Alaska History 1Overview

Prehistory

Upper Paleolithic Period (14,000 BC)◦Groups from Siberia crossed the Bering land

bridge

Alaska Native Cultures (language)Alaska Native IndiansAthabaskan (Interior)Eyak (SC/SE Coastal)Haida (SE Coastal)Tlingit (SE Coastal)Tsimshian (SE Coastal)

Native Eskimo PeopleInupiat/Inupiaq/Inuit(Northern Eskimos)Yupiit (Bering Sea)Siberian Yup’ikYup’ik/Cup’ikAlutiiqChugachKoniagKenai PeninsulaAleut

Alaska Native Cultures

Subsistence lifestyle◦Surviving on what can be harvested (hunted or

gathered) from the environment

Early Exploration

In 1648 Semyon Dezhnev sailed from the mouth of the Kolyma River through the Arctic Ocean and around the eastern tip of Asia to the Anadyr River

Questions

◦Legend—some of his boats were carried off course and reached Alaska No evidence survives

◦News of Dezhnev's discovery eventually made it to St. Petersburg But, the question of whether or not Siberia was

connected to North America was never answered completely

Audio History

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ACKFeLaxOA&list=PLdFsYdyyFuQgcll7XYfBTF-LAKfBFvwmc&index=10

1st Kamchatka Expedition

1728—Vitus Bering sailed from the Sea of Okhotsk, around the Kamchatka Peninsula north and through the Bering Strait◦He did NOT see Alaska

Set sail from Kamchatka

1725 Tsar Peter 1 of Russia funded an expedition 1728—Bering and a group of explorers traveled from St.

Petersburg to The Sea of Okhotsk and the Kamchatka Peninsula They sailed around Kamchatka Peninsula and North through

Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean

1733-1743 2nd Kamchatka Expedition

1st Europeans to reach Alaska were Russian

June 1741 Vitus Bering and Aleksei Chirikov set sail in two ships; they were soon separated

Russian Sighting of Alaska

July 15, 1741 Chirikov sighted land—Prince of Wales Island Sent a group of men ashore in a longboat making them the

1st Europeans to set foot on the northwestern coast of North America

Russian Sighting of Alaska

July 16, 1741, Bering sighted Mount St. Elias (on the mainland) from his ship and soon thereafter, headed back to Russia

Bering dies

Sept. 9, 1741, Bering’s ship entered Adak harbor In November, Bering’s ship was wrecked on Bering

Island◦ Bering died, leaving his crew stranded for the winter

The next summer, they rebuilt the ship from debris and returned home carrying word of the expedition and sea otter pelts

Fur Industry

Soon, fur traders sailed from Siberia to Aleutian Islands◦Established hunting and trading posts

Word of quality furs spread◦More fur traders arrived, established trading

companies◦Forced Aleuts into slavery

Separated men from women and children◦Traditional roles ignored◦Women and children starved

Promyshlenniki (Russian fur hunters)

Russian fur hunters exploited the islands of the Aleutian Chain one at a time and when the fur-bearing sea mammals were all gone, they moved east until reaching the mainland

Pribilof Islands

In 1786, Gerrassium Pribylov followed fur seals from the Aleutian Islands to St. George Island◦Uninhabited “rock”◦Shipped men to Pribilof Islands

Worked in the killing fields and blubbering houses

Marine Mammals

The Killing Fields

Harbor Seal Harvest, Canada

Russian influence

Catherine the Great (German), Empress 1763◦Wife of Peter III, orchestrated his overthrow◦Proclaimed goodwill towards the Aleuts and

urged fair treatment

Conflict hard to avoid

On some islands and parts of the Alaska Peninsula, traders and Aleut Natives were able to co-exist peacefully

Catastrophic situation

Increased competition—declining animal populations◦Continued enslavement

Families split up Re-settlement

◦Hunters forced to take greater risks in dangerous North Pacific

Shelekhov-Golikov Company emerged◦Created a monopoly

Used violence as a tool to exploit the Aleuts

Devastating effects

Aleuts revolt, Russian retaliation swift and severe◦Many Aleuts killed◦Boats destroyed◦Hunting gear destroyed

No means to hunt Many Aleuts died of starvation

Exposure to disease was even more devastating◦1741-1799, 80% of Aleut population died◦Aleut had no immunity to Eurasian diseases

Aleut Assimilation

Dynamic blend of Native and Russian Traditions emerged◦Russian traders prohibited traditional religious

celebrations◦Encouraged Aleuts to embrace Orthodoxy◦Russian men and Aleut women inter-married