A Town for an Empire

A Town for an Empire. . This place was central to Russia's hopes of establishing a lucrative colony in America., Finding a Foothold , Starting in the 1740s, Russians were attracted to Alaska's coast by abundant, valuable sea otters. Russia claimed Alaska and chartered the Russian-American Company (RAC), monopolizing the fur trade and expanding the empire. The RAC manager, Alexander Baranov, established a fort near present-day Sitka in 1799 before going to RAC headquarters in Kodiak. The fort was later burned by the Tlingit in 1802., Building Blocks , In 1804, Baranov returned to Sitka Sound and, after a brief battle, established Novoarkhangel'sk (New Archangel), which became Russian America's capital in 1808. A new fort was built on this hill, with a house for the governor at the top and workshops farther down. The settlement expanded from here, becoming what is now Sitka., Growing in Grace , Novoarkhangel'sk became the most important and affluent port town in Russian America. In 1821, Russia mandated that RAC managers be naval officers and take a wife with them to Sitka, boosting the gentrification of Sitka society. As overhunting led to sea otter declines, Alaska and the other Russian-American colonies became costly to maintain. In 1867, Russia sold Alaska to the United States., Captions , . Portrait of Alexander Baranov Alaska State Library, Alaska State Library Portrait File P01-2003 , . Building plan of Novoarkhangel'sk by Langsdorff, 1805 Honeyman Collection, California Digital Library , . Background: Novoarkhangel'sk, by Lisianski, 1805 Alaska State Library, Alaska Purchase Centennial Collection P20-43