Criminal
09-14-2003, 03:47 AM
http://www.parks.sonoma.net/rossgraves.jpg http://www.parks.sonoma.net/chapelclose.jpg http://www.parks.sonoma.net/rossnorth.jpg
Special thanks to Sordred who found this website.
http://www.parks.sonoma.net/rosshist.html
History of the Russian Settlement at Fort Ross, California
For the small group of California natives, that cool, overcast day in March 1812 was a forerunner of massive change. They stood there in astonishment as a large sailing ship came to anchor in the little cove beneath their quiet bluff top settlement. For the next few days, they continued to watch as some twenty-five Russians and eighty Alaskans came ashore, set up a temporary camp, and began building houses and a sturdy wooden stockade - the colony and fortification of Ross.
The Kashaya people assembled to watch the spectacle had no way of knowing that their hunting and gathering lifestyle would be changed forever. These Russians had come to hunt sea otter, to grow wheat and other crops for the Russian settlements in Alaska, and to trade with Spanish California.
In addition, though they were careful not to say so, they came with an eye toward continuing the saga of Russian eastward expansion, a process that had begun some 250 years earlier, in the time of Ivan the Terrible, Russia's first Tsar.
The presence of Russian fur hunters in the North Pacific induced Spain to occupy Alta California in 1769. For forty years thereafter, development of the province continued on a gradual basis. By 1812, though, San Francisco Bay still marked the northern limit of Spanish settlement.
That summer, while the establishment was being built, Spain, France, Russia, and the other great colonial powers of the day were preoccupied with a major war. Napoleon's army was deep inside Russia, driving toward Moscow. Great Britain was at war with its upstart ex-colony, the small but restless United States of America. Nobody was ready to block the Russian move. In fact, it was several months before the civil and military leaders of Alta California were even aware of the development at Ross, and by then it was too late. The fort was complete, and though it was made of wood, it was well armed and vigilantly manned.
Russian Movement into the Americas
The first steps toward Russian colonization of California were taken in 1578, when an outlaw band of Cossacks crossed the Ural Mountains and conquered the Tartars of central Russia. After that the lure of furs, riches, and glory continued to propel these early fur hunters and free spirits rapidly eastward. By 1706, they had swept across the whole of Siberia, and occupied the Kamchatka Peninsula, northeast of Japan. The stage was set for further expansion to the east, across the Bering Strait.
Starting in 1742, Russian fur hunters, or "promysloviki," as they were called, began to leave the mainland to seek furs on and near the many islands to the east. Emel'ian Basov holds the distinction of being the first to leave the Asian mainland to gather furs. He and his crew spent the winter of 1742-43 on Bering Island. Another Russian, Mikhail Nevodchikov, reached Attu (the westernmost Aleutian island) on September 25, 1745, becoming the first of the flood of fur hunters to reach territory that was later to become part of the United States.
The first permanent settlement on Kodiak Island in what is now Alaska was built by Gregor Shelikov in 1784. The organization he put together and led became the Russian-American Company in 1799. That same year, Tsar Paul granted the company a charter that gave it a complete monopoly over all Russian enterprises in North America. In 1806, the company was even granted its own flag, a replica of which is on display in the visitor center at Fort Ross. Following elimination of competition from other fur traders, events moved rapidly in Russian America. Sitka, which the Russians called New Archangel, was founded in 1799 and became the capital of the region in 1804. Large profits began to flow to company shareholders, who included members of the royal family. The operation expanded still further in 1804, when American ship captains began to contract with the Russians for joint ventures, seeking sea otter pelts along the coast of Alta and Baja California.
The man behind this surge of activity in Russian America was Alexander Baranov, an employee of the Russian-American Company since its founding, and a resident of North America since 1791. It was he who developed the system in which native Alaskan hunters traveled south aboard American ships to hunt sea otters along the coast of California. Under Baranov's leadership, schools were established in the Sitka territory, more equitable treatment was given to the natives, and creature comforts began to replace the harsh realities of frontier life in Russian America.
See Link for complete article....
Special thanks to Sordred who found this website.
http://www.parks.sonoma.net/rosshist.html
History of the Russian Settlement at Fort Ross, California
For the small group of California natives, that cool, overcast day in March 1812 was a forerunner of massive change. They stood there in astonishment as a large sailing ship came to anchor in the little cove beneath their quiet bluff top settlement. For the next few days, they continued to watch as some twenty-five Russians and eighty Alaskans came ashore, set up a temporary camp, and began building houses and a sturdy wooden stockade - the colony and fortification of Ross.
The Kashaya people assembled to watch the spectacle had no way of knowing that their hunting and gathering lifestyle would be changed forever. These Russians had come to hunt sea otter, to grow wheat and other crops for the Russian settlements in Alaska, and to trade with Spanish California.
In addition, though they were careful not to say so, they came with an eye toward continuing the saga of Russian eastward expansion, a process that had begun some 250 years earlier, in the time of Ivan the Terrible, Russia's first Tsar.
The presence of Russian fur hunters in the North Pacific induced Spain to occupy Alta California in 1769. For forty years thereafter, development of the province continued on a gradual basis. By 1812, though, San Francisco Bay still marked the northern limit of Spanish settlement.
That summer, while the establishment was being built, Spain, France, Russia, and the other great colonial powers of the day were preoccupied with a major war. Napoleon's army was deep inside Russia, driving toward Moscow. Great Britain was at war with its upstart ex-colony, the small but restless United States of America. Nobody was ready to block the Russian move. In fact, it was several months before the civil and military leaders of Alta California were even aware of the development at Ross, and by then it was too late. The fort was complete, and though it was made of wood, it was well armed and vigilantly manned.
Russian Movement into the Americas
The first steps toward Russian colonization of California were taken in 1578, when an outlaw band of Cossacks crossed the Ural Mountains and conquered the Tartars of central Russia. After that the lure of furs, riches, and glory continued to propel these early fur hunters and free spirits rapidly eastward. By 1706, they had swept across the whole of Siberia, and occupied the Kamchatka Peninsula, northeast of Japan. The stage was set for further expansion to the east, across the Bering Strait.
Starting in 1742, Russian fur hunters, or "promysloviki," as they were called, began to leave the mainland to seek furs on and near the many islands to the east. Emel'ian Basov holds the distinction of being the first to leave the Asian mainland to gather furs. He and his crew spent the winter of 1742-43 on Bering Island. Another Russian, Mikhail Nevodchikov, reached Attu (the westernmost Aleutian island) on September 25, 1745, becoming the first of the flood of fur hunters to reach territory that was later to become part of the United States.
The first permanent settlement on Kodiak Island in what is now Alaska was built by Gregor Shelikov in 1784. The organization he put together and led became the Russian-American Company in 1799. That same year, Tsar Paul granted the company a charter that gave it a complete monopoly over all Russian enterprises in North America. In 1806, the company was even granted its own flag, a replica of which is on display in the visitor center at Fort Ross. Following elimination of competition from other fur traders, events moved rapidly in Russian America. Sitka, which the Russians called New Archangel, was founded in 1799 and became the capital of the region in 1804. Large profits began to flow to company shareholders, who included members of the royal family. The operation expanded still further in 1804, when American ship captains began to contract with the Russians for joint ventures, seeking sea otter pelts along the coast of Alta and Baja California.
The man behind this surge of activity in Russian America was Alexander Baranov, an employee of the Russian-American Company since its founding, and a resident of North America since 1791. It was he who developed the system in which native Alaskan hunters traveled south aboard American ships to hunt sea otters along the coast of California. Under Baranov's leadership, schools were established in the Sitka territory, more equitable treatment was given to the natives, and creature comforts began to replace the harsh realities of frontier life in Russian America.
See Link for complete article....