Knowra Russian America Russian America Russian America was the Russian Empire’s colonial territory in Alaska and parts of the North Pacific coast, administered from the eighteenth century until its 1867 sale to the United States.
Russian-American Company : A state-chartered Russian trading company that governed Russian America and monopolized much of its commerce. The company organized colonial trade and administration after its charter in 1799.
Vitus Bering : A Danish-born Russian naval officer whose expeditions explored the North Pacific and mapped parts of Alaska’s coast. His 1741 voyage brought Russian explorers to Alaska.
Tlingit people : An Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast, including southeastern Alaska, with distinct nations and communities. Tlingit resistance limited Russian control around Sitka.
New Spain : The Spanish viceroyalty that governed much of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean from 1535 to 1821. New Spain’s Pacific frontier contested the southern reach of Russian settlement.
Alaska : A U.S. state occupying the northwestern extremity of North America, bordered by Canada and the Arctic and Pacific oceans. Most of Russian America became the territory and later state of Alaska.
Sea otter fur trade : A commercial network that hunted and exchanged sea otter pelts, prized in global markets for their dense fur. Demand for pelts drove Russian expansion across the North Pacific.
Bering expedition : The Russian imperial expedition led by Vitus Bering that explored the North Pacific from 1733 to 1743. Its return with valuable sea otter pelts prompted further Russian voyages.
Kiks.ádi : A Tlingit clan whose members defended Sitka against Russian forces in 1804. Their resistance ended Russian occupation of Sitka temporarily and preceded its recapture.
British Columbia : A region on the Pacific coast of Canada that became a British colony in 1858. British claims and trade pressed against Russian interests along the North Pacific coast.
Alaska Native peoples : The Indigenous peoples of Alaska, including Iñupiat, Yupik, Unangan, Alutiiq, Athabaskan, and Tlingit communities. Russian rule reshaped Indigenous societies whose descendants remain central to Alaska.
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