This article explores the dynamics of barter/trade between Russians and Alaska natives under the Russian Empire. During the frst stage of colonization, the Russians (unlike the English and French) did not tend to barter/trade. They preferred to take the main riches of Alaska, especially valuable furs, on their own, or to obtain them by exploiting local people in hunting parties, deploying non-economic coercion to work and debt bondage. Moreover, the trade between the Russians and natives was complicated by the high cost of delivery, the chronic defcit of commodities, a relatively narrow assortment and the prohibition of selling frearms and alcohol (with a few exceptions). The paper demonstrates the formation of three diferent systems of barter/trade with their own dynamics during Russian colonization of Alaska. Though relatively proftable overall, the Russian fur trade in Alaska was less efective than similar operations run by their competitors, French, American and British traders. The development of the fur trade had a dramatic negative efect on the fate of many native peoples. Nevertheless, it improved indigenous standards of living through its infuence on material culture and contributed to a decrease it. The number of intertribal conficts.

With the formation of the Russian-American Company (RAC) in 1799, the company acquired a small flotilla of sailing ships that maintained communication between the Russian settlements in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands as well as connection of these colonies with Okhotsk and Kamchatka. This flotilla periodically lost vessels as a consequence of numerous shipwrecks in the first twenty years of the 19th century. For replacement of ships that were lost or discarded because of decrepitude the company built vessels at Okhotsk and in the colonies themselves or purchased them from foreigners. Ships were obtained primarily from representatives of the United States since American sailing ships and steamships were highly valued for their durability and good running qualities. Later, from the 1830s, sailing vessels for the RAC also began to be constructed in the shipyards of Finland, and from the 1850s in Germany as well. All the round-the-world ships of the company, which went from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean, were without exception of foreign construction. A general trend was increase in the number of the company’s fleet from 5 or 6 to 17 ships at the beginning of the 1840s. Though later the number of ships and steamships of the RAC diminished to 10 or 12, their total tonnage sharply increased due to the acquisition of large ocean-going clippers and three-mast barks in the 1850s. It was three-mast sailing ships that became the basis of ship composition during this period, though before this, small two-mast brigs, hookers, and schooners had predominated. On the whole, for the 68 years of its existence the RAC fleet made its way from a small flotilla of small one- and two-mast ships to a small commercial fleet with more than ten vessels, including steamships and large ocean-going sailing ships.

In summing up the study of this theme it is possible to arrive at the following conclusions. Analysis of the presented mate¬rial shows that, beginning in the mid-1780s, foreign ships almost constantly entered the waters of Alaska, though the frequency of their visits was unequal in different years and in addition a sharp regional contrast was observed. Thus, the chief purpose of the visits by foreign ships at the end of the 18th and first half of the 19th century in the region of Southeast Alaska was trade between for¬eigners and the local Indians and Russians in Novo-Arkhangel’sk. From the 1840s to the sale of Alaska in 1867, numerous foreign ships, particularly whalers, began to appear in the region of the Aleutian, Commander, and Kuril islands, as well the waters of the Bering Sea along the western coast of Alaska. Consequently, it seemed as if two “waves” of foreign ships appeared in Alaskan waters: the first was connected with the development of the mari¬time fur trade in the 1790s–1820s, and the second with the active whaling trade in the 1840s–1860s. Concerning the nationalities, American sailing ships undoubtedly predominated, noticeably fewer were British, and even fewer were German (whalers and RAC charters). The remaining maritime nations (the Spanish, French, and others) were represented only by isolated ships. Addi¬tionally, in the composition of the foreign ships, merchant ones that belonged to private individuals and companies absolutely dominated. The naval ships made up an insignificant minority. They were primarily occupied with geographic surveys in the course of expeditions organized by the governments of Spain, France, England, and the United States.

Germans in the History of Alaska in its Russian Period.

Medics in Russian America in 1784 - 1867

The Russian Historiography of Russian America.

Expeditions were an integral part of the activity of the Russian Academy of Sciences, promoting its further development and prosperity. Expeditions also helped assemble data for future scientific development. In the first half of the 19th century, the territory of the Russian Empire included some regions of North America (Alaska, North California and the Aleutian Islands). The study of these areas was carried out with the participation of the Russian-American Company. The greatest merit for the scientific study of these regions belongs to a scientist from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ilya G. Voznesensky. In this article, for the first time, attention will be paid to the analysis of organizational and documentary aspects of this expedition.

The Sale of Alaska in 1867

The article is devoted to the analysis of the attitude of representatives of the reigning house of the Romanovs to the exploration and development of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, the formation and functioning of the Russian-American Company and Russian colonies in the New World.