Russian America (1799–1867)

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Russian Empire established multiple colonies and outposts on the North American continent. These holdings are collectively known as Russian America.

Motivated by a desire to participate in the lucrative European fur trade, Russian explorers initially founded settlements in present-day Alaska but later expanded their North American presence to locations in what are now California and Hawaii. Primarily operating through an enterprise known as the Russian-American Company, Russian colonists included fur traders, merchants, explorers, administrative officials, and religious figures.

Historians often date Russian America as remaining active from the 1799 founding of the Russian-American Company until the 1867 sale of Alaska to the United States. However, Russia’s presence in North America precedes 1799 by several decades, and the legacy of the Russian America project remains visible in the twenty-first century, particularly in Alaska.

Background

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Russia operated as a monarchy known as the Russian Empire. The Russian Empire functioned as an autocracy under a tsar/tsarina or czar/czarina (emperor/empress), who headed a relatively small but very powerful and wealthy aristocratic class. The vast majority of Russian citizens were peasants who lived under a system resembling the feudalism that dominated much of Europe during the Middle Ages (476–ca. 1450). Historians estimate that the peasantry comprised 80–85 percent of the Russian Empire’s population, while aristocratic landowners accounted for only about 1 percent. Much of the remainder was comprised of ecclesiastical officials. The Russian monarchs who played important roles in the shaping of Russian America include Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Paul I (1754–1801), Alexander I (1777–1825), Nicholas I (1796–1855), and Alexander II (1818–1881).

During the seventeenth century, demand for hats and coats made from animal furs exploded in Europe as such apparel became highly fashionable. Much of this demand was met via the North American fur trade, which was initially dominated by French colonists in what is now Canada. French settlers obtained furs via hunting and trapping, and through trading with Indigenous communities. During the latter part of the seventeenth century, Great Britain became involved in the fur trade and a rivalry for supremacy in the lucrative industry broke out between Great Britain and France. Britain ultimately prevailed in the ensuing conflict, winning control of the New France colonies at the end of the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763).

After the British victory in the Seven Years’ War, Great Britain expanded its fur trading operations in present-day Canada westward from its original base in the eastern half of North America. By the turn of the nineteenth century, British fur traders had established operations in what is now British Columbia, but the northernmost reaches of North America remained unsettled by European colonists. Russia, seeking to profit from continued high demand for North American furs in European consumer markets, saw an opportunity to enter the fur trade by establishing colonial settlements in what is now Alaska. At its narrowest point, the Bering Strait separated the Russian Empire from Alaska by only about 56 miles (90 kilometers).

Though historians usually cite the 1799 founding of the Russian-American Company as the start date of the Russian America era, experts are not certain of when exactly Russian explorers made their first forays across the Bering Strait to North America. One of the earliest documented instances of Russian explorers reaching what is now Alaska occurred in 1741, when Russian navigator Alexei Chirikov encountered the Tlingit Indigenous peoples of North America’s extreme northwestern coastal region.

Russia founded its first permanent settlement in the Americas in 1784 by establishing Pavlovskaya Harbor on Kodiak Island off the southern coast of modern Alaska. In 1793, Russian Orthodox missionaries arrived at Pavlovskaya Harbor, where they built a church and established a ministry.

A key figure in the early history of Russian America was Nikolai Rezanov, who began his life in 1764 as an impoverished member of the Russian nobility. Rezanov lobbied a succession of Russian monarchs including Catherine the Great, Paul I, and Alexander I to establish a Russian presence in North America with the ultimate objective of annexing the continent’s Pacific coastal regions and using them as mass-migration destinations for Russian emigrants. Rezanov became a high-ranking figure in the Shelekhov-Golikov Fur Company, a predecessor of the Russian-American Company, and was installed as the leader of the Shelekhov-Golikov Fur Company in 1795 following the death of its co-founder, Grigory Shelekhov. Together with Shelekhov’s heirs, Rezanov successfully petitioned Paul I to establish the Russian-American Company, which Paul I did by decree in 1799. Rezanov became one of the largest shareholders of the Russian-American Company, which was modeled after other European joint-stock companies of the colonial era and initially operated as a legal monopoly with a twenty-year mandate.

Overview

Russian fur trading operations in North America grew in both scope and profitability during the latter years of the eighteenth century, prior to the founding of the Russian-American Company. At the time, Spain and Great Britain were the dominant European colonial powers in the Americas, and neither country had attempted to colonize what is now known as Alaska. Then, Alaska was primarily known for its harsh, wintry conditions. Alaska’s frigid climate and outlying location, which separated it from other colonies in the Americas by vast distances, allowed Russian fur traders to engage in enterprise free of outside interference or conflict with other colonial interests.

The structure of the Russian-American Company was modeled after organizations like the Dutch East India Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company, which combined government authority with private enterprise and expansionist ambition. As a result of its monopoly and unchallenged operation, the Russian-American Company became profitable and powerful, making czarist ambitions to become a colonial player in the Americas a viable possibility for a time. By 1803, Russian colonists were conducting exploratory missions into California to investigate the potential for establishing settlements and trading partnerships with Spain to keep Russia’s Alaska colonies supplied with provisions and other essentials. In 1812, Russia established Fort Ross in Northern California to function as a supply link for its Alaskan fur trading operations. Fort Ross joined settlements in Alaska including establishments in the Aleutian Islands, Alexander’s Archipelago, and the Russian America capital of Fort Mikhailovksy (Novo-Arkhangelsk, now known as Sitka) among Russia’s colonial holdings in North America.

In 1815, Russia made a short-lived colonial foray into Hawaii, establishing a settlement known in English as Fort Elizabeth. The Fort Elizabeth outpost was commissioned by the Russian-American Company to serve as a fueling and trading port for its ongoing fur trading operations in North America, but Russia abandoned the settlement in 1817 due to complications arising from a failed treaty with the Indigenous peoples of Hawaii and concerns over the US presence in the Hawaiian Islands.

Following its failed efforts to expand into Hawaii, Russia was essentially hemmed in by Spain, Great Britain, and the United States, who grew increasingly wary of the Russian presence in North America and inhibited their further expansion. Russia maintained its Alaskan holdings and Fort Ross for several decades, during which not only fur traders and merchants but also a class of immigrants including administrators, agrarians, and religious leaders arrived to populate the Russian America colonies.

Multiple challenges ultimately portended the decline and demise of Russian America. The profitability of Russia’s fur trading operations began to erode, largely due to the high costs associated with shipping the furs obtained in Alaska across Russia’s vast eastern hinterlands to its more-populated European regions in the western part of the Russian Empire. Meanwhile, the costs associated with maintaining the Fort Ross colony in Northern California became cumbersome, particularly when considered in the context of the deteriorating economic outlook for the Russian fur trade. Russia sold Fort Ross to the United States in 1841, reducing its colonial foothold in North America exclusively to Alaska. Russia held Alaska until the 1860s before Alexander II authorized the sale of the territory to the United States in 1867 for $7.2 million, a sum that equates to approximately $150 million in inflation-adjusted 2020 dollars. At the time of the transaction, Alaska’s vast reserves of oil and gold had yet to be discovered. The sale of Alaska effectively ended the Russian-American Company’s operational mandate, and the enterprise’s commercial holdings were transferred to California-based private investors.

In examining the legacy of Russian America, the Library of Congress (LOC) notes the profound and lasting impact of Russian missionaries. During the Russian America era, religious leaders established a thriving Russian Orthodox faith community in Alaska. The Russian Orthodox Church remains a highly visible part of Alaska’s cultural and religious landscape in the twenty-first century.

Bibliography

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Gorshkov, Boris. A Life Under Russian Serfdom: The Memoirs of Savva Dmitrievich Purlevskii, 1800–1868. Budapest, Hungary: Central European University Press, 2005, pp. 1–19.

Griven, Andrei. The Tlingit Indians in Russian America, 1741–1867. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2008.

“History of Russian America.” Fort Ross Conservancy, 2022, www.fortross.org/history/russian-american-company. Accessed 7 Apr. 2023.

McLees, Nectaria. Saint Innocent of Alaska and the Orthodox Legacy of Russian America. Maysville, MO: St. Nicholas Press, 2021.

“Russian America.” Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, 2023, www.prlib.ru/en/collections/683516. Accessed 7 Apr. 2023.

“Russian Colonization.” Library of Congress, 2000, www.loc.gov/collections/meeting-of-frontiers/articles-and-essays/alaska/russian-colonization/. Accessed 7 Apr. 2023.

“Russian Fort/Fort Elizabeth.” National Park Service, 16 Aug. 2019, www.nps.gov/places/russian-fort-fort-elizabeth.htm. Accessed 7 Apr. 2023.