Alaska Natives. Russian-Indian war in Alaska (9 photos)

The development of the lands of Alaska by Russian colonists began at the end of the 18th century. Moving south along the mainland coast of Alaska in search of richer fishing grounds, Russian parties of hunters for sea animals gradually approached the territory inhabited by the Tlingit, one of the most powerful and formidable tribes of the Northwest coast. The Russians called them Koloshi (Kolyuzhs). This name comes from the custom of Tlingit women to insert a wooden plank - kaluga - into the cut on the lower lip, which made the lip stretch and sag. "Angier than the most predatory beasts", "a murderous and evil people", "bloodthirsty barbarians" - in such terms the Russian pioneers spoke about the Tlingits. And they had their reasons for that.

By the end of the XVIII century. The Tlingit occupied the coast of southeastern Alaska from the Portland Canal in the south to Yakutat Bay in the north, as well as the adjacent islands of the Alexander Archipelago.

The Tlingit country was divided into territorial divisions - kuans (Sitka, Yakutat, Huna, Khutsnuvu, Akoy, Stikine, Chilkat, etc.). In each of them there could be several large winter villages, where representatives of various clans (clans, sibs) lived, belonging to two large phratries of the tribe - Wolf / Eagle and Raven. These clans - Kiksadi, Kagwantan, Deshitan, Tluknahadi, Tekuedi, Nanyaayi, etc. - were often at enmity with each other. It was tribal, clan ties that were the most significant and strong in Tlingit society.

The first clashes between the Russians and the Tlingit date back to 1741, and later there were also small skirmishes with the use of .

In 1792, an armed conflict took place on Hinchinbrook Island with an uncertain result: the head of the party of industrialists and the future ruler of Alaska, Alexander Baranov, almost died, the Indians retreated, but the Russians did not dare to gain a foothold on the island and also sailed to Kodiak Island. Tlingit warriors were dressed in wicker wooden kuyaks, elk cloaks and animal-like helmets (apparently made from animal skulls). The Indians were armed mainly with cold and throwing weapons.

If during the attack on the party of A. A. Baranov in 1792 the Tlingits had not yet used firearms, then already in 1794 they had a lot of guns, as well as decent stocks of ammunition and gunpowder.

Treaty of Peace with the Indians of Sitka

Russians in 1795 appear on the island of Sitka, which was owned by the Kiksadi Tlingit clan. Closer contacts began in 1798.

After several minor clashes with small detachments of kiksadi, led by the young military leader Katlean, Alexander Andreevich Baranov concludes an agreement with the leader of the kiksadi tribe, Scoutlelt, to acquire land for the construction of a trading post.

Scoutlelt was baptized and his name became Michael. Baranov was his godfather. Scoutlelt and Baranov agreed to cede part of the land on the coast to the Russians and build a small trading post at the mouth of the Starrigavan River.

The alliance between the Russians and the Kiksadi was beneficial to both sides. The Russians patronized the Indians and helped them protect themselves from other warring tribes.

On July 15, 1799, the Russians began building the fort "St. Michael the Archangel", now this place is called Staraya Sitka.

Meanwhile, the Kiksadi and Deshitan tribes concluded a truce - the enmity between the Indian clans ceased.

The danger to the Kixadi was gone. Too close contact with the Russians is now becoming too burdensome. Both the Kiksadi and the Russians felt this very soon.

Tlingit from other clans who visited Sitka after the cessation of hostilities there, mocked its inhabitants and "boasted of their freedom." The biggest quarrel occurred on Easter, however, thanks to the decisive actions of A.A. Baranov, bloodshed was avoided. However, on April 22, 1800, A.A. Baranov departed for Kodiak, leaving V.G. Medvednikov.

Despite the fact that the Tlingit had rich experience of communicating with Europeans, relations between the Russian settlers and the natives became more and more aggravated, which ultimately led to a protracted bloody war. However, such a result was by no means just an absurd accident or a consequence of the intrigues of insidious foreigners, just as these events were not generated by the only natural bloodthirstiness of the “fierce ears”. The Tlingit Kuans brought other, deeper causes onto the warpath.

Background of the war

Russian and Anglo-American merchants had one goal in the local waters, one main source of profit - furs, sea otters. But the means to achieve this goal were different. The Russians themselves mined precious furs, sending parties of Aleuts after them and founding permanent fortified settlements in the fishing areas. Buying skins from the Indians played a secondary role.

Due to the specifics of their position, British and American (Boston) merchants acted in exactly the opposite way. They periodically came on their ships to the shores of the Tlingit country, conducted an active trade, bought furs and left, leaving the Indians in return for fabrics, weapons, ammunition, and alcohol.

The Russian-American Company could not offer the Tlingit practically any of these goods, which they valued so much. The ban on the sale of firearms among the Russians pushed the Tlingit to even closer ties with the Bostonians. For this trade, the volume of which was constantly growing, the Indians needed more and more furs. However, the Russians with their activities prevented the Tlingit from trading with the Anglo-Saxons.

The active fishing of the sea otter, which was carried out by Russian parties, was the reason for the impoverishment natural resources edge, deprived the Indians of their main commodity in relations with the Anglo-Americans. All this could not but affect the attitude of the Indians towards the Russian colonists. The Anglo-Saxons actively fueled their hostility.

Every year, about fifteen foreign ships took out 10-15 thousand sea otters from the possessions of the RAC, which was equal to four years of Russian fishing. The strengthening of the Russian presence threatened them with deprivation of profits.

Thus, the predatory fishing of the sea animal, which was launched by the Russian-American Company, undermined the basis of the economic well-being of the Tlingit, depriving them of their main commodity in profitable trade with the Anglo-American sea traders, whose inflammatory actions served as a kind of catalyst that hastened the unleashing of the imminent military conflict. The rash and rude actions of Russian industrialists served as an impetus for the unification of the Tlingits in the struggle to expel the RAC from their territories.

In the winter of 1802, a great council of leaders took place in Hutsnuwu-kuan (Father Admiralty), at which a decision was made to start a war against the Russians. The council developed a plan of military action. It was planned with the onset of spring to gather soldiers in Khutsnuva and, after waiting for the fishing party to leave Sitka, attack the fort. The party was to lie in wait in the Dead Strait.

Hostilities began in May 1802 with an attack at the mouth of the Alsek River on the Yakutat fishing party of I.A. Kuskov. The party consisted of 900 native hunters and more than a dozen Russian industrial hunters. The attack of the Indians, after several days of skirmishing, was successfully repulsed. The Tlingit, seeing the complete failure of their warlike plans, went to negotiations and concluded a truce.

The uprising of the Tlingit - the destruction of the Mikhailovsky Fort and the Russian fishing parties

After the fishing party of Ivan Urbanov (about 190 Aleuts) left the Mikhailovsky Fort, 26 Russians, six "Englishmen" (American sailors in the service of the Russians), 20-30 Kodiaks and about 50 women and children remained on Sitka. On June 10, a small artel under the command of Alexei Evglevsky and Alexei Baturin went hunting to the “distant Siuchy stone”. Other inhabitants of the settlement continued to carelessly go about their daily business.

The Indians attacked simultaneously from two sides - from the forest and from the side of the bay, sailing on war canoes. This campaign was led by the military leader of the Kiksadi, the nephew of Scoutlelt, the young leader - Catlian. An armed mob of Tlingit, numbering about 600 people, under the command of the leader of the Sitka Scoutlelt, surrounded the barracks and opened heavy rifle fire at the windows. At the call of Scoutlelt, a huge flotilla of war canoes came out from behind the cape of the bay, on which there were at least 1000 Indian warriors, who immediately joined the Sitkins. Soon the roof of the barracks caught fire. The Russians tried to shoot back, but could not resist the overwhelming superiority of the attackers: the doors of the barracks were knocked out and, despite the direct fire of the cannon that was inside, the Tlingits managed to get inside, kill all the defenders and plunder the furs stored in the barracks

There are various versions of the participation of the Anglo-Saxons in unleashing the war.

In 1802, the East Indian captain Barber landed six sailors on the island of Sitka, allegedly for a mutiny on the ship. They were taken to work in a Russian city.

Having bribed the Indian chiefs with weapons, rum, and knick-knacks during their long winter stay in the Tlingit villages, promising them gifts if they drove the Russians from their island, and threatening not to sell guns and whiskey, Barber played on the ambitions of the young military leader Catlean. The gates of the fort were opened from the inside by American sailors. So, naturally, without warning or explanation, the Indians attacked the fortress. All defenders, including women and children, were killed.

According to another version, the real instigator of the Indians should be considered not the Englishman Barber, but the American Cunningham. He, unlike Barber and the sailors, ended up on Sitka clearly not by accident. There is a version that he was initiated into the plans of the Tlingit, or even participated directly in their development.

The fact that foreigners will be declared responsible for the Sitka disaster was predetermined from the very beginning. But the reasons for the fact that the Englishman Barber was then recognized as the main culprit lie probably in the uncertainty in which Russian foreign policy was in those years.

The fortress was completely destroyed, and the entire population was exterminated. Nothing is being built there yet. The losses for Russian America were significant, for two years Baranov was gathering strength in order to return to Sitka.

The news of the destruction of the fortress was brought to Baranov by the English captain Barber. At Kodiak Island, he put out 20 guns from the side of his ship, the Unicorn. But, afraid to get involved with Baranov, he went to the Sandwich Islands - to trade with the Hawaiians the good looted in Sitka.

A day later, the Indians almost completely destroyed the small party of Vasily Kochesov, who was returning to the fortress from the sea lions.

The Tlingit had a special hatred for Vasily Kochesov, the famous hunter, known among the Indians and Russians as an unsurpassed marksman. The Tlingit called him Gidak, which probably comes from the Tlingit name of the Aleuts, whose blood flowed in Kochesov's veins - giyak-kwaan (the hunter's mother was from the Fox Range Islands). Having finally got the hated archer into their hands, the Indians tried to make his death, like the death of his comrade, as painful as possible. According to K.T. Khlebnikov, “the barbarians, not suddenly, but temporarily, cut off their nose, ears and other members of their body, stuffed their mouths with them, and viciously mocked the torment of the sufferers. Kochesov ... could not endure pain for a long time and was happy termination of life, but the unfortunate Eglevsky languished for more than a day in terrible torment.

In the same year, 1802: Ivan Urbanov's Fishing Sitka party (90 kayaks) was tracked down by the Indians in the Frederick Strait and attacked on the night of June 19-20. Lurking in ambushes, the warriors of Kuan Keik-Kuyu did not betray their presence in any way and, as K.T. Khlebnikov wrote, “the leaders of the party did not notice any troubles or reasons for displeasure ... But this silence and silence were the harbingers of a cruel thunderstorm.” The Indians attacked the party members at the lodging for the night and "almost killed them with bullets and daggers." 165 Kodiaks were killed in the massacre, and this was no less a heavy blow to the Russian colonization than the destruction of the Mikhailovskaya fortress.

Russian return to Sitka

Then came 1804, the year the Russians returned to Sitka. Baranov learned that the first Russian ship went to sea from Kronstadt. round the world expedition, and was looking forward to the arrival of the Neva in Russian America, while at the same time building a whole flotilla of ships.

In the summer of 1804, the ruler of the Russian possessions in America, A.A. Baranov went to the island with 150 industrialists and 500 Aleuts in his kayaks and with the ships Ermak, Alexander, Ekaterina and Rostislav.

A.A. Baranov ordered the Russian ships to deploy opposite the village. For a whole month, he negotiated with the leaders about the extradition of several prisoners and the renewal of the treaty, but everything was unsuccessful. The Indians moved from their old village to a new settlement at the mouth of the Indian River.

Military operations began. In early October, the Neva brig, commanded by Lisyansky, joined the Baranov flotilla.

After stubborn and prolonged resistance, truce came from the koloshes. After negotiations, the whole tribe left.

On October 8, 1804, the Russian flag was raised over the Indian settlement.

Novoarkhangelsk - the capital of Russian America

Baranov occupied the deserted village and destroyed it. A new fortress was laid here - the future capital of Russian America - Novo-Arkhangelsk. On the shore of the bay, where the old Indian village stood, on a hill, a fortification was built, and then the house of the Ruler, which was called by the Indians - Baranov's Castle.

Novoarkhangelsk (most likely the beginning of the 1830s)

Novoarkhangelsk from August 1808 became the main city of the Russian-American Company and administrative center Russian possessions in Alaska and remained so until 1867, when Alaska was sold to the United States.

In Novoarkhangelsk there was a wooden fortress, a shipyard, warehouses, barracks, residential buildings. 222 Russians and over 1,000 natives lived here.

The fall of the Russian fort Yakutat

On August 20, 1805, the Eyak warriors of the Tlahaik-Tekuedi (tluhedi) clan, led by Tanukh and Lushvak, and their allies from among the Tlingit of the Kuashkkuan clan burned Yakutat and killed the Russians remaining there. Of the entire population of the Russian colony in Yakutat in 1805, according to official data, 14 Russians “and many more islanders” died, that is, allied Aleuts. The main part of the party, together with Demyanenkov, was sunk in the sea by a storm. About 250 people died then. The fall of Yakutat and the death of Demyanenkov's party became another heavy blow for the Russian colonies. An important economic and strategic base on the coast of America was lost.

Thus, the armed actions of the Tlingit and Eyak in 1802-1805. significantly weakened the potential of the RAC. Direct financial damage reached, apparently, no less than half a million rubles. All this stopped the advance of the Russians in a southerly direction along the northwestern coast of America for several years. The Indian threat further fettered the RAC forces in the area of arch. Alexandra did not allow the systematic colonization of Southeast Alaska to begin.

Relapses of confrontation

So, on February 4, 1851, an Indian military detachment from the river. Koyukuk attacked the village of Indians who lived at the Russian loner (factory) Nulato in the Yukon. The loner herself was also attacked. However, the attackers were repulsed with damage. The Russians also had losses: Vasily Deryabin, the head of the trading post, was killed and an employee of the company (Aleut) and an English lieutenant Bernard, who arrived in Nulato from the British military sloop Enterprise to search for the missing members of the third polar expedition Franklin. In the same winter, the Tlingit (Sitka Koloshi) staged several quarrels and fights with the Russians in the market and in the forest near Novoarkhangelsk. In response to these provocations, the chief ruler, N. Ya. Rosenberg, announced to the Indians that if the unrest continued, he would order the “Kolosha market” to be closed altogether and interrupt all trade with them. The reaction of the Sitkinites to this ultimatum was unprecedented: on the morning of the next day, they made an attempt to capture Novoarkhangelsk. Some of them, armed with guns, sat down in the bushes near the fortress wall; the other, having placed prefabricated ladders to a wooden tower with cannons, the so-called "Koloshenskaya battery", almost took possession of it. Fortunately for the Russians, the sentries were on the alert and sounded the alarm just in time. An armed detachment that came to the rescue threw down three Indians who had already climbed onto the battery, and stopped the rest.

In November 1855, another incident occurred when several natives captured Andreevskaya alone in downstream Yukon. At that time, its manager, the Kharkov tradesman Alexander Shcherbakov, and two Finnish workers who served in the RAC were here. As a result of a sudden attack, the kayaker Shcherbakov and one worker were killed, and the loner was looted. The surviving RAC officer Lavrenty Keryanin managed to escape and safely reach the Mikhailovsky redoubt. A punitive expedition was immediately dispatched to find the natives hiding in the tundra who had ravaged the Andreevskaya loneliness. They sat down in a barabora (Eskimo half-dugout) and refused to give up. The Russians were forced to open fire. As a result of the skirmish, five natives were killed, and one managed to escape.

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The settlement of Alaska by Russians began at the end of the 18th century. Despite the fact that they tried to live peacefully with the local population, there were also conflicts. So, at the beginning of the 19th century, a war broke out between Russian settlers and Indians from the Koloshi tribe. This episode from the history of Russian America will be discussed in this article. The material is taken from the article "The connection of times across the ocean of sadness ..." (newspaper "Severyanka", 25.02.06), written by Irina Afrosina - great-great-great-granddaughter of Alexander Baranov - the first business manager of the "Russian-American Company", in fact the main ruler Russian settlements in Russian America.

The inhabitants of the island of Sitka, belonging to the Indian tribe of Koloshi (Tlingit), were distinguished by extreme savagery and ferocity, had a warlike disposition. They were in a primitive state, were under the great influence of shamans and old women.

In his Notes on Ears, Father John characterizes them as follows:

Under the name of the Koloshi, the peoples inhabiting northwest coast America from the Columbia River to Mount St. Elias and those living on the islands of the archipelago of the Prince of Wales and King George III. Koloshi of a different origin than the Aleuts and other peoples of Russian America, even their appearance speaks of this: large black open eyes, a regular face, not high cheekbones, medium height, important posture and gait chest forward. All this shows that they are not of Mongolian origin, but of a special one - American. According to their legends, they did not come from the west, like the Aleuts, but from the east - from the shores of America. They call themselves Tlingit. The British simply call them "Indians", while the Russians call them "Koloshi" or "Kalyuzhi". Where does this name come from? Maybe from kaluzhek - women's Koloshensky jewelry on the lower lip? The exact etymology of the word is not clear. Number of spikes in Russian America from Kaigan to Yakutat - no more than 6000.
Before the arrival of the Russians, even before they knew about firearms, the Koloshi had a cruel custom of scourging. Thus they demonstrated courage and strengthened their body and spirit. Flagellation usually took place in winter, with severe frosts while swimming in the sea. They tortured themselves with bare rods until they had enough strength, then they inflicted wounds on their beaten body with sharp objects and knives, after which they sat in the sea until stiffness, until they were taken out and laid by the fire. Even worse was the evening scourging that took place in the barabor (hut). It has almost disappeared.
Koloshi are not strangers to hospitality, judging by the way they receive and treat.
They have no punishment for crimes. Murder is paid for with murder. Theft is not considered a great vice - only stolen goods are taken away. If someone seduces someone else's wife and slips away from the knife of the offended husband, then he pays him something for the insult. Kalgi (slaves) have no rights. But they are usually killed only in three cases: 1) at a wake; 2) on big holidays; 3) for housewarming. If the kalga manages to hide in time, then he can calmly return home after the holiday, and nothing will happen to him. Sometimes the masters deliberately give the slaves the opportunity to escape in advance.
Koloshi are quite capable, surpassing the Aleuts in sharpness and dexterity in trade. There are many skilled artisans among them: it is worth looking at their products - bats (small ships), blankets, cloaks, spears, sculptures of figures made of asp and wood. They can successfully carpentry, engage in gardening, etc. They are capable of science (although there was no mass training before Father John).
If we compare the abilities of the Aleuts and the Koloshi, we can see that the intelligence of the Koloshi is higher, but the so-called natural mind is higher among the Aleuts. And this, perhaps, is due to the fact that the latter met Russians earlier and converted to Christianity.
The Aleuts are almost all "unmercenaries", and the ears are able to stock up food in abundance, be thrifty and prudent, and are prone to hoarding.
Koloshi are patient, even to the point of insensitivity (physically), but it is difficult for them to bear resentment and insult, even an unkind look. Vengeful, but rather from ambition, and not from irritability.
They are brave when attacking by surprise or when dealing with the not brave. And they run from the brave. They have a desire for independence and freedom. Before the Aleuts, they are extolled by their dignity, considering them kalgs (slaves) of Russians.

The icon "A" marks the island of Sitka, aka Baranova Island.

Russians in 1795 appear on the island of Sitka, which was owned by the Kiksadi Tlingit clan. Closer contacts began in 1798. After several minor clashes with small detachments of kiksadi, led by the young military leader Katlean, Alexander Andreevich Baranov concludes an agreement with the leader of the kiksadi tribe, Scoutlelt, to acquire land for the construction of a trading post. Scoutlelt was baptized and his name became Michael. Baranov was his godfather. Scoutlelt and Baranov agreed to cede part of the land on the coast to the Russians and build a small trading post at the mouth of the Starrigavan rivulet. For three years there was a settlement on the banks Pacific Ocean. In general, nothing foreshadowed the tragedy that occurred unexpectedly for Alexander Andreevich Baranov and all of Russian America. Until now, no one can find out what really happened in 1802, what the Indians were unhappy with and why they decided to violate the agreement. It is possible that the Russians and Aleuts violated some restrictions or taboos of the locals, or perhaps not all clans supported Scoutlelt and were only waiting for an opportunity to show their strength. The Indian leader Sitka Skoutlelt himself sold Baranov's land for the construction of the city, the sailors of the East India Company sounded the alarm. Baranov's indomitable energy aroused envy and anger in them.

Baranov fortified Kodiak and placed cannons on it. And now he is building a fortification on the island of Sitka. The East Indian captain Barber, known for his piratical antics, landed six sailors on the island of Sitka in 1802, allegedly for a mutiny on the ship. They were taken to work in a Russian city.

There is also such a version - the Indians - that they did not intend to build a fortress, and its construction was perceived as a seizure of land, or maybe everything was much simpler. The Russians did not sell firearms and vodka to the Indians, unlike the Americans. And they, dissatisfied with this and supported by the Americans, who dreamed that Russia would get out of these territories, in their discontent, in 1802 destroyed the fortress of the Archangel Michael and killed all its inhabitants. This campaign was led by the military leader of the Kiksadi, the nephew of Scoutlelt, the young leader - Catlian. And if the Kiksadi oral tradition is silent about Scoutlelt, then they remember Katlian well as a “fighter” with the Russian invaders. Having bribed the Indian chiefs with weapons, rum, and knick-knacks during their long winter stay in the Tlingit villages, promising them gifts if they drove the Russians from their island, and threatening not to sell guns and whiskey, Barber played on the ambitions of the young military leader Catlean. The gates of the fort were opened from the inside by American sailors. So, naturally, without warning or explanation, the Indians attacked the fortress. Probably, the fortress would have survived, but there were traitors in it. These were six American sailors who allegedly fled the ship and asked for work. They opened the gates of the fortress from the inside. All defenders, including women and children, were killed. The helmet of Katlian, in which he was wearing during the attack on the fortress, and the blacksmith's hammer, snatched by him from the murdered man in the forge on the shore, with which he killed all the unarmed, are considered relics - the regalia of the Kiksadi Tlingit.

The fortress was completely destroyed, and nothing is being built there until now. The losses for Russian America were significant, for two years Baranov was gathering strength in order to come to Sitka.

The news of the destruction of the fortress was brought to Baranov by Barber himself. Off Kodiak Island, he deployed 20 guns from the side of his ship, the Unicorn. But, afraid to get involved with Baranov, he went to the Sandwich Islands - to trade with the Hawaiians the good looted in Sitka. And at that time, the bodies of Russian settlers were lying on the conflagration in Sitka.

Then came the year of the Russian return to Sitka. Baranov learned that the first Russian round-the-world expedition had set out to sea from Kronstadt, and he was looking forward to the arrival of the Neva in Russian America, while at the same time building a whole fleet of ships.

In the summer of 1804, the ruler of the Russian possessions in America, A.A. Baranov went to the island with 150 industrialists and 500 Aleuts in his kayaks and with the ships "Ermak", "Alexander", "Ekaterina" and "Rostislav". When they reached Sitka, they found here Captain Lisyansky, who was making a round-the-world voyage on the Neva ship.

Its mouth was shallow, so the kayaks could not swim close to the shore, and Catlean felt himself master of the situation. By this time, all the other Tlingit clans and American sailors had already left the Kiksadi, and they were one on one with the Russians and Eskimos. Military operations began. The first Russian attack on the Kiksadi was successfully repulsed by them. During it, Baranov was seriously wounded in the arm. However, the siege continued. In early October, the Neva brig, commanded by Lisyansky, joined the Baranov flotilla. It was one of the ships of the first Russian round-the-world expedition, which was equipped by the Russian-American Company, to communicate with its territories in Alaska. Supported by the cannons of the Neva, Baranov offered Katlean to surrender, promising to save everyone's life.

At the meeting, Baranov and Lisyansky agreed on measures of action, and on July 17, all ships and with a detachment of Aleuts left Krestovskaya harbor, and by evening they were at anchor near the Sitka village, against the kekur; where, however, they found empty huts.

The inhabitants all retired to a fortress built by them on a cape by the river, further in the bay. On September 18 (September 30, according to the New Style) of the toyons, Kotleyan with a certain number of people came to the fortress for negotiations, and when they suggested that he give amanats1, then he also demanded the same number of Russians and Aleuts. Seeing no inclination towards the world, he was ordered to retire.

To clear the surrounding coast from the ships, they fired several cannon shots with cannonballs to find out if anyone was hiding in an ambush to prevent the landings from the ships. After that, Baranov, having moved ashore, occupied a high, rocky, rather extensive stone (kekur) and raised a flag on it as a sign of mastering this place under the Russian State, naming it as before the New Arkhangelsk fortress.

Cannons were placed on the kekura and guards were determined; and the Aleut party occupied all the surroundings of it. At that time, a canoe kolosh was seen, following from the sea to the fortress, which Lieutenant Arbuzov was sent to pursue from Captain Lisyansky.

When attacked on it, the ears defended themselves desperately, firing from guns; but the canoe was soon blown up by the gunpowder that was on it, and most of Kolosh drowned; only six were saved: two of them, badly wounded, soon died, while the others were taken and taken to the Neva. Soon about 60 people appeared on the shore; half of them remained on the way, while others in military armor, armed with guns and spears, came under the fortress on a kekura, among them were toyons.

Baranov suggested to them that, forgetting all the past, he now demands the return of all the captive Aleuts who remained with them; and so that in order to ensure the stay of the Russians here, they would give amanats, while they themselves, leaving their fortress, would move away from the place we occupied. Negotiations continued for about two hours, but the Koloshi did not accept these moderate proposals and, shouting loudly three times y! u! uh, gone.

On October 20 (October 2, NS) all the ships approached the enemy fortress, as far as the depth allowed, and, stopping at anchors, opened fire on it. Koloshi, for their part, responded with several cannon shots. The Koloshin fortress consisted, in Baranov's words, of a very thick, two or more girth, knotty forest; and their huts were in some deepened hollow; why, and at a distant distance, our cannonballs and buckshot did not cause any harm to the enemy.

This made ours decide to take the fortifications by storm. Koloshi, having gathered all their forces, opened heavy fire from the fortress. At the very time when they were already set up to break and set fire to the fortress, Baranov was wounded in the right hand by a bullet through and through.

New in military affairs, some industrial and Aleuts showed the rear; then it was decided: retreating in order, return to the ship. On the 21st (October 3, according to a new style), Baranov, feeling pain from a wound, was not able to engage in military operations and therefore asked Captain Lisyansky to take all the people at his disposal and assist at his discretion. Lisyansky ordered a strong cannon fire from the ships at the fortress.

This finally produced what was desired: parliamentarians came from the kolosh, with whom they had negotiations on sending amanats and on the return of former prisoners. On the place occupied by the fortress on the kekur, nearby, they built buildings for the first case, necessary for the storage of cargo; up to 1000 logs were cut down for the barracks, and for the Ruler they built a small house from boards and laid a palisade with booths in the corners from standing pointed logs. This constituted a fortress, safe from the enemy attack of the kolosh.

At dawn on October 4, 1804, the fortress at the mouth of the Indian River was abandoned ... The whole tribe was gone. They did not believe Baranov's assurances, simply because they themselves would never let anyone go alive in such a situation. After a treacherous breach of treaty and an attack on people who trusted them. After some resistance, the natives proposed negotiations, and on October 8, 1804, the Russian flag was raised over the native settlement. The construction of a fort and a new settlement began. Soon the city of Novoarkhangelsk grew up here.

From August 1808, Novoarkhangelsk became the main city of the Russian-American Company and the administrative center of Russian possessions in Alaska, and remained so until 1867, when Alaska was sold to America. Baranov occupied the deserted village and destroyed it. He founded a new fortress - the future capital of Russian America - Novo-Arkhangelsk in a completely different place. On the shore of the bay, where the old Indian village stood, on a hill, a fortification was built, and then the house of the Ruler, which was called by the Indians - Baranov's Castle.

That ill-fated night escape from the fortress claimed the lives of many weak children, the elderly and women. The Indians have not forgotten this. Until now, this battle and pictures of flight are stored in their memory. Baranov sent ambassadors to Katlean more than once, but the shamans were against making peace with the Russians. Only in the autumn of 1805, an agreement was again concluded between Baranov and Scoutlelt. As gifts were presented a bronze double-headed eagle, the Cap of Peace, made by Russians on the model of Tlingit ceremonial hats, and a blue robe with gristos. But for a long time the Russians and Aleuts were afraid to go deep into the impenetrable rainforests of Sitka, this could cost them their lives.

Gradually, the city was built - Novoarkhangelsk. A wooden fortress, a shipyard, warehouses, barracks, residential buildings stood in the Novoarkhangelsk port. 222 Russians and over 1,000 natives lived here. It seemed that the conflict remained in the past, the confrontation ended in a peaceful life.

However, the shamans and leaders did not hold the necessary ceremonies in the tribe, and for the Indians the war still continued ... The curses of the shamans still rushed from the depths of time, and sounded in the minds and hearts of the Indians, as if they were alive.
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But this story didn't end there. Here is what the website alaska-heritage.clan.su writes:
After the sale, Alaska was first considered a territory, and then a US state, but for the Tlingit, these were external events. They did not address their core problem - their only military defeat in their entire history, the loss of life and the enormous sense of guilt and loss that they kept and saved. But in the minds and hearts of the Tlingit, the war with the Russians still continued.

Many years later. Alaska is now owned by the United States. Circumstances and the world have changed so much that there is no possibility of resolving this internal conflict in the form familiar to the Indians. External pressure on the members of the tribe and young Indians is increasing, contacts between white Americans and Indians are becoming closer. Yes, and the Russian diaspora in Sitka is gradually increasing its numbers.
The Kixadi chiefs Ray Wilson, Marc Jacobs, Ellen Hope-Hayes, Harald Jacobs, Tom Gamble, George Bennet and others made a decision unprecedented in their history. They took steps to resolve this conflict, which has lasted for over 200 years, to resolve the complex relationship, full of grief, guilt and hostility between Russians and Tlingit, affecting several generations of people. For this ceremony, the participation of the descendants of the direct actors of that ancient history was especially important. In October 2004, a memorial and reconciliation ceremony was held. It was attended by the descendants of the Aleuts and Indians, who fought on both sides.
At the request of the Kiksadi clan, and thanks to the cooperation of the Service National Parks, the Library of Congress, Russian historians, and the Cultural Center of the Indians of Southeast Alaska, for obligatory participation in the ceremony, Irina Afrosina, a direct descendant of Alexander Baranov, the first governor of Russian America, who led the combined forces of Russians and Aleuts in the Battle of 1804, was found and invited to Moscow .
Kiksadi have been preparing for this event for a year. Not all elders and members of the tribe supported this idea. The first commemorative ceremony - potlatch - was already held a hundred years ago in 1904. However, then it was aimed precisely at maintaining the memory of the tragedy in the minds and hearts of the people of the tribe. The main idea that emerged in the 2004 ceremony was that it should not be focused only on the past and the facts of the conflict. For this, two separate parts were planned in the form of traditional ceremonies. The first ceremony - mourning and forgiveness - released all the negative emotions of the people whose ancestors participated in the battles and who suffered the loss as a result of the battle and made it possible for people to be freed from grief. The next koo.ex ceremony or potlatch would be dedicated to the spirit of peace and cooperation. It was very important that the Russian side of the conflict was also represented by the direct descendants of the participants in the battle.

Reconciliation potlatch on the island of Sitka

The first meeting between Russian RAK representatives and tribal leaders took place at the Park Visitor Center on October 1st, on the eve of the memorial ceremony for the fallen. The chiefs greeted the guests, and each of them spoke about the history of his clan. On the same day, the third peace agreement was established and adopted, and now it will mean eternal peace for our peoples: the Russians and all the indigenous tribes of Alaska. Despite the usual Sith weather, the sun was shining at the conclusion of this meeting, and this was also noted by the leaders as an auspicious sign.
Public commemorative events were launched at the site of the battle on Saturday, October 2, with a mourning ceremony for the ancestors who fell in the conflict. The official ceremony was held in a clearing, next to the totem of the military leader Kiksadi - Katlian, carved by a Tlingit carver Tommy Joseph, and installed in 1999 in a clearing directly in the battle zone. During the ceremony, the Kiksadi were joined and supported in their grief by members of other Tlingit clans whose ancestors had taken part in the battle.
Finally, on October 3, 2004, these 200 years of war ended.

Alaska is called the Land of the Midnight Sun, the Last Frontier, the Great Land. and how much was the land worth to the US? Who now lives on its territory?

Alaska on the world map

Alaska is located in the northwestern United States and is the most big staff countries. separates it from Russian territory - the Chukotka Peninsula. The state borders Canada to the east.

This state is an exclave. It is separated from the rest of the United States by Canadian lands. To get from Alaska to the nearest US state, you need to overcome 800 kilometers of Canadian territory.

The total area of the state is 1,717,854 sq. km, and coastline stretched for 10,639 km. Alaska Territory represented mainland and numerous islands. These include the Alexander Archipelago, Kodiak, Pribylov and

Alaska's Cape Barrow is the most northern point United States, and the island of Attu, which is part of the Aleutian Islands, is the westernmost.

natural conditions

Alaska is washed by the Pacific and Arctic oceans, creating different climatic conditions. The interior of the state is characterized by a subarctic climate with cold winters and relatively warm summers. In the northern part, the climate is arctic: severe cold winters and cold summers. Temperature in summer time rarely rises above zero. On the Pacific coast (southeast of the state), the climate is mild maritime, with high rainfall.

The north of Alaska is covered with tundra, and the south with dense forests. There are many volcanoes and glaciers in this region. The largest is the Bering Glacier, its area is 5800 sq. km. m. The volcanic mountain ranges of Alaska are part of the Shishaldin Volcano located on Unimak Island and is considered one of the largest Alaskan volcanoes.

The largest rivers in the state are the Yukon and the Kuskokwim. In total, Alaska has more than 10 thousand rivers and over 3 million lakes. In the northeastern part of the state is the Arctic national reserve, and in the northwest - the territory of the US oil reserve.

Discovery of Alaska

There is an opinion that Alaska was first discovered by Semyon Dezhnev in the 17th century. But there is no official confirmation of this fact. Therefore, the discovery of the Great Land is attributed to the crew of the ship "Saint Gabriel". The expeditionary group, whose members were M. S. Gvozdev, I. Fedorov, D. I. Pavlutsky and A. F. Shestakov, landed on the territory of Alaska in 1732.

After 9 years, the second expedition set off here on the ships St. Peter and St. Paul. The ships were led by Alexey Chirikov and famous explorer Vitus Bering.

Thick fog was a significant hindrance to the study. At first, the lands of Alaska were seen from the board of the "St. Paul", it was the island of the Prince of Wales. The researchers noticed that a lot of sea otter beavers live here, the fur of which was considered the most valuable at that time. This was the main impetus for the development of new lands.

Sale

In 1799, a Russian-American company was opened, headed by active hunting with beaver fur (which subsequently led to a significant reduction in the number of animals).

New settlements and ports are founded, schools and hospitals are opened, the Orthodox Church conducts educational work, the object of which is the population of Alaska. True, land development is limited to fur mining and missionary activities.

In addition, relations with Britain were heating up, and the proximity of Russian Alaska to British Columbia made it vulnerable in the event of a military conflict between countries. So in 1857, thoughts were born about selling it to America.

In March 1867, an agreement was signed in Washington to sell the territory for $7,200,000. In October, the official transfer of the purchased lands in the city of Sitka (then it was called Novo-Arkhangelsk) took place.

American Alaska

For a long time, the newly acquired lands were under the control of the US military forces and were not particularly developed. In 1896, a real gold boom occurs when gold deposits are found on the Klondike River, in Canada. The easiest way to get into Canadian territory was through Alaska, which provoked the rapid growth of settlements.

In 1898, gold was found near the city of Nome and modern city Fairbanks in Alaska. The gold rush contributed economic development region. The population of Alaska has grown significantly. were built railways, minerals were actively mined.

The Great Depression in the 20th century also affected Alaska. Residents of the northern states are resettled here to boost the economy of the region. During World War II, supplies go through Alaska military equipment V Soviet Union.

In 1959, Alaska becomes the 49th state of the United States. Later, significant oil reserves are discovered here, which again raises its development.

Alaska population

The population of the state is about 700,000 people. This figure puts the state in 47th place in terms of population in the country. The population density of Alaska is the lowest at 0.4 people per square kilometer.

The largest increase in population in the state was observed after oil deposits were discovered. Then the population of Alaska increased by 36%. Anchorage is the largest city in the state with over 300,000 people.

About 60% of the population is white indigenous people accounts for about 15%, Asians make up about 5.5%, the rest is accounted for by other races. The largest national group living in Alaska is the Germans. Irish and English account for 10% each, followed by Norwegians, French and Scots.

Russian missionary Orthodox Church did not pass without a trace - now in Alaska, about 70% of the inhabitants are Christians. Protestantism is considered the second largest religion, although overall Alaska is the least religious state in America.

Alaska Natives

The Russians, of course, are considered the discoverers, but people began to populate the region long before the arrival of explorers. According to scientists, the first inhabitants of Alaska came here from Siberia about 30 thousand years ago, during the freezing of the Bering Strait.

The first peoples to enter the "Land of the Midnight Sun" were the Tlingit, Tsimshian, Khaila, and Athabaskans. They are the ancestors of modern American Indians. The tribes had their own language and beliefs, and were mainly engaged in fishing.

Much later (almost 8 thousand years ago), people belonging to the Eskimos or Inuit sailed to the lands of Alaska. These were the tribes of the Aleuts, Alutiiks and Inupiats.

With the discovery of Alaska, Russian explorers brought their faith and traditions to the world of the indigenous population. Many locals worked for the Russians. Now Alaska has the largest percentage of the indigenous population in the United States, but this figure is gradually decreasing. Therefore, in Lately special programs are being carried out to preserve the culture of indigenous people.

Conclusion

Alaska (America) is a rich region with a unique but harsh nature. There are many volcanoes, glaciers, rivers and lakes. This is the biggest american state separated from the United States by Canada. The population of Alaska is represented by numerous ethnic groups and nationalities. The descendants of Indians and Eskimos still live here, continuing their traditions and culture.

The Russians called them Koloshi (Kolyuzhs). This name comes from the custom of Tlingit women to insert a wooden plank - kaluga - into the cut on the lower lip, which made the lip stretch and sag. “Angier than the most predatory beasts”, “a murderous and evil people”, “bloodthirsty barbarians” - in such expressions the Russian pioneers spoke about the Tlingits.

And they had their reasons for that.

The first clashes between the Russians and the Tlingit date back to 1741, later there were also small skirmishes with the use of weapons.

If during the attack on the party of A. A. Baranov in 1792 the Tlingits had not yet used firearms, then already in 1794 they had a lot of guns, as well as decent stocks of ammunition and gunpowder.

Treaty of Peace with the Indians of Sitka

Russians in 1795 appear on the island of Sitka, which was owned by the Kiksadi Tlingit clan. Closer contacts began in 1798.

The alliance between the Russians and the Kiksadi was beneficial to both sides. The Russians patronized the Indians and helped them protect themselves from other warring tribes.

On July 15, 1799, the Russians began building the fort "St. Michael the Archangel", now this place is called Staraya Sitka.

Meanwhile, the Kiksadi and Deshitan tribes concluded a truce - the enmity between the Indian clans ceased.

The danger to the Kixadi was gone. Too close contact with the Russians is now becoming too burdensome. Both the Kiksadi and the Russians felt this very soon.

Background of the war

The active fishing of the sea otter, which was carried out by Russian parties, was the reason for the impoverishment of the natural resources of the region, depriving the Indians of their main commodity in relations with the Anglo-Americans. All this could not but affect the attitude of the Indians towards the Russian colonists. The Anglo-Saxons actively fueled their hostility.

The uprising of the Tlingit - the destruction of the Mikhailovsky Fort and the Russian fishing parties

There are various versions of the participation of the Anglo-Saxons in unleashing the war.

In 1802, the East Indian captain Barber landed six sailors on the island of Sitka, allegedly for a mutiny on the ship. They were taken to work in a Russian city.

A day later, the Indians almost completely destroyed the small party of Vasily Kochesov, who was returning to the fortress from the sea lions.

The Tlingit had a special hatred for Vasily Kochesov, the famous hunter, known among the Indians and Russians as an unsurpassed marksman. The Tlingit called him Gidak, which probably comes from the Tlingit name of the Aleuts, whose blood flowed in Kochesov's veins - giyak-kwaan (the hunter's mother was from the Fox Range Islands). Having finally got the hated archer into their hands, the Indians tried to make his death, like the death of his comrade, as painful as possible. According to K.T. Khlebnikov, “the barbarians, not suddenly, but temporarily, cut off their nose, ears and other members of their body, stuffed their mouths with them, and viciously mocked the torment of the sufferers. Kochesov ... could not endure pain for a long time and was happy at the end of his life, but the unfortunate Eglevsky languished in terrible torment for more than a day.

Russian return to Sitka

Then came 1804, the year the Russians returned to Sitka. Baranov learned that the first Russian round-the-world expedition had set out to sea from Kronstadt, and he was looking forward to the arrival of the Neva in Russian America, while at the same time building a whole fleet of ships.

Military operations began. In early October, the Neva brig, commanded by Lisyansky, joined the Baranov flotilla.

After stubborn and prolonged resistance, truce came from the koloshes. After negotiations, the whole tribe left.

Novoarkhangelsk - the capital of Russian America

Only in the autumn of 1805, an agreement was again concluded between Baranov and Scoutlelt. As gifts were presented a bronze double-headed eagle, the Cap of Peace, made by Russians on the model of Tlingit ceremonial hats, and a blue robe with ermines. But for a long time the Russians and Aleuts were afraid to go deep into the impenetrable rainforests of Sitka, this could cost them their lives.
From August 1808, Novoarkhangelsk became the main city of the Russian-American Company and the administrative center of Russian possessions in Alaska, and remained so until 1867, when Alaska was sold to the United States.

In Novoarkhangelsk there was a wooden fortress, a shipyard, warehouses, barracks, residential buildings. 222 Russians and over 1,000 natives lived here.

The fall of the Russian fort Yakutat

On August 20, 1805, the Eyak warriors of the Tlahaik-Tekuedi (tluhedi) clan, led by Tanukh and Lushvak, and their allies from among the Tlingit of the Kuashkkuan clan burned Yakutat and killed the Russians remaining there. Of the entire population of the Russian colony in Yakutat in 1805, according to official data, 14 Russians “and many more islanders” died, that is, allied Aleuts. The main part of the party, together with Demyanenkov, was sunk in the sea by a storm. About 250 people died then. The fall of Yakutat and the death of Demyanenkov's party became another heavy blow for the Russian colonies. An important economic and strategic base on the coast of America was lost.

Relapses of confrontation

So, on February 4, 1851, an Indian military detachment from the river. Koyukuk attacked the village of Indians who lived at the Russian loner (factory) Nulato in the Yukon. The loner herself was also attacked. However, the attackers were repulsed with damage. The Russians also had losses: Vasily Deryabin, the head of the trading post, was killed and an employee of the company (Aleut) and an English lieutenant Bernard, who arrived in Nulato from the British military sloop Enterprise to search for the missing members of Franklin's third polar expedition, were mortally wounded. In the same winter, the Tlingit (Sitka Koloshi) staged several quarrels and fights with the Russians in the market and in the forest near Novoarkhangelsk. In response to these provocations, the chief ruler, N. Ya. Rosenberg, announced to the Indians that if the unrest continued, he would order the “Kolosha market” to be closed altogether and interrupt all trade with them. The reaction of the Sitkinites to this ultimatum was unprecedented: on the morning of the next day, they made an attempt to capture Novoarkhangelsk. Some of them, armed with guns, sat down in the bushes near the fortress wall; the other, having placed prefabricated ladders to a wooden tower with cannons, the so-called "Koloshenskaya battery", almost took possession of it. Fortunately for the Russians, the sentries were on the alert and sounded the alarm just in time. An armed detachment that came to the rescue threw down three Indians who had already climbed onto the battery, and stopped the rest.

In November 1855, another incident occurred when several natives captured Andreevskaya alone in the lower Yukon. At that time, its manager, the Kharkov tradesman Alexander Shcherbakov, and two Finnish workers who served in the RAC were here. As a result of a sudden attack, the kayaker Shcherbakov and one worker were killed, and the loner was looted. The surviving RAC officer Lavrenty Keryanin managed to escape and safely reach the Mikhailovsky redoubt. A punitive expedition was immediately dispatched to find the natives hiding in the tundra who had ravaged the Andreevskaya loneliness. They sat down in a barabora (Eskimo half-dugout) and refused to give up. The Russians were forced to open fire. As a result of the skirmish, five natives were killed, and one managed to escape.

Officially, this war lasted 200 years and ended only in 2004.

When they tell me that the Americans killed the Indians and seized their lands, I ask a counter question: “How many Indians were killed by the Russians?” After that, as a rule, the dialogues are interrupted, because few people have heard, for example, about the Russian-Indian War of 1802-1805. Few people have heard about the punitive operation of Ivan Solovyov, who killed more than 5 thousand Aleuts (indigenous inhabitants of the Aleutian archipelago) on Unalashka Island. Few people in Russia heard about the expedition of Grigory Shelikhov, who (I quote the source) "arranged a massacre of the local population, killing from 500 to 2500 Eskimos." Few people have heard of the expedition of Ivan Kuskov (1808-1809), who, before the founding of Fort Ross, killed a lot of Indians, and then concluded a truce with them. Few people have heard about how the industrialist Larion Belyaev "cleaned" Attu Island from all the Aleuts who lived there...

In the 200 years before the sale of Alaska, the Russians killed many thousands of natives Pacific coast America. Now historians are trying to restore the picture of the past, but they cannot even give an approximate number of the killed Indians of the 49th US state. The victims were not even counted. Yes, and the Russians were considered only "their nobility", noble merchants and industrialists. Ordinary people didn't count.

But you read Russian historical documents, letters, notes, reports, ship logs, etc., it seems that the Indians attacked Russia and mocked people near Moscow. They did not talk about their "exploits" willingly, they often kept silent and did not mention at all. For example, the captain of the St. Evdokim "Mikhail Vasilyevich Nevodchikov, in his logbook, upon arrival on the island of Agatta, made a note that" due to an unfortunate misunderstanding, an Aleut was wounded by a rifle shot. The fact that after this "unfortunate" shot a scuffle ensued can only be found in the context of the records. How many people were injured during this incident is not reported at all.

So almost every expedition. If someone moored to the shores of America or Kamchatka, blood was surely shed. And of course, the local residents were to blame, who were described as: “angrier than the most predatory animals”, “a murderous and evil people”, “bloodthirsty barbarians”, etc.

But let's take one of the episodes of Russian expansion in Alaska. The founder of the North-Eastern Company, Grigory Shelikhov (1747 - 1795), had a certain industrialist Alexander Andreevich Baranov (1746 - 1819) under his command, who insisted on the promotion of the Russian company deep into the mainland. Shelikhov liked this idea and appointed Baranov instead of himself. And he himself went to Irkutsk for a promotion, dreaming of taking the post of governor, but unexpectedly died of scurvy at the age of 48.

Baranov, on the other hand, gathered an expedition of 30 military sailors and set off on two canoes (each with a capacity of up to 30 people) east of the island Kodiak, which is already firmly entrenched in the Russians. Baranov was also accompanied by the Aleuts, who were enslaved by the Russians. Having sailed to Montagu Island, then called Sukley Island, Baranov met Tlingit Indians there, who differed from the rest of the inhabitants of Alaska in that they were skillful hunters. That is why they were armed with spears, axes, bows, arrows and knives. Before that, the Russians had never met armed Aleuts and killed them boldly, without fear of resistance. And then they came across armed Indians and retreated.

In detail, it was like this: on the night of June 20-21, 1792, when the Russians stopped for the night, Baranov and his comrades set up their camp separately, and the Aleuts - separately. Suddenly, at night, there was a sudden cry, clatter, strong rustling, crackling of broken bushes ... Everyone was raised to their feet, but for some reason the Tlingits did not touch the Slavs. They attacked the Kodiaks (i.e. the Aleuts who sailed with the expedition, the inhabitants of Kodiak Island) and slaughtered them exclusively, settling old scores.

However, the Russians considered this a danger to themselves and opened fire on the Tlingit with guns. As a result of the night clash, 2 Russians were killed and 15 wounded. Baranov himself was "nearly killed." Although in the same letter, in which he described spending the night on Sukley, he admitted that he was wearing chain mail, which "the bullet did not take." It was thanks to her that he survived. That is, the bullet did not take, and the Indian arrow almost killed ...

Baranov did not say how many Indians died on both sides. Think some Eskimos. Here the Americans killed the Indians - yes, genocide at least. The Russians were only defending themselves...

But I will continue my story about the Russian-Indian war. The thought of moving into the depths of the mainland did not leave Baranov. The following year, Alexander Andreevich sent an armed detachment of Lebedev-Lastochkin, who (I quote the notes) “devastated two villages of the Chugachs, taking everyone, young and old, with them to Grekovsky (Green Island).” And a year later (in 1794), the head of the so-called "North-Eastern Company" A.A. Baranov collected a fleet of 500 kayaks and went to Shi Island (the full name is Shi Attika or Sitka), which was later renamed Baranov Island. Approaching the shore, the Russians saw the Indians armed with guns and falconets. That is why they were afraid to go ashore and sailed away.

Where they got guns from, Baranov was not difficult to guess. The Indians successfully traded furs with British and American (Boston) traders. These, in conscience, paid for each skin, giving in return fabrics, hunting knives, household utensils, and even “fire water” (alcohol). But this time, by order of the British, they delivered firearms to the Indians. Baranov was disappointed with such trade and informed Shelikhov about it.

Shelikhov was extremely angry at Baranov's report and personally, a year before his death, went on an armed campaign from Okhotsk to Unalashka Island. There he gathered reinforcements and sailed on to the island of Atkha, which he completely cleared of the Aleuts. Why the island of Atha was chosen as a scapegoat - historians do not explain and try to avoid this moment. But after the defeat of the island, Shelikhov wrote an angry letter to Baranov, where, almost by order of command, he demanded advancement deep into the mainland. Baranov was very frightened by the raid of Grigory Ivanovich and was well aware that he would have to face strong resistance from local residents, and therefore he decided to carefully consider the plan for the "development" of the eastern lands of Alaska.

As a result, an unexpected decision was made - to conclude peace with the Indians! The Indians, of course, outnumbered Baranov's people, so they could easily be swept away from Kadiak Island, and indeed from Alaska, but the world is sacred to them. And in this regard, the Indians are ready for anything. Having sailed to the island of Hinchinbrook (in Eskimo "Thalha"), Baranov invited the Chilhat leader, nicknamed Scoutlelt, to conclude peace. He willingly agreed. In honor of this, a small feast with fire water was arranged :) The Indians were presented with gifts in the form of unnecessary trinkets, and in response, the leader of the Tlingit tribe gave Baranov a woman named Aleut, who bore him a son, Antipater, and two daughters, Irina and Catherine ( by the way, the Russian wife, who remained in St. Petersburg, and the daughter never found out about this).

Since 1795, after peace was concluded with the Indians, the Russians settled on Shea Island and built the Mikhailovskaya Fortress there. The fortress was named after the Tlingit leader Skoutlelt, whom Baranov baptized into Orthodoxy, giving him the name Michael. The Russians managed to take the island without a fight and settle in the Sitka Sound, which was often visited by merchant ships from Britain, France, the USA and Sweden. By that time, Baranov's patron, Shelikhov, had departed to another world and thereby gave complete freedom Alexander Andreevich to act at his own discretion.

For almost five years, Russians and Indians lived side by side, maintaining a shaky, but still peace with each other. Although the locals, who lived here, according to historians, for about 10 thousand years, were terribly dissatisfied with the behavior of the Russians. After all, the Tlingit Indians literally idolized their women and perceived any encroachment on them as a personal insult and insult. And Russian sailors every now and then, after taking strong drinks purchased from Scottish and Irish merchants, raped turkeys as best they could. And only thanks to Baranov-Scoutlelt, serious skirmishes were avoided.

But in 1800, Baranov was called to the island of Kadiak and he had to leave Sitka for a while. About 120 Russians remained in the Mikhailovsky fortress under the leadership of V.G. Medvednikov and approximately 900 Aleuts who served them. The Indians took this as a sign. But the leader of the Kiksadi tribe (the largest among the Tlingits) Skoutlelt (aka Michael) refused to oppose the Russians. Because he was faithful to the truce that was concluded with Baranov. In such cases, the Indians express extraordinary devotion to their promise.

Then the leader of the uprising was his nephew, the leader of the Chilhat tribe Katlian. The Russians beat off the first attack in the summer of 1800 without problems, and Medvednikov did not report this to Baranov. After 2 years, Katlian joined forces with the Eyaks and finally laid siege to the fortress of the Holy Archangel Michael, destroying all those in it.

However, American sources say that only 12 Russians were killed, the rest were simply wounded. The capture of the fortress took place at the moment when several ships under the control of captains Alexei Evglevsky and Alexei Baturin went to the "distant Siuchy stone" to hunt. Therefore, the losses of the Russians were not so great. Perhaps the Indian leader was well aware that the Russians were on the hunt, and simply took advantage of the moment.

Returning from the hunt, the Russians discovered that the fortress was occupied by the Indians and quickly turned their ships towards Kodiak Island, where Baranov was at that time. And he just went berserk when he found out about the uprising of the Tlingit. The head of the Northeast Russian Company announced a general mobilization and proclaimed the beginning of the Russian-Indian War.

Baranov collected everything at his disposal, plus he grabbed Captain Lisyansky, who happened to be there on his Neva brig, committing trip around the world, and together they advanced to Sitka. The fortress was taken in 4 days - from October 1 to October 4, 1804, despite the fact that the Indians released all the Russians and their servants who were there. On November 10, Lisyansky had already sailed from Sitka Sound as unnecessary, since the Russians by that time completely controlled the southern coast of Shea Island. However, several thousand Tlingit still hid in the mountains.

In 1805, Baranov ordered to surround the island and destroy all the Indians that caught his eye. So the eighth largest island of Alaska was "cleaned up", which was quickly renamed "Baranov Island". The war ended quietly, without the signing of capitulations and peace agreements. Yes, because there was no one to sign contracts with. Those Indians who were lucky enough to escape from the island fled. And the rest were all killed.

Moreover, having heard that 2 fortresses in Yakutata Bay were occupied by Indians (although the sources do not confirm this and Baranov himself went to Sitka from one of them), the commander-in-chief Russian army in Alaska, Demyanenkov sent a detachment there, which indiscriminately burned both fortresses. Whether there were Indians there or not is not known. But everyone died, about which Demyanenkov reported to Baranov.

Until now, the number of Indians who died in this war is unknown. Although it is assumed that there could be several thousand of them - no less. In Russia, they know nothing about this and do not want to know. According to their correct opinion, if Indians were killed, then only Americans could do it.

In 2004, already 200 years later, a delegation from Russia was invited to Alaska, headed by a descendant of A.A. Baranova - I. O. Afrosina. In the vicinity of the city of Sitka, a truce was concluded between Russian and American Indians from the Kiksadi tribe (descendants of the leader Katlian), which put bullet point in the war between the Indians and the Russians. The Russian-Tlingit war (as it is called in Russia, so that no one would guess who fought with whom) is officially declared over.

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The conquistadors were notorious for their cruelty to local population However, the Indians themselves were not at all pacifists. Archaeologists managed to restore the chronology of the bloody events that took place almost 500 years ago.

The anachronistic term "Genocide of the Indians of America" is one of the cornerstones of the black legend passed on by the enemies of the Spanish Empire to undermine its prestige. A 17th-century Dutch engraving depicts the hero of the Battle of Lepanto, Don Juan of Austria, enjoying the torment of a group of American Indians. This lie is defiantly stupid: the illegitimate son of Charles I of Spain never participated in the conquest of America. Thus, amid lies, inflated figures and fictional events, the myth that the Spaniards committed planned massacres of American Indians matured and survived to this day. The truth in this historical dispute is that despite the fact that the Spaniards did not skimp on cruelty in the pursuit of their goals, the real genocide was caused by diseases introduced by Europeans.

There is a very common myth that the sharp decline in the number of Indians, after the arrival of Europeans in America, was the result of a planned genocide. At the same time, the US government is also accused of genocide. The most interesting thing is that it is American authors who blame the US government most loudly, which is not surprising. Now in politically correct America, self-flagellation has become the norm, and it is considered bad form to justify the policy of the state. Nevertheless, there is an opposite point of view about what happened to the Indians. For example, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Guenter Lewy, back in 2007 wrote an article titled "Were American Indians Victims of Genocide?" (Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?), the translation of which I want to bring to your attention.

For most of our citizens unknown fact Remains the help of the American people within the framework of the American Relief Administration (ARA) program (eng. American Relief Administration, ARA) Soviet Russia in 1921-1922 during an unprecedented famine. There are two reasons for the tragedy: the robbery of the peasants by the Bolsheviks, when even the seeds for sowing were seized, and the drought.

Historians assess the contribution of this man to the history of our country in different ways. On the one hand, his name is associated with mass repressions. On the other hand, during his reign, the Soviet Union became an industrial developed country which allowed us to win World War II. But how did the USSR turn from a backward agrarian country into an industrial giant in just a few years? Remember the famous phrase "He took the country with a plow, and left it with an atomic bomb"? Let's open the pages of history that are not described in school textbooks.

In neo-Soviet society, the idea that the United States is a relatively young country that does not have a serious background in comparison with "thousand-year-old" Russia has long been rooted. Meanwhile, the first higher educational establishments appeared in the USA earlier than in Russia.

Famine in world history; Aid to the ARA ("American Relief Administration") for starving Russia in 1922; Famine in the Netherlands in 1944-1945; Hunger politics in post-war Germany; Food production technologies.

During the crop failure of 1921-23, the Soviet government could not cope with the famine and was forced to ask for support from international organizations. For example, the American Relief Administration spent about $78 million over two years to provide assistance to Russia, providing the starving with food and medicine. However, its activities still remain poorly understood. We publish previously unpublished documents from the archives of the South Urals about the cooperation between the Russian and American sides during the famine of the 1920s and the activities of the American Relief Administration in the South Urals.

For most of our citizens, the help of the American people to Soviet Russia in 1921-1922 during an unprecedented famine remains an unknown fact. There are two reasons for the tragedy: the robbery of the peasants by the Bolsheviks, when even the seeds for sowing were seized, and the drought.

Records of interrogations of villagers have been preserved, who massively first began to eat the corpses of fellow villagers dumped near cemeteries, and then reached those who were still alive, but defenseless. Here is an excerpt from the "Protocol of inquiry from the village of Alexandrovka on the case of the investigation of human meat in boiled form" (the spelling of the document has been preserved) on February 27, 1922: "A few days later, two wanderer boys came to us ... and asked to warm up, one left, and we detained the other and that night we stabbed him and ate him, my husband cut him on February 23 ... (inaudible) who screamed and fought for a very long time and before that we stabbed Vera Shibilina, a girl who came to spend the night, and we took off her felt boots and took her to her aunt Tatyana Akishkina and she were told that she fell ill and died, and we buried her."