tribes united to hunt together. Despite the fact that they all hunted together, Indian men competed with each other for the right to be a leader in hunting, on the basis of which a man could become one of the leaders of the tribe. Also, an Indian who proved himself a brave warrior in intertribal conflicts could become the leader of the tribe. Leaders were not elected for life. And if one day luck turned away from the leader, he could no longer claim leadership in the tribe.

The Athabaskans had traditions and ceremonials in which, for example, the tribe welcomed and gave gifts to their guests. Also, a family meal was arranged when one of the members of the tribe died. As the Athabaskans began to engage in trade with the Palefaces, they became more likely to hold common tribal meals in honor of their new partners, thus modeling the attitudes and traditions of dealing with the Palefaces for tribes throughout the Northwest coast of the Americas.

The Indians held feasts to commemorate the first hunt, a military feat, the return of hunters from a long campaign, a successful revenge or a new campaign. A man about to get married had to make a feast for his tribe three times. Ceremonies were also arranged when the tribe made a general decision to exile one of its members for the fault - he could not receive any support from any of his relatives for at least one year.

The Athabaskans were also pagans. They lived in a world inhabited by many spirits. They believed that after death, human souls move into animals and used these legends in their rituals.

The Athabaskans had special members of the tribes who performed religious rites and were responsible for connecting the Indians with the world of otherworldly forces. These people were called shamans. Shamans were the guardians of religious rites and possessed many knowledge: how to heal the sick; how to attract good luck to the hunter; how to predict the weather and the future.

The Eskimo culture developed in the territories of western Alaska, so it is natural that the languages ​​​​of the Eskimos and Aleuts are so different from each other. The Eskimos mastered the waters of the Arctic Ocean and therefore paid great attention to the means of water transportation.

The traditional tools of the economy of the Eskimos - in Siberia were in use long before they appeared on the lands of Alaska. And this culture and management technologies penetrated the territory of North America and for 4 thousand years BC. spread from Alaska to Greenland.

From the shores of northern Alaska to Greenland, the Eskimos hunted marine animals: seals, seals, whales. Some groups of Eskimos hunted deer and musk deer. These groups of Eskimo people were called Caribou Eskimo and lived in Canada, in the west of Hudson Bay. Other small groups of Eskimo people lived along the Colville and Noatak rivers, as well as in the Yukon and Kuskokwim deltas.

However, despite the difference in habitats, the Eskimos had a common culture, national dress and traditions. It happened so because even thousands of years ago the wild, primitive culture of this people: dog sleds, kayak boats and more. others - spread through Alaska throughout North America to Greenland.

Social relations among the Eskimos were concentrated around the tribal family. The men were hunting. The Yupik Eskimo had special ceremonial houses in which the Eskimo men taught the boys the art of hunting, and the women stayed at home and educated the girls. Most Eskimo marriages took place within the tribal community.

The Eskimos hunted and fished. They had their own taboos and prohibitions: for example, they did not dare to mix terrestrial and marine life for food. The Eskimos of the Bering Sea (Bering Sea Eskimo) had many rituals and rituals associated with hunting animals. And the Eskimos who lived north of their territories did not have similar hunting and fishing traditions.

The Aleuts adapted very well to life in the difficult natural conditions of the Aleutian Islands. They have learned to perfectly use the rich resources of the sea for life. However, their traditions were forgotten and absorbed by the more civilized culture of the Russian people, whom the Aleuts first met in 1740.

The Aleuts built separate dugouts in which families lived. Sometimes the Aleuts wandered to the northern shores of the Bering Sea. This happened when populations of marine animals migrated to other areas. Then the Aleuts built seasonal houses and seasonal camps.

Society was divided into social classes: leaders, common people and slaves. The traditions of the Aleuts in many respects have something in common with the customs of the Tlingit tribe and groups of peoples of Siberia. It is possible that initially the Aleuts also professed the family principle of tribal organization. The Aleut community usually consisted of an elder father and his wife or wives, a married eldest son and his family, and sometimes a younger brother and his family. Young children were usually sent to be raised by their mothers, who had their own homes.

When the sea waters were freed from ice, the Aleuts went out to sea to hunt. They hunted seals, walruses, sea lions and whales. Many of their hunting tools were similar to those of the southern Eskimos: a two-seater kayak boat; bone and stone weapons. The Aleuts also hunted birds, 140 species of which nested in the Aleutian Islands. For hunting birds, the Aleuts used bolo (ropes, to the ends of which stones were tied - braided into braids and rushed at birds). In fishing, they used nets and harpoons. Also, the Aleuts collected sea mollusks and northern berries and herbs.

Early European exploration of Alaska

Russian expeditions

In 1654, the Russian merchant Fedot Alekseev set off from the east of the Siberian peninsula of Kolyma along the Pogicha River with his expedition, wanting to find lands rich in gold, fur-bearing animals and walruses, the bones of which were highly valued. Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev went on this campaign with him - as a representative of the authorities, vested with the authority to establish duties on trade with the local population. On this journey, Dezhnev was the first explorer to open a sea passage from the shores of the Arctic to the ocean.

Now this sea route is called the Bering Strait, since Dezhnev's report on the opening of the strait never reached the government. Tsar Peter the Great, who ruled Russia at that time, never found out that Siberia closely neighbors the North American continent. However, shortly before his death, Peter the Great sent Captain Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator who was in the Russian service, to explore the sea coast of Siberia.

Peter sent Bering on an expedition to study and describe the northeastern coast of Siberia. In 1728, Bering's expedition re-discovered the strait, which was first seen by Semyon Dezhnev. However, because of the fog, Bering was unable to see the outlines of the North American continent on the horizon.

In 1733, the Russian government again appointed Bering the head of a new expedition, the purpose of which was to explore the resources of Siberia and establish trade with Japan.

In this expedition, Bering also explored the American coast. The expedition of Vitus Bering set off for the shores of America from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on June 8, 1741 on two ships: St. Peter (under the command of Bering) and St. Paul (under the command of Alexei Chirikov). Each ship had its own team of scientists and researchers on board.

On June 20, the ships went on different routes, on July 15, land was noticed on Chirikov's ship. Presumably, the sailors saw the shores of Prince of Wales Island. And the ship under the control of Bering, which was moving north, the next day went to the shores of Kayak Island. Bering from the sea saw the top of the mountain, which he called the mountain of St. Elias (Saint Elias), since July 16 is the day of St. Elias. The ship's doctor, German scientist Georg Wilhelm Steller, was among the first to land on shore in order to collect some medicinal plants to help the crew suffering from scurvy. Steller also collected some samples of shells and grasses on the shore, discovered new species of birds and animals, from which the researchers concluded that their ship had reached the new continent of North America.

Chirikov's ship returned on October 8 to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, but Bering's ship was carried by the current and wind to the east of the Kamchatka Peninsula - to the Commander Islands. At one of the islands, the ship was wrecked, and it was thrown ashore. Travelers were forced to spend the winter on the island, which now bears the name of Bering Island. On this island, the commander died without surviving the harsh winter. In the spring, the surviving crew members built a boat from the wreckage of the wrecked St. Peter and returned to Kamchatka only in September. Thus ended the first Russian expedition that discovered the northwestern coast of the North American continent.

The Russian Empress Elizabeth had no interest in the lands of North America. She issued a decree obliging the local population to pay a fee for trade, but did not take any further steps towards developing relations with Alaska.

For the next 50 years, Russia showed very little interest in this land. Some merchants traded with the Aleuts, buying furs from them. The thin fur of the sea otter, the sea otter, was especially valued. Russian merchants were especially profitable in selling Aleutian furs in the Chinese markets.

In 1743, Russian traders and fur hunters established very close contact with the Aleuts. The European diseases that the new settlers brought to the Aleuts were fatal to the natives of the new continent. Smallpox, measles, tuberculosis, venereal diseases, pneumonia - became the weapon that almost exterminated the Aleuts. Prior to contact with Europeans, the Aleut population numbered 15-20 thousand people. In 1834, only 2,247 of them remained, in 1848 - already 1,400. Since 1864, when the Russians settled on the islands, the Aleut population again jumped sharply to 2,005 people - thanks to mixed marriages and the influx of new blood. But by 1890 it dropped again to 1,702 people.

Hunters migrated to the east of the Aleutian Islands following the animals they hunted. Since the trade moved away from Kamchatka, the prices for fur rose, and small trading companies went bankrupt. Until 1770, Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov, Pavel Sergeevich Lebedev-Lastochkin, as well as the brothers Grigory and Peter Panov were considered the richest and most famous among the merchants, merchants and fur buyers in Alaska.

In 1762, Empress Catherine the Great became the ruler of Russia, and the government again turned its attention to the Aleuts. In 1769, Catherine issued a decree by which she abolished duties on trade with the Aleuts, and also issued a decree by which she ordered the government to worry about the fate of the Aleut people. Unfortunately, the decree of the Empress remained only a decree on paper. Without the control and supervision of the ruler over its execution.

Competition among other powers

Spain was also interested in territories in the North Pacific. Fear of Russian expansion into the lands of North America prompted Spain to occupy the lands of Alta California (now the state of California) and build their forts of San Diego, Monterey and other Californian settlements on them.

In 1774, 1777, 1778 and 1790 Spanish expeditions were sent to Alaska. And the expedition of 1790 already had a specific goal: to explore and, if possible, take possession of the territories in Alaska. However, when the Spanish ships came into confrontation with the ships of the British land of Nootka Sound (now it is the Canadian province of British Columbia), the Spaniards were forced to admit defeat and abandon their attempts to capture the northern territories.

Britain, France and the United States explored Alaska but did not attempt to acquire its territory. In 1778, British captain James Cook compiled topographic maps of the Alaskan coast and visited the Aleutian lands. In Alaska, Cook and his crew purchased many valuable sea otter skins, which they sold at great profit in China, and subsequent British interest in Alaska was concentrated on trade.

France also sent an expedition to Alaska under the command of Jean de Galup, who returned from their expedition in 1788. But the French Revolution of 1789 interrupted further French exploration in this region of North America.

Colonization

Russian fur merchants were annoyed by foreign competitors. Especially the British, who offered cheaper goods for exchange with the local population than Russian merchants. The Russians felt that a state establishment of a colony was necessary. In 1784, the merchant Shelikhov builds and equips his own ships and sends them to Kodiak Island. Gradually (by 1788) the number of Russians in the Aleutian Islands and North America reached 500, and by 1794, as a result of the activities of G.I. Shelikhov, it exceeded 800 people.

It was thanks to the energy and foresight of Shelikhov that the foundation of Russian possessions was laid in these new lands. The first permanent settlement appeared on the island of Kodiak, in the bay of the Three Saints. Shelikhov also headed the first agricultural colony "Glory to Russia". His settlement plans included flat streets, schools, libraries, parks. At the same time, Shelikhov was not a statesman. He remained a merchant. industrialist, entrepreneur, acting with the permission of the government.

Until 1786, Shelikhov was the most successful fur trader in the Aleutian lands, but his fur empire needed other capable leaders. He saw one such assistant in Alexander Andreevich Baranov, a Siberian merchant who arrived in Kodiak in 1791. Soon a merchant from Kargopol, 43-year-old Alexander Baranov, was appointed chief manager on Kodiak Island. Baranov was on the verge of bankruptcy when Shelikhov took him as his assistant, guessing in him exceptional qualities: enterprise, perseverance, firmness.

Baranov soon moved the representative office of the company from the Three Saints Bay to the north of the island, to the city of Pavlovsk, which had the best harbor and was located in a wooded area, which was very important for future construction. Now Pavlovsk is the main city of Kodiak Island.

The new ruler Alexander Baranov faced many problems. Most of the food and almost all goods for exchange had to be imported from Russia, and there were not enough ships. The motto of the Russian colony was the saying: "work tirelessly." The colony constantly lacked people to build ships, protect the colony, and organize everyday life. Local Aleuts came to the rescue. They made up the main labor force of the colony, they hunted fur-bearing game, while the Russians were engaged in arranging residence and harvesting the skins and triggers of animals. The Aleuts guarded the fort and kept watch.

During Baranov's tenure as the Ruler of Russian America, Russia's possessions expanded to the south and east. Baranov founded and built Russian representative offices in the Aleutian lands. The largest is Novo-Arkhangelsk (New Archangel), founded in 1799. In 1802 the Tlingit tribe attacked the fort and destroyed it. And in 1804 Baranov returned to these lands with a Russian warship and defeated the Tlingits. After the victory, Novo-Arkhangelsk was rebuilt. 4 km south of this city, the famous Alaskan city of Sitka subsequently grew.

Baranov faithfully served Shelikhov and then the Russian-American Company from 1790 to 1818 until he retired at the age of 71. During his lifetime, there were legends about him: he inspired respect and fear in the people around him. even the strictest government auditors were amazed at his dedication, energy and dedication.

Russian-American company

With the merger of the companies of merchants G.I. Shelikhova, I.I. and M.S. Golikovs and N.P. Mylnikov in 1798 was created and in 1799 the unified Russian-American company was finally formed. She received from Paul I monopoly rights to fur trade, trade and the discovery of new lands in the northeastern part of the Pacific Ocean, designed to represent and protect Russia's interests in the Pacific Ocean with her own means.

Since 1800, the main board of the company, which consisted of several directors, was located in St. Petersburg on the Moika near the Blue Bridge. The company was declared under the "highest protection". Since 1801, Alexander I and the Grand Dukes, major statesmen have become shareholders of the company.

Shelikhov died in 1795. His son-in-law and legal heir to the "Russian-American Company" Nikolai Petrovich Ryazanov in 1799 received from the ruler of Russia, Emperor Paul the First, the right to monopoly the American fur trade. This authority obliged the company to take under its possession the northern territories previously discovered by the Russians. And to establish Russian representations not only on them, but also on new lands, however, trying not to come into conflict with other powers.

In 1812, Baranov established a southern representative office of the company (on the coast of the California Bay of Bodidzha (Bodega). This representative office was called the Russian Village (Selenie Ross), now known as Fort Ross. Later, in 1841, Fort Ross was sold to John Sutter, a German industrialist who made his way into California history with his sawmill in Coloma, where a gold mine was found in 1848 that started the famous California Gold Rush.

Baranov retired from the post of director of the Russian-American Company in 1818. He wanted to return home - to Russia, but died on the way.

Naval officers came to the management of the company, who contributed to the development of the company. And in 1821, the following moment was stipulated in the policy of the company: from now on, only naval officers were to be the leaders of the Russian-American Company. The naval leadership of the company improved its administration, expanded the colonies. However, unlike Baranov, the naval leadership was very little interested in the trading business itself, and was extremely nervous about the settlement of Alaska by the British and Americans. The management of the company, in the name of the Russian Emperor, banned the invasion of all foreign ships in the 160 km water area near the Russian colonies in Alaska. Of course, such an order was immediately protested by Great Britain and the United States government.

The dispute with the United States was settled by an 1824 convention that determined the exact northern and southern boundaries of Russian territory in Alaska. In 1825, Russia also came to an agreement with Britain, also defining the exact eastern and western borders. The Russian Empire gave both sides (Britain and the USA) the right to trade in Alaska for 10 years, after which Alaska completely passed into the possession of Russia.

Alaska Purchase

In 1843, US Secretary of the Government William Marcy and Senator William M. Gwin, both adherents of the policy of expansion, turned to the Russian ambassador to the United States, Baron Edward Stoeckl, with the provocative question: "Is it true that Russia is putting up for sale its colony of Alaska?" Stockl replied "Of course not!" However, this question intrigued him.

In 1844, the Russian-American Company's patent for monopoly trade was extended for another 20 years. The company tried to profit from new sources: coal mining; whaling and even exporting ice to San Francisco. However, all these adventures were unprofitable.

The sale of Alaska took place in 1867, not long after the popular term "Russian America" ​​appeared. Russian possessions in America were, in fact, not state property, but the property of companies - first of several private Russians, and then, from 1799, of the Russian-American ... Russia did not have any act of annexing these possessions - they were possessions of Russian subjects.

This kind of property was common in the 18th and 19th centuries (East India Company, Hudson's Bay Company, etc.). No wonder that at first Fort Ross, and then other possessions of the Russians in America, were ceded. In fact, a deal was made between the patrons of the RAC - the government and the emperor himself - with America.

Thus, Russia, as it were, got rid of, first of all, a loss-making company that constantly worries it with problems. And one more thing - CANCER was burdened by the knowledge that there are no dividends and they are not expected. One debt. Moreover, at that time, large investments were required for the development of new lands in Primorye.

But most of all, the fate of Russian America was influenced by the Crimean War (1853-56), which led to the impoverishment of the treasury and at the same time showed the insecurity of the territories in the Pacific Ocean in front of the British fleet. By 1866, the RAC owed the Ministry of Finance 725 thousand rubles. Talk began in government circles that the sale of Russian America would help replenish the treasury and at the same time get rid of a vulnerable and unprofitable colony, which would somehow go to the United States. In addition, by selling Alaska, Russia would have gained an ally in the fight against England, which was hostile at that time.

In the end, the Russian government decided to sell Alaska to the United States and instructed Baron Stockl to negotiate. On March 11, 1867, Stokel began negotiations for the sale of Alaska with US Secretary of the Government William H. Seward.

An agreement on the cession of Russia's North American colonies to the United States for 7 million 200 thousand dollars in gold was drawn up in Washington on March 18, 1867. Seward had some difficulty getting government approval for such a massive purchase at the time. But he enlisted the support of many Congressmen and, finally, the Senate approved the purchase, passing this decision by a vote of 37 for to 2 against. Some newspapers called this purchase crazy, and Seward called crazy, but, under pressure from the official press, the US public supported the purchase of Alaska.

The signature and seal of Alexander II on the contract appeared only on May 3, but in fact Alaska had already been sold. On March 23, the editors of the St. Petersburg newspapers received a message about this via the Atlantic telegraph - and refused to believe it. This news was presented by newspapermen as an empty rumor. The famous publisher of Golos A. A. Kraevsky expressed the bewilderment of Russian society on this issue: “Today, yesterday and the third day we are transmitting and transmitting telegrams received from New York and London about the sale of Russian possessions in North America ... We are now , as then, we cannot treat such an incredible rumor otherwise than as the most vicious joke on the gullibility of society.

On July 18, the White House officially announced its desire to pay Russia the amount assigned in the auction for Alaska.

Only on October 8 in the newspaper of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "Northern Post" was published "The highest ratified treaty on the cession of Russian North American colonies." The formal transfer of Alaska to the United States took place on November 11, 1867 at Sitka.

The Russian history of the development of Alaska lasted 126 years. However, the activity of Russians on these lands took place, by and large, within the territory of the Aleutian Islands, Kodiak and the Alexander Archipelago. Some research, of course, was carried out within the continent, but they were limited to very few settlements. The peak of the Russian population in the lands of Alaska did not exceed 700 people. The most significant contribution to the development of the lands of Alaska by the Russian people should be considered the activity of the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church. They built their churches on these lands and were engaged in missionary work among the local residents - the Aleuts and Tlingits. The Russian Orthodox Church has never ceased its activities. She serves on the lands of Alaska and now.

The United States was no better prepared to govern Alaska than the Russians. Many Americans had no information about these lands at all. The Civil War had just ended, and the leaders of the country were more concerned about resolving the former conflict. Whatever it was, but many Americans still came to the new lands of Alaska to trade, hunt or whaling. In addition, in 1864, the Western Union Company began building a telegraph line to connect North America with East Asia and Europe via Alaska. However, this enterprise collapsed when, in 1866, the project of laying a transatlantic cable connecting the New World with the Old was brilliantly completed.

However, the efforts expended by Western Union to implement its project were not in vain and stimulated American interest in the lands of Alaska. Scientific expeditions were organized to these parts. The rich scientific and educational information accumulated by Russian researchers and generously provided to America after its purchase of Alaska also contributed to the successful scientific study of Alaska.

Popular new items, discounts, promotions

Reprinting, publication of an article on websites, forums, blogs, groups in contact and mailing lists is NOT allowed

Alaska

• Alaska- the northernmost and largest state in the United States; located in the northwest of North America. In the Bering Strait it has a maritime border with Russia. It includes the peninsula of the same name with adjacent islands, the Aleutian Islands, a narrow strip of the Pacific coast, along with the islands of the Alexander Archipelago along the western border of Canada.
• The area of ​​the land- 1,717,854 km², of which 236,507 km² is on the water surface.
• Population– 736 732 people (2014).
• State capital- City of Juneau.

Name

The word "Alaska" comes from the Aleutian alah'sakh' or ala'sh'a, meaning whale's place, or whale's abundance. Another interpretation of the name Alaska comes from the Aleutian word meaning big land, continent, peninsula.

Alaska's poetic nickname - "The Last Frontier"(The Last Frontier). So Alaska is called because it was the last territory on the North American continent, which received the status of the 49th US state on January 3, 1959, and also because of its remoteness from the main territory of the United States. Another nickname is The Land of the Midnight Sun.

Climate

Alaska is located in the subarctic climate zone.

It is divided into 5 climatic zones:

1. Marine zone, including southeastern Alaska, the southern coast, and the southwestern islands
2. Maritime continental zone, covering the west of the Bristol Bay, as well as the western tip of the central zone. Summer temperatures are influenced by the open waters of the Bering Sea, while winter temperatures are more continental as the sea freezes completely during the coldest months of the year.
3. transition zone between marine and continental areas covers the southern part of the Copper River Basin, Cook Inlet, and the northern limits of the southern coastal zone
4. continental zone includes the headwaters of the Copper River and its basin, and the interior of Alaska
5. arctic zone occupies the territory located north of the Arctic Circle

Annual precipitation in the maritime zone of southeastern Alaska, due to high humidity on the slopes of the mountain ranges, reaches 5080 mm, and up to 3810 mm along the northern coast of the Gulf of Alaska. Precipitation decreases to almost 1752 mm on the southern slopes of the Alaska Range in the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands. Farther north, the level of precipitation decreases to 305 mm in the continental zone, and to 152 mm in the arctic zone. Significantly, the level of annual precipitation varies from snowfall.

The average annual temperature of Alaska varies from +4°С in the south to -12°С on the northern spurs of the Brooks Range in the Arctic zone. Temperature fluctuations at different times of the year are most characteristic of the central and eastern parts of the continental interior.

• In the summer months, the temperature here rises to an average of +21°C and even up to +32°C.
• In winter, in the absence of sunlight, the temperature drops to -10°C.
• The average annual winter temperature is from 1.1°С to -6.6°С.
• In the marine zone, the average temperatures of summer and winter vary from +15°С to -6.6°С.

Administrative division

Unlike most other states in the United States, where the county is the primary local government unit, the name of the administrative units in Alaska is borough. Another difference is even more important - 15 boroughs and the municipality of Anchorage cover only part of the territory of Alaska. The rest of the territory does not have enough population to form local self-government and forms the so-called unorganized borough, which, for the purposes of the population census and for the convenience of administration, was divided into so-called population census zones. There are 11 such zones in Alaska.

Story

prehistoric alaska

The first traces of human habitation in Alaska date back to the Paleolithic period, when the first people moved to the northwestern part of North America through the Bering Isthmus, which connects Eurasia and America into one continent. According to various estimates, this happened somewhere 40-15 thousand years ago. The most probable is the period of 20 thousand years.

The further advance of the settlers inland was hindered by a significant ice cover that existed until the end of the Wisconsin glaciation (the last ice age on the mainland). Then people moved to the territory of modern Canada and in the future settled throughout the Americas. Thus, Alaska became home to the Eskimos and other peoples.

Today, the native Alaskan nationalities are divided into several groups: the southeastern coastal Americans (Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshians), the Aleuts, and two branches of the Eskimos (Yupik and Inupiat). Human settlement of America also went through the territory of Alaska, which took place in three stages: Amerindians, Na-Dene (Tlingit) and Eskimos. The Eskimos and related Aleuts are archaeologically recorded from the 3rd millennium BC. (Paleo-Eskimos), their ancestors created the archaeological ancient Bering Sea culture and the Thule culture.

Discovery of Alaska

It is assumed that the first Europeans who saw the shores of Alaska were members of the expedition of Semyon Dezhnev in 1648, who were the first to sail along the Bering Strait from the Cold Sea to the Warm Sea. In addition, there is fragmentary information about the visit of Russian people to America in the 17th century.

The first Europeans to visit Alaska on August 21, 1732 were members of the St. Gabriel" under the command of surveyor M. S. Gvozdev and navigator I. Fedorov during the expedition of A. F. Shestakov and D. I. Pavlutsky in 1729–1735. Expedition Gvozdev fixed the territory of Cape Prince of Wales.

• In 1745, the Russian industrialists Nevodchikov on the ship "St. Evdokim" set foot on the shore of the Aleutian island of Attu, where there was a skirmish with the Aleuts (in 1760 another Russian ship "St. John the Baptist" visited the island).
• In 1753, the foot of a Russian industrialist set foot on the island of Adak, in 1756 - on the island of Tanaga.
• In 1758, the boat "St. Julian" under the command of the navigator and leader Stepan Glotov reached Umnak Island from the group of the Fox Islands of the Aleutian ridge. Industrialists spent three years on Umnak and the neighboring large island - Unalaska, engaged in fishing and trading with local residents.
• Since 1774, the Spaniards began sailing to the northwestern shores of America.
• And in 1778, James Cook undertook an expedition to the shores of Alaska.

Russian America

In 1763-1765, an uprising of natives took place in the Aleutian Islands, which was brutally suppressed by Russian industrialists. In 1772, the first Russian trading settlement was founded on the Aleutian Unalashka. In the summer of 1784, an expedition under the command of G. I. Shelekhov (1747–1795) landed on the Aleutian Islands and on August 14 founded the Russian settlement of Kodiak. In 1791, Fort St. Nicholas. In 1792/1793, the expedition of the industrialist Vasily Ivanov reached the banks of the Yukon River.

In September 1794, an Orthodox mission arrived on Kodiak Island, consisting of 8 monks from the Valaam and Konevsky monasteries and the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, headed by Archimandrite Joasaph. Immediately upon arrival, the missionaries immediately began to build a temple and convert the pagans to the Orthodox faith. From 1816, married priests also served in Alaska. Orthodox missionaries made a significant contribution to the development of Russian America.

From July 9, 1799 to October 18, 1867, Alaska with its adjacent islands was under the control of the Russian-American Company. A. A. Baranov became the first governor of Alaska. During the years of Baranov's rule, the boundaries of Russian possessions in Alaska expanded significantly, and new Russian settlements arose. Redoubts appeared in the Kenai and Chugatsky bays. The construction of Novorossiysk in Yakutat Bay began. In 1796, moving south along the coast of America, the Russians reached the island of Sitka. The basis of the economy of Russian America was the fishing of sea animals (sea otters, sea lions), which was carried out with the support of the Aleuts.

However, during the development of the lands of Alaska, the Russians encountered fierce resistance from the Tlingit Indians. In 1802-1805, the Russo-Indian War broke out, which secured Alaska for Russia, but limited the further advance of the Russians deep into America. The capital of Russian America was moved to Novo-Arkhangelsk.

Russia clashed with the British Hudson's Bay Company. To avoid misunderstandings, in 1825 the eastern border of Alaska was delineated by agreement between Russia and Great Britain (now the border between Alaska and British Columbia).

Sale of Alaska

On April 17, 1824, in St. Petersburg, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, Karl Nesselrode, and the US envoy, Henry Middleton, signed an agreement between Russia and the United States on the definition of the border of Russian territories in North America. This treaty demarcated the territory between Russia and the United States. According to him, the border was established along the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude. The Russians pledged not to settle to the south, and the Americans to the north of this line.

After the defeat of Russia in the Crimean War (1853-1856), the US government began to seek the acquisition of Russian possessions in North America. In March 1867, an agreement was signed on the sale of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands by Russia to the United States for $7.2 million.

In March 1867, the government of Emperor Alexander II decided to sell Alaska (with an area of ​​1.5 million square kilometers) for 11.362 million gold rubles (about $7.2 million). Money for Alaska was transferred only in August 1867.

After the signing of the treaty, the entire Alaska Peninsula, a coastal strip 10 miles south of Alaska along the western coast of British Columbia, passed to the United States; the archipelago of Alexander; Aleutian Islands with Attu Island; the islands of the Middle, Krys'i, Lis'i, Andreyanovsk, Shumagin, Trinity, Umnak, Unimak, Kodiak, Chirikov, Afognak and other smaller islands; islands in the Bering Sea: St. Lawrence, St. Matthew, Nunivak and the Pribylov Islands - St. George and St. Paul.

What was the true reason for the sale of Alaska is still unknown. According to one version, the emperor made this deal in order to pay off his debts. In 1862, Alexander II was forced to borrow £15 million from the Rothschilds at 5% per annum. There was nothing to return, and then the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich - the younger brother of the Sovereign - offered to sell "something unnecessary." Alaska turned out to be an unnecessary thing in Russia. In addition to Emperor Alexander II, only five people knew about the deal, his brother Grand Duke Konstantin, Finance Minister Mikhail Reitern, head of the naval ministry Nikolai Krabbe, Foreign Minister Alexander Gorchakov and Russian envoy to the United States Eduard Stekl. The latter had to pay a $16,000 bribe to former US Treasury Secretary Walker for lobbying for the idea of ​​buying the territory of Alaska.

Among other versions of the sale is the approaching crisis in the country. The general state of Russia's finances, despite the reforms carried out in the country, worsened, and the treasury needed foreign money. A year before the transfer of Alaska, Finance Minister Mikhail Reitern sent a special note to Alexander II, in which he pointed out the need for the strictest economy. In his appeal, it was said that for the normal functioning of the empire, a three-year foreign loan of 15 million rubles was required. in year. Prior to this, the idea to sell Alaska was nurtured by the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia Muravyov-Amursky. He said that it would be in Russia's interests to improve relations with the United States in order to strengthen its positions on the Asian coast of the Pacific Ocean, to be friends with America against the British.

As part of the USA

Since 1867, Alaska was under the jurisdiction of the US War Department and was called the "District of Alaska". On October 18, 1867, the US flag was raised in Novoarkhangelsk, which henceforth began to be called Sitka. General Davis became the first American governor of Alaska. In 1869, about 200 Russians remained in Alaska, more than 200 colonial citizens, and more than 1,500 Creoles. All these people were carriers of Russian cultural traditions, Russian was their native language for the colonial citizens, and most of the Creoles were bilingual. In 1870, 483 Russians and 1,421 Creoles lived in Alaska. In 1880, there were 430 “whites”, 1756 Creoles. The entire population of Ninilchik (Kenai Peninsula) kept Russian as their native language literally until the Second World War. In other settlements of the Kenai Peninsula, after the sale of Alaska, the Russian language quickly fell into disuse. This is due to the fact that the Creole population of these villages either switched to local languages ​​or learned English. After the sale of Alaska, Creoles and even some Russians were classified as "uncivilized tribes" and remained in this status until 1915, when they were equated in rights with American Indians. It was not until 1934 that the Creoles, along with other indigenous peoples of the United States, received the status of American citizens.

In 1880, the leader of one of the tribes of the Tlingit Indians named Kovi led two prospectors to the stream flowing into the Gastineau Strait. Joseph Juneau and Richard Harris found gold there and claimed the site - "Golden Stream", which turned out to be one of the richest gold mines. A settlement grew nearby, and then the city of Juneau, which in 1906 became the capital of Alaska. The history of Ketchikan began in 1887, when the first cannery was built. The region developed slowly until the start of the Klondike gold rush in 1896. During the years of the gold rush in Alaska, about one thousand tons of gold were mined, which in April 2005 prices corresponded to 13-14 billion dollars.

US state

The post-war confrontation between America and the Soviet Union, the years of the Cold War further strengthened the role of Alaska as a shield against a possible transpolar attack and contributed to the development of its deserted expanses. Alaska was declared a state on January 3, 1959. Various mineral resources have been exploited since 1968, especially in the Prudhoe Bay area, southeast of Point Barrow. In 1977, an oil pipeline was laid from Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez.

Nature of Alaska

Alaska is washed by the waters of two oceans, from the north - by the Arctic, from the south and west - by the Pacific. Alaska's coastline is longer than all the rest of the US states combined. In Cook Inlet, near the largest city of Alaska, Anchorage, there are some of the highest tides in the world (up to twelve meters).

The Alaska Range stretches along the Pacific coast of Alaska. It is here that the highest mountain in the United States is located - McKinley (6,194 meters above sea level). To the north of the Alaska Range, in the interior of Alaska, there is a plateau with a height of 600 meters in the west to 1200 meters in the east. Further north, beyond the Arctic Circle, is the Brooks Ridge, whose length is over 950 kilometers, and the average height is 2000-2500 meters above sea level. In the very north of Alaska is the Arctic Lowland.

The mountain ranges of Alaska are part of "Pacific Ring of Fire", a volcanic mountain range that is also prone to earthquakes. Among the largest is the Shishaldin volcano on Unimak Island, the highest mountain in the Aleutian Islands.

There are over twelve thousand rivers in Alaska, the largest of which are Yukon(the length of the river is more than 3,000 kilometers, the basin area is about 830,000 km2), Kuskokwim(about 1,300 km), Colville(more than 600 km). There are more than three million (!) lakes in Alaska, many wetlands. Huge territories in Alaska are covered with glaciers (more than forty thousand square kilometers). The largest of them, the Bering Glacier, occupies 5,800 km2. Northern Alaska is home to two of the largest wilderness areas in the United States. In the northeastern part of the state there is the Arctic National Reserve, whose area is more than 78,000 km 2, in the northwest - the territory of the National Oil Reserve with an area of ​​about 95,000 km 2.

Animal world of Alaska

The fauna of the tundra and forest regions of Alaska is quite diverse and characteristic. There are only about 20 species of various fur animals here. Among them, there are mainly representatives of the predatory order (American mink, wolverine and other mustelids, several varieties of foxes, wolves, bears), hares and rodents (muskrat, beaver, etc.). The number of large predators (wolves, coyotes, bears, wolverines) especially increased during the Second World War, when they became a real scourge of Alaska due to the fact that they multiplied in huge numbers as a result of the fact that large herds of domestic reindeer were actually thrown into arbitrariness of fate.

In a number of mountainous and forest regions of Alaska, as well as in the forest tundra, various types of wild ungulates live, such as caribou (American reindeer), moose, mountain goat and bighorn sheep. Musk oxen, completely destroyed in Alaska by the Americans, are now in the amount of about 100 heads on the island of Nunivak, where they were brought from Greenland. On the island of Afognak, an American wapiti brought from Oregon (USA) was acclimatized, and in the Big Delta region (southeast of Fairbanks) there is a small herd of bison.

Birds are exceptionally richly represented in Alaska, among which there are many species related to Siberian ones (three-toed woodpecker, hazel grouse, ptarmigan, Alaskan goose, etc.), but there are also specific American species, such as, for example, the fire-bearing hummingbird.

Life is in full swing not only on land, but also in the seas-oceans washing the shores of Alaska. Off the coast of Alaska, various types of sea animals are widespread. First of all, they should include seals with precious fur, spending time on the rookeries of the Pribylov Islands from May to August; walruses, common on the Arctic coast and the coast of the Bering Sea; sea ​​lions, seals and several species of whales. Many species of animals, especially mammals living in Alaska, are of great commercial importance.

The fish canning industry, as the main branch of the Alaskan economy, is based on catching various species of salmon fish, which are of particular value. In the waters of Alaska, in addition to salmon fish, there are such valuable fish as cod, herring, halibut, and along the Pacific coast, various types of crustaceans (crabs, shrimps), as well as cephalopods and other mollusks are found in large numbers. During the summer months, the air in the interior of Alaska is literally teeming with midges that even a mosquito net does not save a person from them.

Alaska in literature

"White Fang"(Eng. White Fang) is an adventure story by Jack London, the main character of which is a wolf named White Fang. The book tells about the fate of a tamed wolf during the gold rush in Alaska at the end of the 19th century. At the same time, a fairly large part of the work is shown through the eyes of animals and, in particular, of the White Fang himself. The novel describes the different behavior and attitudes of people towards animals, good and evil.

"Song of the Sailor" is the third novel by American author Ken Kesey. The action of the novel takes place in the small town of Kwinak in Alaska, which is inhabited mainly by fishermen. The inhabitants of the town lead a measured, sedate life until Hollywood producers decide to arrange another Disneyland in the town.