Alaska Native Cultures Subsistence lifestyle Surviving on what
can be harvested (hunted or gathered) from the environment
Slide 5
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
Slide 6
Questions Legendsome 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
Slide 7
Audio History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ACKFeLaxOA&list=PLdFsYdy
yFuQgcll7XYfBTF-LAKfBFvwmc&index=10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ACKFeLaxOA&list=PLdFsYdy
yFuQgcll7XYfBTF-LAKfBFvwmc&index=10
Slide 8
1 st Kamchatka Expedition 1728Vitus Bering sailed from the Sea
of Okhotsk, around the Kamchatka Peninsula north and through the
Bering Strait He did NOT see Alaska
Slide 9
Set sail from Kamchatka 1725 Tsar Peter 1 of Russia funded an
expedition 1728Bering 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
Slide 10
1733-1743 2 nd Kamchatka Expedition 1 st Europeans to reach
Alaska were Russian June 1741 Vitus Bering and Aleksei Chirikov set
sail in two ships; they were soon separated
Slide 11
Russian Sighting of Alaska July 15, 1741 Chirikov sighted
landPrince of Wales Island Sent a group of men ashore in a longboat
making them the 1 st Europeans to set foot on the northwestern
coast of North America
Slide 12
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
Slide 13
Bering dies Sept. 9, 1741, Berings ship entered Adak harbor In
November, Berings 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
Slide 14
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
Slide 15
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
Slide 16
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
Slide 17
Marine Mammals
Slide 18
The Killing Fields Harbor Seal Harvest, Canada
Slide 19
Russian influence Catherine the Great (German), Empress 1763
Wife of Peter III, orchestrated his overthrow Proclaimed goodwill
towards the Aleuts and urged fair treatment
Slide 20
Conflict hard to avoid On some islands and parts of the Alaska
Peninsula, traders and Aleut Natives were able to co-exist
peacefully
Slide 21
Catastrophic situation Increased competitiondeclining 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
Slide 22
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
Slide 23
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