Week Four Module

What is the legacy of the Russian colonization of Alaska?

When the first Russian-Orthodox priest arrived in the 1790s Alaska began to change.  An economy began to develop through trading.  One item that was in high demand for trading was the sea otter’s fur because of the higher quality.  The Russian colony traded with China, Hawaii, the Spanish that were from California, and British, and American merchants.  It became an important factor in international trade.  

A very obvious legacy that Russian colonization left was the development of libraries, schools, and medical clinics.  Even though there are vast differences to how these organizations look they are seen throughout all parts of Alaska today.  It would be very difficult for Alaska (as well as other places) to function without them. 

Language was another legacy that was left.  As the trade networks expanded so did the amount of Russian Orthodox Churches in Alaska.  Employees from the church would marry Native women, these unions increased the number of Creoles.  Three different languages were found in some areas, the native language, Russian, and the church dialect Slavonic.  Once contact was made by Americans English emerged.

Why were the Russians interested in Alaska?

The desire to expand commerce and control trade routes was the base of why Russians began to explore Alaska.  Exploration brought Russians and other groups of people to Alaska as well.  It was a large piece of land that had not been discovered or developed.  In 1741 Vitus Bering and Aleksi Chirikov were two of the first Russians to arrive and begin investigating Alaska.

Aleksi Chirikov landed in south east Alaska in June of 1741.  He never settled here but he worked to explore the area.  Chirikov sent a group of 11 men to get fresh water and explore.  These men never returned.  A second group of men 6 days later went to see what happened to the previous group of men and they never returned.  Natives were seen the next day coming out of the entrance that the two boats disappeared into.  They yelled at Chirikov but turned and returned back to where they came.  The Russian sailors were never found.   

During that same time Vitus Bering sailed farther north to an island need Cape St. Elias.  On this voyage the naturalist on board was George Stellar.  Stellar spent hours on the island.  He never did see any Natives but recorded the plants, crustaceans, and see shells that he saw.  Stellar discovered that Natives used this area for fishing and hunting sea mammals but lived somewhere else. 

As more people came and explored Alaska new discoveries were found that attracted more people to this region.  Trading posts developed as did more travel throughout parts of the state that no one had seen before.

Evaluation:

This module really gave a nice base understanding of how Alaska began.  There is so much information.  Knowing the size of the state you wouldn’t imagine anything less.  Early explorers were so brave to venture so far from home.  The Russian Orthodox Church had a very large part in the development of Alaska today. 

In the meantime, Bering anchored off an island farther north, near Cape St. Elias. Georg Steller, the expedition's naturalist, spent a number of hours on the island and recorded observations of plants, crustaceans and sea shells, and detailed evidence of Native people and how they lived, even though he did not actually see any Native people. Natives apparently used the island for fishing and hunting sea mammals, but lived elsewhere.

Sea Otter, a Sketch from Captain Cook's Journals
VILDA  ASL-P20-057

Father Mefodii, Catechizer Simeon Kakviam and Wife
ca. late 1800's  VILDA  ASL-P243-1-081