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Russia, Alaska, and the Russian American Company
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"Tracking Down Kad'yak"
August 26, 2004
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Russia and Alaska (Robert Ross and Co.,
www.rossmaps.com) [LARGER IMAGE] |
Only 2.5 miles of sea separate Alaska and Russia at their closest point, and
it is possible to walk across when the Bering Strait freezes in
mid-winter. This proximity led Russia to develop interests in
Alaska, which it claimed in 1741 after Vitus Bering, a
Danish seaman who worked for Russia, "discovered" the land on his
second voyage. The first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska was
established in 1784 on Kodiak Island (off of which Kad'yak was
discovered). Settlements continued to grow, but Moscow had little
money to fund colonization. There were never more than 400 Russians
living in Alaska at any one time.
In 1799, Czar Paul I granted sole rights for trade in America to the
Russian American Company, and six years later the company began to trade
furs in China. The Hudson's Bay Company, however, tried to gain interest
in Alaska, eventually making a deal with Russia to lease part of the Alaskan
mainland. By 1857, the Russian American Company had been surpassed in the fur
trade by Hudson's Bay Company. The Tzar was ready to revoke trading rights by
this point since the Russian American Company was having great
financial difficulties,
but the company managed to hang on for a few more years through coal and
whaling, both of which soon failed. The company tried trading ice,
in which Kad'yak was engaged at the time of its sinking. The ice
trade was successful, but it was not enough to keep the company
alive.
The company expired, and in 1867, the United States paid
Russia $7.2 million for Alaska, officially ending Russia's reign over
the area. The purchase, made by Secretary of State William H.
Seward, was ridiculed at the time and dubbed "Seward's Folly",
though the critics of the purchase were soon embarrassed when Alaska
quickly proved to be a land teeming with natural resources.
The selling of Alaska to the United States did not erase the
history of Russian commercial interest in Alaska, and the wreck of
Kad'yak is probably just one small part of underwater remains
that the Russians have left behind. Kad'yak is
the only Russian American Company shipwreck that has certainly been
identified, though remains near St. Michael on the
Yukon Delta may prove to be those of another Russian American ship,
called Politkofsky. Fifty-two Russian wrecks in the
North Pacific have also been documented, and of those, roughly 49 have been
identified tentatively based on their locations. East Carolina
University archaeologists are currently working to identify the sites
that are accessible, and they hope to investigateother potential
sites connected with the Russian American Company in the future.
Back to text
© 2004 by the Archaeological Institute of
America archive.archaeology.org/online/features/kadyak/rusala.html |