Russians in Alaska 1732-1867

by Black, Lydia T.

• ISBN13: 9781889963051
• ISBN10: 1889963054
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-01
• Publisher: Univ of Alaska Pr

Summary

This definitive work, a crown jewel in the distinguished career of Russian America scholar Lydia Black, presents a comprehensive story of the Russian presence in America from the point of view of social anthropology and ethnohistory. Drawing on extensive archival research and especially on documents only recently declassified in Russia, Black shows how the expansion into lands beyond Russia's Pacific shore was the culmination of a centuries-old movement of peoples originally from the Russian north, a movement more mercantile than military. Black counters the stereotypical depiction of the Russian period in Alaska as a time of unbridled exploitation of the Native inhabitants and pillaging of the land's resources. Without glossing over the harsher aspects of the Russian period in Alaska, or the sometimes mutual incomprehension that clouded the interactions of Native Americans and Russians, she presents a far more complicated--and certainly more accurate--portrait of their interrelationship. Going beyond governmental policies, she focuses on the actions of ordinary Russian men and women in Alaska, and neither romanticizes nor chastises their actions. She clearly sets forth who they were, precisely what they did, their aims, the immediate and distant consequences of their actions, and how imperial governmental considerations, dictated by geopolitical struggles of the time, affected their destinies. This deluxe volume features fold-out maps and color illustrations of rare paintings and sketches from Russia and North America, many of them never-before published. A jewel for historians, Russians in Alaska will also be the go-to text for all Alaskans, visitors, and readers interested in thisimportant period under the Russian flag. A tribute to Black's life as a public and univer

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	viii
Acknowledgments
Introduction	xiii
A Long-Established Pattern	1	(14)
The Hand of Moscow	15	(24)
The Great Land---New Russia---Is Claimed	39	(20)
Toward the Unknown Islands	59	(20)
A Game for High Stakes: The Age of Catherine the Great, 1762--1796	79	(22)
The Empire Builders: P. S. Lebedev-Lastochkin and G. I. Shelikhov	101	(20)
Baranov Arrives	121	(20)
Baranov Takes Hold	141	(14)
Baranov Extends the Empire	155	(14)
Rezanov's Tour and Baranov's Final Years	169	(22)
After Baranov, 1818--1845	191	(18)
The Rise of the Creole Class	209	(14)
The Light of the Spirit: The Orthodox Church in Alaska	223	(32)
The Company Under the Three Charters: 1799--1862	255	(18)
And the Flag Was Ordered Down	273	(18)
Bibliography	291	(24)
Index	315