colony · North America and Oceania
Russian America
Origins
After Vitus Bering's voyage of 1741, Siberian traders hunted sea otters in the Aleutian Islands, and Grigory Shelikhov founded a permanent settlement on Kodiak Island in 1784. In 1799 Emperor Paul I granted a monopoly charter to the Russian-American Company, which was to govern the territory on the state's behalf.
Rule and society
The Company's chief managers ruled from Kodiak and, from 1808, from New Archangel (Sitka), built by Alexander Baranov after the Tlingit destroyed an earlier fort in 1802. Aleut and Alutiiq hunters were forced to hunt sea otters, whose pelts were sold to China. The colony depended on imported food and briefly ran Fort Ross in California. Orthodox missionaries, including Innocent Veniaminov, converted many Native people.
Decline and legacy
With sea otters depleted and Russia fearing it could not defend Alaska against Britain after the Crimean War, the territory was sold to the United States in 1867 for $7.2 million. The Russian Orthodox Church remains a lasting legacy in Alaska.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- Russian America was a colony of Russian Empire1799 CE – 1867 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Russian America. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/russian-america
- MLA
- “Russian America.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/russian-america. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Russian America.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/russian-america.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Russian America’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/russian-america (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻