In the northern portions of the Northwest Coast in what is now Alaska, the First Nations people had their first contacts with Europeans in the eighteenth century. These first Europeans were Russians whose primary concern was in extracting wealth in the form of furs from the region. As with other Europeans, the Russians had an arrogant belief in their own superiority and entitlement.
Instead of trading with the Natives, the Russians tended to conscript or employ them to work as hunters. In an article in American Archaeology, Paula reports:
“The Russians had to rely on natives to hunt sea otters because it required a mastery of kayaking and traditional weapons including the dart, bow and barbed harpoon arrow. The Russians’ firearms frightened the otters away.”
The Northwest Coast, at the time of the Russian invasion, was a densely populated area, with an estimate of about a million people living in the region. Archaeologists Kenneth Ames and Herbert Maschner, in their book Peoples of the Northwest Coast: Their Archaeology and Prehistory, put it this way:
“Their human population densities were among the highest in pre-modern North America, irrespective of economy.”
The First Nations of these region had permanent villages and complex social systems. The Russian intrusions into their territories was not met with passive resignation, but often with armed resistance. The Tlingit provide one example of Native response to the Russians.
The Tlingit
The Indian nations of the Northwest Coast, such as the Tlingit, had an economy based largely on salmon as their staple food supply. The runs of the various species of salmon – chinook, sockeye, pink, coho, chum – dictated their economic cycle. While some of the salmon catch was eaten fresh, most of it was smoked and dried for the winter.
For the people of the Northwest Coast, the single most important plant is a tree – the cedar. The use of this tree permeates all aspects of the Native American cultures of this region and provides for many of life’s necessities. According to Peter Nabokov and Robert Easton, in their book Native American Architecture:
“Except that it could not be consumed, cedar was to Northwest Coast craftsmen almost what the buffalo was to Plains Indians.”
The Northwest Coast Indian nations are oriented toward water: the ocean to the west and the many rivers flowing into it. Before the coming of the Europeans, the villages were built near water: the seacoast or a river. Transportation was primarily by water. Distances were measured by how far a canoe could travel in a single day. As a people oriented toward the sea and the rivers, canoes made from cedar were important. With regard to the overall size of the Tlingit canoes, Mary Beck, in her book Potlatch: Native Ceremony and Myth on the Northwest Coast, reports:
“The voyaging or ‘war’ canoes, from thirty-five to sixty-five feet long and six to eight feet wide, could carry fifty to sixty people with baggage and gear, about a five-ton capacity.”
With regard to government, there was no single Tlingit nation: the Tlingit were 18 distinct and autonomous groups. Each group felt that it was distinct from the others and had its own unique origins and ancestry. Among the Tlingit, the primary political unit was actually the clan.
Traditionally, each person was born into the mother’s clan and maintained a complicated relationship with the father’s clan. Ethnographer Kalervo Oberg, in his book The Social Economy of the Tlingit Indians, reports:
“The clan has a name denoting its place of origin, a story of its genesis, and a history of its migration.”
In a matrilineal clan system, the inheritance of chiefly titles and offices is not from father to son, but from uncle to nephew. The position is held by the clan and a son does not belong to his father’s clan.
With regard to warfare, Kalervo Oberg reports:
“War does not form an institutionalized activity among the Tlingit. There is no warrior class and war is not an accredited means to wealth and renown.”
Conflicts with the Russians
In 1741, the Russian Second Kamchatka Expedition under the leadership of explorer Vitus Bering extended Russian sovereignty over northwestern North America. The Russians were interested in enlarging the lucrative fur trade. In his book The Native People of Alaska, Steve Langdon writes:
“The discovery of millions of sea otter quickly prompted commercial efforts by independent fur trappers and traders of Cossack descent known as promyshlenniki. Officially, the purpose of the expedition is to determine if Asia and the Americas are joined.”
The Russians encountered the Tlingit in Alaska and lost two boats, each with ten men. According to oral tradition, the Tlingit lured the unsuspecting crew members with a bear skin and killed them.
Unfortunately, the Russians also found sea otter which was valuable in the Chinese market. This led to the development of the Russian fur trade in the area.
With regard to the impact of the Second Kamchatka Expedition, geographer James Gibson, in his chapter in North American Exploration. Volume 2: A Continent Defined, writes:
“However, the results of Russian explorations and discoveries, both state and private, in the North Pacific were not publicized. For whatever reason—the pervasiveness of state control, the underdevelopment of private publishing, the political and cultural estrangement of Russia from the West, Russia’s siege mentality and xenophobia, the misguided belief that secretiveness would discourage the inquisitive—Russia’s geographical accomplishments, in the form of instructions, logbooks, journals, maps, reports, and letters, were either not revealed or published until long after the event.”
James Gibson also writes:
“Some Soviet scholars have asserted that Russian discoveries were deliberately misrepresented or falsified in the West in order to weaken Russian claims in the North Pacific sphere of international rivalry.”
In 1788, a Russian expedition made contact with the Tlingit under the leadership of Ilchak from the Chilcat River. The Russians gave Ilchak a Russian crest in copper and a picture of the heir to the Russian throne.
In 1793, a group of Russians and Aleut under the leadership of Baron Baranof were attacked by the Tlingit. The Tlingit were wearing armor made of wooden rods bound together with leather thongs. Their faces were protected by masks which represented different animals and gave a frightening appearance. They were wearing wooden hats. The Tlingit fought with lances, bows, and pointed daggers. While the Russians aimed their guns at their attackers’ heads, they soon found that their bullets did not penetrate the thick head coverings. Still, with the superiority of fire power, the Russians were victorious, and the Tlingit fled leaving 12 dead behind. Two Russians and nine Aleuts were killed and 15 others in the Russian party were wounded.
Three years later, Baron Baranof established a Russian colony with 80 colonists in Yukatat Bay. With regard to the Tlingit response, German geographer Aurel Krause, in his 1885 book The Tlingit Indians: Results of a Trip to the Northwest Coast of America and the Bering Straits, reports:
“Even the most prominent chiefs flattered Baranof with a ceremonial visit and showed their friendly attitude by bringing as hostages some of their own children and relatives.”
In 1799, the Russians under the leadership of Alexander Baranov established a trading post at New Archangel (now called Sitka) in Tlingit territory. Anthropologist Alice Beck Kehoe, in her book America Before the European Invasions, reports:
“The Russians relied on indigenous nations to supply post food supplies, stimulating the Tlingit around Sitka to raise tons of potatoes and bring in quantities of ‘mutton’ (mountain sheep meat?) and halibut.”
The Russian-American Company (RAC) was formed in 1799 as a quasi-governmental monopoly to control the fur trade and rule the Russian colony in Alaska. RAC was given the power to establish settlements in Alaska. They were to carry on agriculture and commerce, to spread the Greek faith, and to extend Russian territory. There were usually fewer than 500 Russians in Alaska at any one given time. Most of them lived in Sitka. With regard to the Native American populations, the Russians were ruthless and moved villages to different areas where they needed people to work.
The peace between the Tlingit and the Russians did not last very long. In 1802, the Tlingit rebelled against the Russians at the settlement of New Archangel. An estimated 600 warriors armed with guns destroyed the fort, killing 20 Russians and 130 Aleuts. Following their victory on Baranov Island, the Tlingit next attacked an Aleut hunting party quartered at Yakutat Bay. The Tlingit accused the Russian commander of robbing them of their fur-bearing animals and also of stealing skins from Tlingit graves.
Two years later, the Russians returned to Baranov Island. They reasserted their dominance over the Tlingit by sending four ships to Sitka harbor. The Russians destroyed two Indian villages. At the site of New Archangel (Novo-Arkangelsk), the Russians attacked a Tlingit fort. While an initial attack was repelled, the Russians fired their ships’ canons at the fort and soon the Tlingit asked for peace. Following their defeat, the Tlingit moved to the other side of the Island.
This was not the end of the conflicts between the Russians and the Tlingit. The next year the Tlingit attacked and destroyed the Russian fort at Yakatat, Alaska.
In 1806, the Tlingit began to plan an attack against the Russians at New Archangel. While nearly 2,000 warriors gathered for the attack, the Russian commander learned of the plans and invited the important chiefs to the fort. The Russians welcomed the chiefs with great honor, provided them with a great feast, and gave them many presents. As a result of this, the chiefs declared the Russians to be their friends and the war was averted.
In 1821, the charter for the Russian-American Company now permitted the Russians to conscript half of the adult male population between 18 and 50 years of age to work for up to three years hunting sea otters. This undermined the natives’ ability to obtain food for themselves.
In 1836, smallpox struck New Archangel and killed about half of the Tlingit. On the other hand, the Russians who had been vaccinated against smallpox lost only one man. This epidemic weakened the power of the traditional shamans and convinced many of the Tlingit of the superiority of Russian knowledge. As a result of the epidemic, the two groups became closer.
In 1841, the Russian administrator of New Archangel invited the Tlingit to a fair which had a ceremonial feast for the guests. About 500 of the most prominent Tlingit gathered at a special building for the event. The Russians hoped to promote friendly relations with the tribes through the ceremonial feast.
The Russian involvement with the Tlingit ended in 1867 when Alaska was sold to the United States. The Russians had never attempted to force the Alaska natives to recognize Russian ownership, nor had they made any treaties with the natives, nor had they purchased any land from the natives. The Russians had never had any effective control over the natives and the total Russian population in Alaska was less than 800 living in four very heavily fortified towns. Thus, the Russians really sold only their tenuous title to Alaska. In an article in Indian Country Today, Evon Peter writes:
“At best, Russia had claim to a few trading posts and some land on the Aleutian Islands.”
In the transaction, the natives were barely mentioned and there was more concern for the protection of those Russians who might want to remain.
The Tlingit watched the ceremonial transfer from Russia to the United States at New Archangel (Sitka) with great interest. Since the Tlingit were not allowed in town, they viewed the proceedings from their canoes which were positioned in the harbor.
Indians 101/201
Twice each week this series presents American Indian topics. Indians 201 is an expansion of an earlier essay. More histories from this series:
Indians 101: The Spanish and Indians in Florida, 1513 to 1527
Indians 101: The Dutch and the Indians
Indians 101: New Sweden and the Indians
Indians 101: New Amsterdam and the Indians
Indians 101: The Natchez and the French
Indians 101: The Utes, the Spanish, and Silver
Indians 101: Russians and Native Americans in the 18th century
Indians 101: Canadian First Nations 350 years ago, 1670