Russian Colonization of Alaska: Baranov’s Era, 1799-1818

In Russian Colonization of Alaska: Baranov’s Era, 1799-1818, Andrei Val'terovich Grinev examines the sociohistorical origins of the former Russian colonies in Alaska, or Russian America. The formation of the Russian-American Company and the concentration in the hands of Aleksandr Baranov of all the power in south and southeast Alaska’s Russian settlements marked a new stage in the history of Russian America. Expanding and strengthening Russian possessions in the New World as much as possible, Baranov acted in favor of his country before himself, in accordance with the principle people for the empire, and not the empire for the people.

Russian Colonization of Alaska is the first comprehensive study to analyze the origin and evolution of Russian colonization based on research into political economy, history, and ethnography. Grinev’s study elaborates the social, political, spiritual, ideological, personal, and psychological aspects of Russian America, accounting for the idiosyncrasies of the natural environment, competition from other North American empires, and challenges from Alaska Natives and individual colonial diplomats. Rather than being simply a continuation of Russians’ colonization of Siberia, the colonization of Alaska was instead part of overarching Russian and global history.