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Alyeska: Difference between revisions
Alaska lore from 16th c. to 1900
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'''Alyeska''' ''Russian: Аля́ска''; Aleut: ''Alax̂sxax̂''; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; Tlingit: ''Anáaski;'' Japanese: アラスカ; officially the '''Republic of Alyeska''' is the
Alyeska is the least populous sovereign nation of continental North America with a population of only 1.8 million people spread over an area of more than 1.7 million square kilometers, making Alyeska one of the least dense nations in America and in the world.
Alyeska was occupied by various indigenous peoples for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. The area that the nation now consists of is considered the entry point for the settlement of North America by way of the Bering land bridge. Russians were the first Europeans to reach Alyeska in the mid 17th century and the history of Alyeska has been shaped by subsequent Russian colonization since. Before the 1860's Alyeska was a backwater of the Russian empire with sparse colonization mainly driven by missionary work and the prestige gained by owning an American colony. Starting in the late 19th century after the Russian pacific naval build up and the building of the Tran Siberian railway settlement increased in Alyeska with the Russian Empire using Novo-Arhangelsk & Kodiak as between-ports to trade with the Americas and South Pacific. Settlement of the colony massively increased during the Alyeskan gold rush of the late 1890's with thousands of Russian, Japanese, Korean & English prospectors flooding into the region. After the Russian Revolution Alyeska was used as place to exile political prisoners and as one of the final locations for a series of forced migrations undertaken by the Russian National Union in the 1930's and 1940's.▼
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== History ==
=== Early History ===
Indigenous peoples occupied Alaska for thousands of years before the arrival of European peoples. Linguistic and DNA studies have provided evidence for the settlement of North America by way of the Bering land bridge. Alaska was home to many indigenous groups. The Tlingit people developed a society with a matrilineal kinship system of property inheritance and descent in Southeast Alaska. Also in the southeast were the Haida, well known for their unique art. The Aleutian Islands are home to the Aleut people, a maritime society. Other groups include the Yup'ik and Alutiiq in Southcentral Alaska, the Gwich'in of the north, and the Inupiat of the east.
=== European Exploration and Settlement ===
Historians generally agree that the first Russian settlement in Alaska was established as early as the 1600s. However, it was during the 1800s that substantial Russian exploration efforts began in Alaska.
==== European Claims ====
The first European power to explore the region were the Russians in the 18th and 19th centuries, who sailed from the Russian Far East to Alaska. In 1788, the private Kurile Island Company, originally founded to explore the business opportunities in the Kurile Islands, was given by the Russian Czar a permission to explore the region of what is now modern-day Alaska. A few years later, the czar proclaimed the Ukase of 1790, which detailed the initial claims of Russia on the American continent. The Kurile Island Company was given a charter to the Aleutian Islands and eventually other parts of Alaska.
In 1805, the Dana-Pieters expedition resulted in the Dutch claiming parts of the Pacific Northwest, including parts of Russia's claimed territory, most notably Kolchak Island.
==== Kolchak Expedition and the Port Alexander Colony (1816-1832) ====
To further strengthen their presence and activity to counter the Dutch explorations, the Russian Pacific Company hired the explorer and surveyor A. Kolchak in 1815 to explore the southernmost parts of the Russian Claims. Kolchak sailed from Novo-Arkhangelsk, along the Pacific Northwest coast and into the Salish Sea. The region which Kolchak sailed upon was claimed by both the Russians and the Dutch. Following the successful expedition, the Russian-American Company established the short-lived Port Alexander Colony in 1816 on the present-day Kolchak Island (now part of the modern-day Westerzee Province, Tussenland). The colony soon proved to be mismanaged and unprofitable. In 1832, the settlement was abandoned and the Russians dropped their claims in the Pacific Northwest region (Russo-Dutch Treaty of 1832). Remnants of the old Russian rule in the region is evident in the surviving Saint Sofia church, now in present-day [[Westerzee Province]] of Tussenland.
==== Russo-Dutch Treaty of 1832 ====
The Russo-Dutch Treaty of 1832 was a treaty signed between Russia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, detailing the borders between their colonies. In the treaty, the Russians agreed to give their southernmost claims up to the Dutch in exchange for other concessions. The treaty forms the basis for the modern-day border between [[Tussenland]] and Alyeska.
=== Russian Colonization ===
==== Early Colonization by Private Russian Trade Companies ====
==== The Kurile Island Company ====
During the colony's early years, it was largely ignored by the state. Most colonization efforts were done by multiple private companies (such as the First Kurile Island Company (1786-1832), Antsiferov-Kuchin Company (1816-1821), and the Second Kurile Island Company (1841-1861). Only a few of their colonization efforts were successful. The Kurile Island Company was the most successful of these early companies, establishing the settlement and soon-to-be capital of Alaska, Novo-Arkhangelsk, in 1803 under the auspices of the Tsar. The Kurile Island Company built the Saint Michael Cathedral in Novo-Arkhangelsk, the oldest cathedral in Alyeska in 1828. Financial trouble soon struck the First Kurile Island Company, and declared bankruptcy in 1832, which became a factor in the signing of the Russo-Dutch Treaty of 1832. The company was briefly revived in 1841 as the "Second Kurile Island Company," but was less successful than the first company. The revived company lasted until 1861. Lesser known companies such as the Antsiferov-Kuchin Company were established but were unsuccessful in their colonial and business efforts.
==== Renewed colonial enthusiasm, and the Russian Pacific Company ====
The Russian Pacific Company was a state-sponsored company established in 1865 and operated in the Russian Far East. In the 1870s, after realizing the geopolitical importance of Alyeska to Russian interests, the Tsar granted a monopolistic charter to the Russian Pacific Company to oversee the colonization and management of the territory. Since the company was state-funded, the Russian Pacific Company was able to pour more development into Alyeska than its private company predecessors.
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In the 1890s, gold was discovered in the Alyeskan territory. This resulted in an influx of immigrants from Russia and East Asia to Alyeska. The Russian Pacific Company quickly established regulations on the gold trade in response.
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As the population in Alyeska grew, the Russian Pacific Company enacted several reforms to the governance of the colony. Some power was devolved to the local population to make the management of the colony more efficient.{{Nations of the World}}
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