© Shutterstock

Beyond the Kamchatka Peninsula -

Mapping the remote Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East was one of the largest exploration enterprises in history. Leading this ambitious undertaking, which became known as the Great Northern Expedition, was Vitus Bering.

© Getty Images 

Vitus Bering leads the way -

Vitus Bering (1681–1741) was a Danish cartographer and explorer in Russian service. His efforts in mapping most of the Arctic coast of Siberia and some parts of the North American coastline in 1725 led to the Bering Strait, the Bering Sea, Bering Island, the Bering Glacier, and Vitus Lake all being named in his honor.

© Getty Images

Mapping the Aleutian Islands -

Bering's endeavors enabled him to map the Aleutian Islands and the coastline of Alaska—a territory rich in possibilities and ripe for occupation and colonization.

© Getty Images

Arrival of the Russian fur trade -

The Russian fur trade first reached North American territory in August 1759 when navigator, explorer, and trapper Stepan Glotov and his crew arrived in the town of Unalaska, on the Aleutian island of Unalaska.

© Getty Images 

Advance of the promyshlenniki -

Soon, these new lands prompted the promyshlenniki—Russian and indigenous Siberian artels, or self-employed entrepreneurs—to head east and establish settlements. They were lured by a rich natural bounty—sea otters and fur seals.

© Getty Images

Hunting the sea otter -

Sea otter populations along the Aleutians and mainland coastlines numbered in their thousands. Slow and cumbersome on land, the mammals made easy pickings for the promyshlenniki, and were progressively exploited by the Russians for their fur.

© Getty Images 

The prized northern fur seal -

Similarly, the northern fur seal was hunted mercilessly for its soft downy pelt.

© Getty Images 

Peter the Great -

The burgeoning fur trade and the revenue it generated was not lost on the Russian court. As early as 1721, Peter the Great (1672–1725) had recognized the potential for expanding the Russian Empire eastward, to the Pacific Ocean and beyond.

© Getty Images 

Catherine the Great -

In 1775, Catherine II (1729–1796), commonly known as Catherine the Great, commissioned Siberian merchant and fur trader Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov (1747–1795) to organize a series of voyages to the Kuril Islands and the Aleutian Islands.

© Getty Images

Permanent settlement in North America -

On a subsequent voyage in 1784, Shelikhov founded the first permanent Russian settlement in North America, at Three Saints Bay on Alaska's Kodiak Island.

© Getty Images 

Three Saints Bay -

Three Saints Bay served as the hub of the Russian fur trade in Alaska for eight years. In fact, it was during this period that the Shelikhov-Golikov Company, a Russian fur trading venture cofounded by Shelikhov and Ivan Larionovich Golikov, was established. This company was the predecessor of the Russian-American Company, which was founded in 1799.

© Getty Images 

The Awa'uq Massacre -

Russia's relentless land-grabbing and the promyshlenniki's otter kill rate angered Kodiak's indigenous Alutiiq people. Shelikhov decided to appease the Alutiiq by pursuing them to a remote outpost known as Awa’uq, or Refuge Rock. In what became known as the Awa'uq Massacre, he slaughtered hundreds, and seized dozens as hostages.

© Shutterstock 

Alexander Baranov -

In the wake of the massacre, it was decided to relocate the fur-trade operation to Pavlovskaya (modern-day Kodiak City). The man tasked with the move was Alexander Baranov (1747–1819).

© Getty Images 

Russian-American Company -

Baranov was ultimately hired to oversee the entire fur trading business in what was now known as Russian America. With Czar Paul I's blessing, he would also become the chief of the Russian-American Company and the first governor of Russian Alaska. Pictured is the Russian-American Company flag.

© Getty Images 

Pavlovskaya -

However, Baranov thought twice about basing the company in Pavlovskaya. So he relocated the company headquarters to Novoarkhangelsk (modern-day Sitka).

© Getty Images 

"Paris of the Pacific" -

Novoarkhangelsk during the 1800s thrived as the region's premier fur trading center, and was known as the "Paris of the Pacific."

© Getty Images 

Culture clash -

Novoarkhangelsk, which translates into English as "New Archangel," welcomed an influx of Russian fur hunters, and Orthodox missionaries. But while local communities traded with the merchants, they also fiercely resisted Russian encroachment on their land. Indigenous Tlingit warriors began to target more remote Russian outposts, but with dreadful consequences.

© Getty Images 

Seeking revenge -

Following an attack in 1802 by the Tlingit on a Russian settlement at Katlianski Bay, Baranov mustered a force of 150 promyshlenniki and around 700 Aleuts—indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands whom the Russians had converted to Christianity.

© Getty Images 

Battle of Sitka -

Russian reprisals for the attack were swift and bloody. From October 1-4, 1804, the colonizers repelled the Tlingit in a series of engagements: it was the last major armed conflict between Russians and Alaska Natives.

© Public Domain 

Capital of Russian America -

The victorious Russians proceeded to strengthen Novoarkhangelsk with a fortress and a number of block houses. Trade resumed, and by 1808 the settlement was declared the capital of Russian America.

© Getty Images 

Hard times -

Alexander Baranov used the opportunity to further expand Russian settlement in the region. In Yakutat, he built forts, opened sawmills and tanneries, and began exploiting coal and iron ore reserves. But Russian America's prosperity was relative. The colonies still relied almost entirely on supplies from Siberia—which sometimes arrived spoiled or often weren't delivered at all.

© Getty Images

Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov -

Just how dire the situation had become in Alaska was chronicled by Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov (1764–1807). A nobleman and statesman, Rezanov described the miserable living conditions most settlers were forced to endure. Rather than prospering, many were malnourished and with little to show for their efforts.

© Getty Images 

South to California -

It was Rezanov who persuaded Czar Alexander I to look south and examine the possibility of establishing trade with Spanish settlements in California. Ships were built at Novoarkhangelsk that set sail with bales of Alaskan furs and Russian-made tools, which brought high prices at the Spanish-controlled trading stations of Canton, in California. Rezanov swapped these goods for much needed wheat and other foodstuffs.

© Getty Images 

Big city opportunities -

On subsequent voyages, Rezanov was well received in San Francisco, where the Russians were successful in bartering and buying wheat, barley, peas, beans, flour, tallow, salt, and other items. Pictured is the city's Meiggs' Wharf below Russian Hill.

© Getty Images 

Russia's southernmost North American outpost -

Rezanov later explored land north of the Spanish settlements in California and claimed it in the name of the Russian Empire and the Russian-American Company. Rezanov died in 1807, so it was left to Alexander Baranov and Ivan Kuskov to establish Fort Ross on California's Bodega Bay in 1812—Russia's southernmost North American outpost. Fort Ross owes its name to the Russian word rus or ros.

© Getty Images 

Decline in fortunes -

During the so-called Russian-California period (1812–1842) when it operated out of Fort Ross, the Russian-American Company employed Russian supervisors and native Alaskan hunters to hunt fur seals and otters along the Alta and Baja Californian coast. But in 1841, the settlement effectively went into administration. With Fort Ross no longer able to supply the Alaskan colonies with food, the operation was closed down and sold to John Sutter, a Mexican citizen of Swiss origin.

© Getty Images 

The Alaska Purchase -

The fate of the Russian-American Company and Russia's claim to all North American territory was sealed in 1867 with the Alaska Purchase, the United States' acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire. Pictured is the US Treasury warrant issued in the amount of US$7.2 million (approximately US$140 million in 2023) to cover the historic sale.

© Getty Images 

Sitka today -

Sitka, the former Novoarkhangelsk, still retains vestiges of its Russian heritage, including St. Michael's Cathedral (rebuilt after a fire in 1966). The city is situated on the west side of Baranof Island and the south half of Chichagof Island in the Alexander Archipelago.

© Shutterstock 

Kodiak Island -

Old Russian Orthodox churches also serve as evidence of Russian influence on Kodiak Island. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak is separated from the Alaskan mainland by the Shelikof Strait. Three Saints Bay is on the southeast side of the island.

© Getty Images 

Preservation of Fort Ross -

Fort Ross is preserved as part of California's Fort Ross State Historic Park. Most of the existing buildings on the site are reconstructions.

© Shutterstock 

Rotchev House -

The fort's only building to survive from the period of the Russian-American Company is Rotchev House. It's named for the last Russian commander, Alexander Rotchev.

Sources: (Britannica) (History) (National Park Service) (Office of the Historian)

See also: Discover America's 30 most stunning national parks

© Shutterstock