In what year did Grigory Shelikhov discover Alaska? Grigory Shelikhov
From the Shelekhov family, since 1775 he was involved in the arrangement of commercial trade shipping between the Kuril and Aleutian island chains. In 1783-1786 he led an expedition to Russian America, during which the first Russian settlements in North America were founded. Founder of the Northeast Company.
Life
July 22, 1784 [ ] the expedition landed on the island of Kodiak (Kyktak) in the harbor that Shelekhov called Trekhsvyatitelskaya. Here he founded the first settlement. Russian fur industrialists, who had already visited these places, dissuaded Shelikhov from establishing settlements here, since shortly before this, local residents had killed an entire group of Russian hunters. However, Shelikhov did not listen to them and founded the first settlement on Kodiak Island. Colonization of the mainland was postponed for security reasons.
Gregory, together with his people, carried out a massacre of the local population, killing from 500 to 2500 Eskimos, in response to the armed resistance that had previously arrived to the Russians (and Shelikhov himself). After the massacre, Shelikhov captured more than a thousand people.
Shelikhov supervised construction since 1790. In 1791, Shelikhov founded the Northeast Company, which in 1799 was transformed into the Russian-American Trading Company. In 1788 he was awarded a gold medal and a silver sword “for the discovery of islands in the Eastern Ocean.”
After Shelikhov's death, his significant fortune and place at the head of the North-Eastern Company was inherited by his son-in-law, Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov.
Memory
Named after him:
- Shelikhov Bay in the Sea of Okhotsk;
- Shelikhov Bay on Paramushir Island;
- Shelikhov Strait between Alaska and Kodiak Island;
- the city of Shelekhov in the Irkutsk region;
- Airbus A-320 aircraft operated by Aeroflot.
Monuments to Shelikhov were erected:
- in the city of Shelekhov, Irkutsk region.
Images 108.JPG
Tombstone in the Znamensky Monastery
Images 109.JPG
Tombstone fragment
Monument to G.I. Shelekhov (Rylsk).jpg
Monument in Rylsk
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Notes
Literature
- // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
- Shelikhov G. I. Russian merchant Grigory Shelikhov's wanderings from Okhotsk along the Eastern Ocean to the American shores / G. I. Shelikhov.. - Khabarovsk: Khabarovsk Book Publishing House, 1971. - 172 p. - (Far Eastern Historical Library).
Links
- St. Petersburg 1795
- (link unavailable since 09/22/2016 (1000 days))
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Excerpt characterizing Shelikhov, Grigory Ivanovich
“I don’t know myself,” Natasha quickly answered, “but I wouldn’t want to do anything that you wouldn’t like.” I believe you in everything. You don’t know how important you are to me and how much you have done for me!..” She spoke quickly and not noticing how Pierre blushed at these words. “I saw in the same order, he, Bolkonsky (she said this word quickly, in a whisper), he is in Russia and is serving again. “What do you think,” she said quickly, apparently in a hurry to speak because she was afraid for her strength, “will he ever forgive me?” Will he have any ill feelings against me? How do you think? How do you think?“I think...” said Pierre. “He has nothing to forgive... If I were in his place...” Through the connection of memories, Pierre’s imagination instantly transported him to the time when, comforting her, he told her that if he were not he, but the best person in the world and free , then he would be on his knees asking for her hand, and the same feeling of pity, tenderness, love would overcome him, and the same words would be on his lips. But she didn't give him time to say them.
“Yes, you are,” she said, pronouncing this word “you” with delight, “another matter.” I don’t know a kinder, more generous, better person than you, and there cannot be one. If you had not been there then, and even now, I don’t know what would have happened to me, because... - Tears suddenly poured into her eyes; she turned, raised the notes to her eyes, began to sing and began to walk around the hall again.
At the same time, Petya ran out of the living room.
Petya was now a handsome, ruddy fifteen-year-old boy with thick, red lips, similar to Natasha. He was preparing for university, but recently, with his comrade Obolensky, he secretly decided that he would join the hussars.
Petya ran out to his namesake to talk about the matter.
He asked him to find out if he would be accepted into the hussars.
Pierre walked through the living room, not listening to Petya.
Petya tugged at his hand to attract his attention.
- Well, what’s my business, Pyotr Kirilych. For God's sake! There is only hope for you,” said Petya.
- Oh yes, it's your business. To the hussars? I'll tell you, I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything today.
- Well, mon cher, did you get the manifesto? – asked the old count. - And the countess was at mass at the Razumovskys, she heard a new prayer. Very good, he says.
“Got it,” answered Pierre. - Tomorrow the sovereign will be... An extraordinary meeting of the nobility and, they say, ten out of a thousand. Yes, congratulations.
- Yes, yes, thank God. Well, what about the army?
“Our people retreated again.” They say it’s already near Smolensk,” Pierre answered.
- My God, my God! - said the count. -Where is the manifesto?
- Appeal! Oh yes! - Pierre began to look in his pockets for papers and could not find them. Continuing to pat his pockets, he kissed the hand of the countess as she entered and looked around restlessly, apparently waiting for Natasha, who was no longer singing, but also did not come into the living room.
“By God, I don’t know where I put him,” he said.
“Well, he’ll always lose everything,” said the countess. Natasha came in with a softened, excited face and sat down, silently looking at Pierre. As soon as she entered the room, Pierre's face, previously gloomy, lit up, and he, continuing to look for papers, glanced at her several times.
- By God, I’ll move out, I forgot at home. Definitely...
- Well, you'll be late for lunch.
- Oh, and the coachman left.
But Sonya, who went into the hallway to look for the papers, found them in Pierre’s hat, where he carefully placed them in the lining. Pierre wanted to read.
“No, after dinner,” said the old count, apparently anticipating great pleasure in this reading.
At dinner, during which they drank champagne to the health of the new Cavalier of St. George, Shinshin told city news about the illness of the old Georgian princess, that Metivier had disappeared from Moscow, and that some German had been brought to Rostopchin and told him that it was champignon (as Count Rastopchin himself told), and how Count Rastopchin ordered the champignon to be released, telling the people that it was not a champignon, but just an old German mushroom.
“They’re grabbing, they’re grabbing,” said the count, “I tell the countess to speak less French.” Now is not the time.
-Have you heard? - said Shinshin. - Prince Golitsyn took a Russian teacher, he studies in Russian - il commence a devenir dangereux de parler francais dans les rues. [It becomes dangerous to speak French on the streets.]
- Well, Count Pyotr Kirilych, how will they gather the militia, and you will have to mount a horse? - said the old count, turning to Pierre.
Pierre was silent and thoughtful throughout this dinner. He looked at the count as if not understanding at this address.
“Yes, yes, to war,” he said, “no!” What a warrior I am! But everything is so strange, so strange! Yes, I don’t understand it myself. I don’t know, I’m so far from military tastes, but in modern times no one can answer for themselves.
After dinner, the count sat quietly in a chair and with a serious face asked Sonya, famous for her reading skills, to read.
– “To our mother-throne capital, Moscow.
The enemy entered Russia with great forces. He is coming to ruin our dear fatherland,” Sonya diligently read in her thin voice. The Count, closing his eyes, listened, sighing impulsively in some places.
Natasha sat stretched out, searchingly and directly looking first at her father, then at Pierre.
Pierre felt her gaze on him and tried not to look back. The Countess shook her head disapprovingly and angrily against every solemn expression of the manifesto. In all these words she saw only that the dangers threatening her son would not end soon. Shinshin, folding his mouth into a mocking smile, was obviously preparing to mock the first thing presented for ridicule: Sonya’s reading, what the count would say, even the appeal itself, if no better excuse presented itself.
Having read about the dangers threatening Russia, about the hopes placed by the sovereign on Moscow, and especially on the famous nobility, Sonya, with a trembling voice that came mainly from the attention with which they listened to her, read the last words: “We will not hesitate to stand among our people.” in this capital and in other places of our state for consultation and guidance of all our militias, both now blocking the paths of the enemy, and again organized to defeat him, wherever he appears. May the destruction into which he imagines throwing us fall upon his head, and may Europe, liberated from slavery, exalt the name of Russia!”
- That's it! - the count cried, opening his wet eyes and stopping several times from sniffling, as if a bottle of strong vinegar salt was being brought to his nose. “Just tell me, sir, we will sacrifice everything and regret nothing.”
Shinshin had not yet had time to tell the joke he had prepared for the count’s patriotism, when Natasha jumped up from her seat and ran up to her father.
- What a charm, this dad! - she said, kissing him, and she again looked at Pierre with that unconscious coquetry that returned to her along with her animation.
- So patriotic! - said Shinshin.
“Not a patriot at all, but just...” Natasha answered offendedly. - Everything is funny to you, but this is not a joke at all...
- What jokes! - repeated the count. - Just say the word, we’ll all go... We’re not some kind of Germans...
“Did you notice,” said Pierre, “that it said: “for a meeting.”
- Well, whatever it was for...
At this time, Petya, to whom no one was paying attention, approached his father and, all red, in a breaking, sometimes rough, sometimes thin voice, said:
“Well, now, daddy, I will decisively say - and mummy too, whatever you want - I will decisively say that you will let me into military service, because I can’t ... that’s all ...
The Countess raised her eyes to the sky in horror, clasped her hands and angrily turned to her husband.
- So I agreed! - she said.
But the count immediately recovered from his excitement.
(1747 - 1795)
G. I. Shelikhov 1 is widely known as the “Russian Columbus”, as an enterprising merchant and navigator, the inspirer and organizer of the Russian-American Trade and Fishing Company, the initiator of research and development of the Pacific coast of North America, Alaska, the Kuril and Aleutian Islands. Shelikhov is also known as a far-sighted and energetic Russian patriot, the author of a number of broad projects: geographical expeditions to find uncharted islands, to explore the Russian Far East, to find a sea passage to Baffin Bay.
Shelikhov was one of the first to suggest the idea of a Russian trip around the world. He owns projects for expanding Russian colonization of North America, building new ports on the Okhotsk coast of Russia, expanding Russia’s foreign trade relations with the countries of the Indian and Pacific basins. During his travels and work on the development of Russian America, Shelikhov himself made several outstanding discoveries.
Shelikhov was born into the family of a merchant in the city of Rylsk, Kursk province. The month of birth, as well as the first 26 years of life, are unknown.
By his time, Siberia was “roughly” put on the map and only to a small extent developed by the Russians. The main wealth of Siberia at that time - Siberian furs - was getting more and more difficult from year to year. In search of more abundant fisheries, the Siberian merchants expanded the boundaries of their activity to the east, to the islands of the “Eastern Ocean” that had not yet been affected by the predatory plunder. The highly profitable but risky fishing for sea beavers, fur seals, and walrus tusk, associated with the search for yet unknown islands with animal rookeries, attracted the most courageous and enterprising merchants and industrialists to the Okhotsk and Bering coasts. Shelikhov also became interested in this.
In 1773, he came to “Siberian Petersburg” - the city of Irkutsk and became a clerk for the rich merchant I. L. Golikov, to whom he had a letter of recommendation from his brother, a Kursk merchant. In 1775, Shelikhov moved to Okhotsk and became the organizer of the construction of ships and equipment of expeditions for sea animals to the Aleutian and Kuril Islands, entering into companies with various merchants (Alin, Lebedev-Lastochkin, Golikov, Kozitsyn). In five years - from 1776 to 1781 - under his leadership, ten ships were built and a significant number of expeditions were equipped.
Sent by him in company with Lebedev-Lastochkin, navigator Pribilov on the ship “St. George" discovered the islands, called the Pribilof Islands.
During these five years, Shelikhov accumulated significant capital, and most importantly, he studied the business and gained trust in the trading world, especially from his main partner, Golikov.
Possessing remarkable intelligence and insight, Shelikhov soon realized the destructive effect of predatory trades undertaken by small and short-term companies, realized the impossibility of expanding shipping, and saw the hatred of merchants that they themselves incited among the indigenous population of the islands. Then he was the first in Siberia to decide to organize a powerful trading company, operating permanently on the islands of the Pacific Ocean and in America, supported by the government, which would organize trades in a businesslike manner, build industrial settlements and ships on the islands, and develop regular shipping.
In 1781, Shelikhov began organizing this company. Golikov became its shareholder. Three ships were built: the galliots “Three Saints”, “Simeon the God-Receiver and Anna the Prophetess” and “Archangel Michael”. Shelikhov became the head of the expedition to select the location of the company's base on the islands.
According to Shelikhov's plan, the place of the first Russian settlement was supposed to be rich in game animals and located on the most remote land. To do this, he decided to immediately settle, and then expand his voyages and look for new rookeries and new islands.
On August 16, 1783, Shelikhov set off along the Aleutian Islands to the extreme land of Kodiak, then known in the east. Before Shelikhov, it was not established whether it was an island or a peninsula. Almost a year later (two ships wintered on Bering Island) - August 3, 1784 - two of the three ships reached Kodiak.
Shelikhov's expedition was met with hostility by local residents. However, in contrast to foreign invaders who exterminated entire tribes, Shelikhov sought to use local residents for his endeavors. His activities are permeated with concern for the preservation of the indigenous population and maintaining friendly relations with them, and increasing their cultural level. In the first year of his arrival in Kodiak, he founded a school. Shelikhov took the most capable students of the school to Irkutsk for further education.
Shelikhov tried to bring local American residents closer to Russians as quickly as possible, both through cultural communication and family ties.
Shelikhov did all this at his own expense, taking into account state interests. He wrote to the Irkutsk Governor-General: “Time and my meager mind invented this plan, presented to your Excellency, according to which... I set off myself... to the American north-eastern shores... to seek benefits for the fatherland, without in any way setting greed for the object as an object. greed and not seeking to distinguish ourselves in this way, but with the sole goal of sacrificing to my dear fatherland with benefit "... "... we must, in order to spread trade and trade in this region and expand the borders of the All-Russian Empire, search all parts of the unknown islands and inhabited In such places, bring peoples into friendship through affectionate treatment...”
By examining Kodiak, Shelikhov established that it was an island. Then industrialists sent by Shelikhov discovered a number of other islands of the Kodiak archipelago, including Afognak. The strait between these islands and Alaska is deservedly named after Shelikhov.
In 1785 - 1786 Shelikhov sent a detachment of industrialists to the north, where they discovered the deep Kenai Bay, the shores of North America, described the shores of Alaska, the Kenai Peninsula, the coast of the continent to Cape St. Elijah and the islands of the Gulf of Alaska.
Shelikhov masterfully developed new lands: he built new settlements and fortresses (the first fortress on Kodiak Island was called Trekhsvyatitelskaya), raised imported livestock, started arable farming, and looked for minerals. Shelikhov repeatedly gave instructions to the company’s rulers, navigators, and industrialists: “...immediately make an accurate inventory... describe large and small islands everywhere, bays, rivers, harbors, capes, laidas, ridges, field and visible stones, where in places there is what kind of land, that is, forests, meadows, properties, type and location of the land, in what place and at what time, what kind and in what quantity, what kind of land there is, where there are fish in the fishery, what they hunt for it, what kind of animals are there where , also at what time and how they hunt. Note all kinds of living plants... The main thing is to describe each vein, where and on which vein to know the number of people, and make a census of the male and female sex, the number of souls, with a description, although approximate, of who is what age. Every river, lake, housing, islands, in a word, every place in the inventory should be given letters that will indicate the most accuracy on the plans. The names should be written according to the strength of the name of all the places of the local inhabitants; and do not disfigure with your names, so that everything can be found by the ranks of the inhabitants.”
Shelikhov encourages geographical research and all sorts of discoveries: he is given a bonus (over and above the company's fee) of 1000 rubles. for the discovery and description of each new island.
He also took care of the wide popularization of the riches of the new lands and their attractions in Russia, and of ethnographic research.
In 1786, leaving most of the people who arrived with him under the leadership of K. A. Samoilov, Shelikhov set off on the return journey, taking with him representatives of several Alaskan Indians, Aleuts, Eskimos, as well as various sights of America.
On his way to Kamchatka, he visited the Kuril Islands, collecting detailed information about the entire ridge and deciding to settle on these islands in the future.
In Kamchatka, Shelikhov met a ship of the English East India Company and started trading with it, leaving an order to his clerk to continue to maintain trade relations with foreigners if their ships were in Kamchatka.
From Kamchatka Shelikhov went to Okhotsk on dogs, detouring that bay of the Sea of Okhotsk, which later received the name Shelikhov Bay.
In the winter of 1787, Shelikhov arrived in Irkutsk, drew up a detailed memo to the Governor-General about his trip, attached several documents and instructions to his employees, drew up a project for organizing a monopoly American trade company with foreigners, and petitioned for the official annexation of the American coast to Russia.
Shelikhov’s note to the Governor-General served as material for the publication of the book “The Russian merchant of the eminent Rylsk citizen Grigory Shelikhov...” This book, published in 1791 without Shelikhov’s knowledge, was a huge success and was translated into English and German. In 1792, the second edition of this book, “The Russian merchant Grigory Shelikhov’s continuation of his wanderings...” was published.
In the note and in the projects, Shelikhov reveals a broad outlook: “... This trade through the Seas of Okhotsk and Kamchatka produces considerable profits for the treasury and traders, and since it can bring prosperity to the local region, since through this trade the high cost can be averted... will flow down there from everywhere there are merchants and every people, over time, numerous, and that most distant region will flourish to greatness and the most noble in the light of commerce and cultivation of the land, ... further knowledge can spread to establish our borders along the North-Eastern Ocean to the most distant limits ... where yet... no European power has its own establishments.”
Shelikhov was one of the first to pay attention to the expansion of foreign voyages with the aim of seizing colonies in the Pacific Ocean and strenuously sought to get ahead of them.
In 1788, having secured the support of the Irkutsk Governor-General, Shelikhov and Golikov turned to Catherine IIwith a petition to approve a monopoly on American possessions, to allow trade with foreigners and the annexation of discovered new lands to Russia, as well as appropriations for further searches for new lands.
But at that time Russia was at war with Turkey and Sweden, and Catherine feared complications with England and China. Therefore, she rejected the projects presented by Shelikhov and Golikov and only ordered that the merchants be awarded swords and gold medals around their necks for their discoveries and diligence.
Understanding the award as approval of his actions, Shelikhov further expanded his activities to strengthen his possessions and explore the islands in America without government assistance.
He selected intelligent, energetic, and courageous sailors and leaders of the company's affairs in America. These rulers - first Delarov, then Baranov - expanded exploration of Alaska and the shores of America all the way to California. Navigators Izmailov and Bocharov discovered new islands and wrote their descriptions. Everything was done in detail, with the expectation of many years to come. Iron boards with the inscriptions: “Land of Russian possession” were installed everywhere on the banks. In many places, copper boards with the same inscription were buried in the ground. The coasts from Alaska to California were described, villages and fortresses were built in the most convenient places, and cattle breeding and arable farming were widely introduced. At the same time, Shelikhov instructed Baranov “to think of a machine with which it would be convenient to dig the earth.” Shelikhov took great care to ensure that the settlements were beautiful, with comfortable houses and clean air. He was especially concerned about the development of shipbuilding in America, fully understanding the importance of external relations and planning to send ships with goods to China, Malaya, Indonesia, and India.
In 1790 - 1793 Shelikhov, in addition to the Northeast American, organized three more companies: Predtechenskaya, operating on the Pribilof and Lisikh islands, Unalaskinskaya, located on the island of Unalaska, and North American, whose task was to create and strengthen settlements on the islands of the Bering Sea and on the northern, then completely unexplored coast of Alaska, as well as to find a sea or land passage to Baffin Bay.
Shelikhov also took the initiative in settling the Kuril Islands with Russians. In 1795, he sent 20 industrialists and four peasant families to the 18th Kuril Island (Urup).
Aware of the enormous importance for Russia of a strategic outpost in the form of the Kuril ridge, Shelikhov, despite Catherine’s warning IInot to start a dispute over these islands with other powers, took upon himself the courage and risk of securing the Kuril Islands for Russia.
Shelikhov's capital grew rapidly. In the shortest possible time, he became the richest merchant in Siberia, but at the same time his trade affairs were inextricably combined with the benefits for Russia and for geographical research. None of his contemporaries contributed so much initiative to the exploration of newly discovered lands at their own expense, to strengthening the borders of Russia and the development of new lands. He believed that the American possessions were to become a new region of Russia - "Slavorossia" - with cities, shipyards, industry and agriculture superior to Siberia.
American possessions, thousands of kilometers away from the center of Russia, required many different goods. Finding new convenient routes to America was one of Shelikhov’s most important concerns. Traveling through roadless Siberia and especially communicating with its northeastern outskirts was extremely difficult. In this regard, Shelikhov had the idea of finding and exploring part of the Northern Sea Route from the mouth of the Lena to North America and through the Bering Strait, and even about circumnavigating the world: “...As your Excellency knows, one thousand thirteen miles from Yakutsk to Okhotsk are being transported all the hardships... Yakuts on horseback... quite often, due to the rainfall that occurs, they throw luggage on the road... since the places are empty, rocky and swampy and often impassable, so are the rivers... Things transported there by sea are not only cheaper... but always in sufficient quantities... can be delivered there...". He had already found people for the first task in 1790.
At the same time, he sought to improve existing ways of exploring the Far East. In November 1794, Shelikhov drew up a “most humble report” to the Irkutsk Governor-General I. A. Pil with a request to allow him to carry out an expedition to find a more convenient place for the construction of a port than Okhotsk, and also to give him “skilled people whom I would send could along the mane of that permanent ridge, which extends to the east from Baikal itself... from such an expedition this benefit will be that we will find out the location between the Amur and between the peaks of the Vitim, Olekma, Aldan and Mai rivers, for these places to this day remain completely unexplored by us and undescribed... And as such, the expedition must have all the necessary... benefits and expenses, then I accept these for myself and willingly sacrifice the required amount for the benefit of the fatherland...” But Shelikhov failed to carry out this expedition. Only Soviet people managed to describe these places and discover enormous mineral wealth in them.
Shelikhov was the initiator and organizer of A. Laxman's expedition to Japan in 1792, not only to establish trade relations, but also to describe Japan. Trade could not be established, but the expedition collected valuable information about Japan. In 1795 Shelikhov was preparing a new expedition to Japan. But this expedition did not take place, since on July 20, 1795, at the 48th year of his life, in full bloom and with amazing energy and breadth of activity, Shelikhov died in Irkutsk.
A worthy successor and continuer of Shelikhov’s work was A. A. Baranov, who continued to expand settlements and research in America.
Contemporaries and descendants had different assessments of Shelikhov as a personality and figure. There was often talk about his cruelty, the pursuit of personal benefits, the exploitation of the American population and exiles, etc. All this to some extent could have taken place, since it corresponded to the spirit of that time, but in general the activities of Shelikhov, an exceptional man for his age, a remarkable figure and patriot, was progressive and democratic. Concerns about the native population and the resettlement of Russians to America, who sought to get rid of serfdom, speak of the progressive direction of the colonization of Russian America. This is confirmed by the fact that the Decembrists showed great interest in Russian colonization in America. Some Decembrist sailors dreamed of making independent trips around the world on the company's ships. The Decembrists Ryleev (former director of the Company), Kuchelbecker, Zavalishin, Romanov were associated with the activities of the Russian-American Company. The Company House at one time served as the headquarters of the Decembrists for their meetings; Meetings of the leaders of the Decembrists sometimes took place there.
Shelikhov's services to Russian geographical science are invaluable. His numerous instructions, projects, reports and requests, bold plans, descriptions of new lands, prudent orders of a state scale, instructions, which were programs for the geographical study of open lands, constitute an interesting work. Unfortunately, many documents characterizing Shelikhov as the organizer and leader of the first geographical descriptions and compiler of maps of North-West America and the adjacent islands and the first organizer of geographical research have not yet been sufficiently studied.
Derzhavin’s poems are carved on the monument to Shelikhov in Irkutsk:
“Columbus of Russia is buried here,
Said the seas, discovered unknown countries..."
On the other side of the monument are carved the words of I. I. Dmitriev:
“...Ross Shelikhov, without troops, without thunderous forces,
Flowed into America through stormy abysses...
Don't forget, descendant,
That Ross - your ancestor was loud in the east too.”
Source---
Domestic physical geographers and travelers. [Essays]. Ed. N. N. Baransky [and others] M., Uchpedgiz, 1959.
(1747–1795), merchant, entrepreneur, explorer of the North Pacific, corresponding member of the Free Economic Society.
Born into a wealthy family, belonging to an old merchant family. He was educated at home and showed a family inclination towards commerce. In 1773 he came to Irkutsk, started buying furs, became rich, and became a shareholder in eight different companies; his marriage strengthened his financial position. In 1776–1783, Shelikhov participated in the affairs of 10 trading enterprises, including a large state-merchant company.
In 1775 and 1778–1779, Shelikhov made two trips to Okhotsk. He began his journey towards the American continent in 1783 from Bering Island (Commanders). He was the first to correctly present the true length (2600 kilometers) of the Komandoro-Aleutian underwater structure. On Kodiak Island he founded a settlement, which for 20 years was the center of Russian America. He established several more points on the northwestern shores of the Gulf of Alaska.
On Shelikhov's instructions, navigator G. Pribylov set sail and in 1786 discovered a small archipelago, named Shelikhov in honor of the discoverer.
The report on the voyage to the American shores was published in 1789 and was republished in 1793. The work was translated into German (three editions) and English (two publications), in 1971 it was republished again in Russian, and in 1981 - in English.
In 1788, seafarers D. Bocharov and G. Izmailov, who were in Shelikhov’s service, discovered (partly secondarily, after D. Cook) about 800 kilometers of the mainland coast of the Gulf of Alaska from the Kenai Peninsula to Lituya Bay, including Yakutat Bay. The collected materials allowed Shelikhov to compile the first detailed ethnographic description of the Kodiak Eskimos ("horses"), as well as the Indians of Alaska and the coastal islands.
Shelikhov is the author of the plan for the economic development of the Kuril Islands and the project for exploring the Baikal-Amur transport and trade route, which almost coincided with the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The charter of the country's first monopoly joint-stock company, developed by him in 1793–1794, became the basis for the creation of a set of rules for the Russian-American Company.
Shelikhov’s main merit was the actual annexation of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska to Russia’s possessions. “For zeal... in the discovery of unknown lands and peoples” in 1788 he was awarded a silver sword and a gold medal.
In his program for the “reconstruction” of Russian America, Shelikhov provided for the establishment of state borders of Russian possessions along the “hard land” and the Pacific Islands, the construction of shipyards, the expansion of foreign trade of the region and the development of its agriculture, and the assignment of lands in California to Russia. In a report (late 1794), he proposed to begin developing a sea route along the Arctic Ocean to establish trade with southern countries.
According to contemporaries, Shelikhov had an extraordinary intelligence and encyclopedic knowledge. He had remarkable abilities as an entrepreneur and organizer, the ability to establish business connections, sense changing situations and take reasonable risks. He was distinguished by excellent knowledge of commercial, industrial and financial issues, slowness and flexibility in decision-making, and intuition.
But this outstanding, almost legendary man, who played a huge role in the Russians’ exploration of the Aleutian Islands and the “creation” of Russian America, was power-hungry and merciless, arrogated to himself the right to “execute and hang” in order to establish discipline in his American trading posts (A. Radishchev called him "Tsar Shelikhov"). The circumstances of his death remain mysterious to this day.
In the history of Russian penetration into the Aleutian Islands and into the northwestern part of the American continent, now called Alaska, the most honorable place belongs to Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov.
Of course, even before Shelikhov, dozens of brave Russian explorers, “industrial” and merchants, plied the waters of the Pacific Ocean on their fragile ships, landed on the Kuril and Aleutian Islands, hunted fur-bearing animals and then returned with ships filled with rich booty. But only Shelikhov came up with the idea (which he put into practice) not only to carry out hunting expeditions, so to speak, raids on the islands, but also to organize permanent bases on them, from which then regularly send hunting expeditions. The establishment of such bases marked the beginning of Russian colonies in America, and this is the merit of Shelikhov, who immortalized his name on the pages of Russian history.
Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov was born in 1747 into a poor merchant family in the city of Rylsk, Kursk province. It seems that in childhood and youth Shelikhov heard enough stories about the fabulous fur riches of Eastern Siberia and about the bold sea voyages of fearless discoverers who were looking for new lands in the vast expanses of the “Eastern” ocean, teeming with fur-bearing animals.
As an adult, Shelikhov made acquaintance with the wealthy Kursk merchant Golikov, and in 1773, having secured a letter of recommendation from Golikov to his relative, a successful Irkutsk merchant, Shelikhov left Rylsk and went to Siberia. He was then 26 years old.
Irkutsk was at that time the most significant city in Eastern Siberia; the office and residence of the East Siberian governor, who was then Jacobi, was located there. Arriving in Irkutsk, Shelikhov became a clerk in the company of a relative of his patron, the wealthy merchant I. L. Golikov, who became rich not only from the fur trade, but also because he was the keeper of drinking collections in the Irkutsk province.
The clerk's uninteresting service did not last long. The impetus for Shelikhov’s entry into the wide trading arena was his marriage in 1775 to the rich widow Natalya Alekseevna, who later shared with him all the hardships of sea voyages to distant American shores, which brought them wealth and fame.
Immediately after his marriage, Shelikhov left Golikov’s service and went to the small port city of Okhotsk, from which he began sending expeditions for fur-bearing animals to the Kuril and Aleutian Islands. At the same time, he organizes several trading companies one after another.
In five years, from 1776 to 1781, Shelikhov managed to equip and send ten ships to distant lands. Moreover, in two cases he became a companion of his former owner Golikov. One of these expeditions was sent in 1779, when Shelikhov, in company with the merchants Golikov and Sibiryakov, equipped the ship “John the Baptist” to fish in the Aleutian Islands. Although the main organizer of the expedition was Shelikhov, Golikov gave the bulk of the capital to the expedition, so that Golikov owned 56 shares in the transaction, Sibiryakov - 5 and Shelikhov - 4. “John the Baptist” safely returned to Okhotsk in 1785 and delivered furs worth 63,417 to the owners rubles
Usually in those days, companies were formed for only one voyage, and after the return of the ship with cargo, the income was divided among the shareholders and the company dissolved. Shelikhov decided to organize something larger and more permanent.
In 1781, Shelikhov suggested that Ivan Golikov found a permanent company for at least ten years, and, if possible, obtain official sanction in St. Petersburg for exclusive rights to industrial and commercial activities on the islands and on the shores of America. The cautious Golikov, after some thought, approved Shelikhov’s plan. Both merchants went to St. Petersburg, where on August 17, 1781 they formed a new North-Eastern company, which was joined by Ivan Golikov’s nephew, Captain Mikhail Golikov. The purpose of this permanent company was to conduct fur fishing in the Aleutian Islands and off the coast of North America. To the great disappointment of her partners, Empress Catherine II refused to grant them monopoly rights.
Returning to Okhotsk, Shelikhov immediately laid down three galliot ships at his own shipyard. The Goliots were completed in 1783, and on August 16 of the same year, the Shelikhov-Golikov flotilla left Okhotsk on its historic voyage to the shores of America.
The Galiots were called "Three Saints", "Simeon and Anna" and "St. Michael". On the first one, Shelikhov himself set off on a dangerous journey together with his brave wife Natalya Alekseevna. The goal of the expedition was to reach the large Kodiak Island, which lies in close proximity to Alaska.
On the ships, not counting the crew, there were 192 “industrial” people, most of whom were supposed to settle on the islands where the construction of permanent bases was planned.
The journey to Kodiak Island along the stormy ocean lasted almost a year, and only on August 3, 1784, the Shelikhovs arrived at their destination. Shelikhov spent the winter on Bering Island, where the travelers stayed from September 14 until June of the following year.
On Kodiak, Shelikhov founded a village and built a fortress, and then also fortified Afognak. The Russian “industrial” forces, led by Shelikhov, spent two winters on Kodiak, and only by the summer of 1786 did Shelikhov decide that his task had been completed and set off on the return journey.
By the time of his departure, there were already permanent settlements and fortresses on Afognak and the Kenai Peninsula. The company's artels settled along the shores of bays and bays. People lived in good-quality huts, often surrounded by a palisade.
Shelikhov and his wife set out on the return journey on May 22, 1786 on the galliot “Three Saints,” taking with them only 12 Russian “industrial” and 40 Eskimos. On July 30, the travelers reached the first Kuril Island, and soon after that they reached the mouth of the Bolshoi River in Kamchatka. In America, Shelikhov left K. A. Samoilov as ruler with 163 Russian “industrial workers”, pioneers of the first Russian villages in Alaska.
Shelikhov left the ruler with the task of not only trading furs, but also “to resettle Russian artels for the reconciliation of the Americans and the glorification of the Russian state throughout the land of America and California.” These tasks, especially in relation to California, remained unfulfilled for 26 years, and only in 1812 Fort Ross was founded in California by I. Kuskov.
At the beginning of 1787, Shelikhov returned to Okhotsk, and from there he went to Irkutsk, where he hoped, with the help of Governor General Jacobi, to obtain government permission to continue the business he had begun in America on a monopoly basis. Shelikhov outlined these grandiose plans of his in a “Note” to Governor Jacobi, describing in detail the trip to the Aleutian Islands and Alaska and attaching maps to it. 1791 Shelikhov’s “Note” was published in St. Petersburg under the title “The Russian merchant of the eminent Rylsky citizen Grigory Shelikhov’s first journey from 1783 to 1787 from Okhotsk along the Eastern Ocean to the American shores.”
Shelikhov's plans were truly grandiose. He intended to send ships from Okhotsk or Kamchatka to Chinese ports to trade with the Chinese instead of trading in Kyakhta, which was stopped due to diplomatic complications with China. Moreover, he planned to open trade with the English East India Company. This required a lot of government support.
In February 1783, Shelikhov and Ivan Golikov went to St. Petersburg, where they turned directly to the Empress with a request for financial support, and most importantly, to grant their company monopoly rights. But during the entire time that Catherine reigned, they were unable to obtain these rights from her. Catherine, however, noted the work of both figures and on September 28, 1788, awarded them gold medals and silver swords, and on October 11, 1788, they received letters of commendation from the Empress.
Despite the failures in St. Petersburg, Shelikhov, returning to Irkutsk in 1789, continued to act energetically, helping his villages in America and sending there instructions to expand the company’s field of activity. Shelikhov’s ships sailed along the American coasts and islands and left there coats of arms and copper plaques with the inscription “Lands of Russian possession.”
At the same time, he developed plans to expand trade throughout the Pacific Ocean. He intended to trade with the Portuguese in Macau, with Batavia, with the Philippine and Mariana Islands. On the American coast, he ordered the new ruler A. A. Baranov to found a large Russian colony, “Slavorossiya,” with wide straight streets, to build schools, churches, and a museum. For this purpose, he sent a spiritual mission there.
All these plans were not destined to come true during Shelikhov’s lifetime. On July 20, 1795, at the age of 48, in the prime of his life, Grigory Shelikhov died suddenly.
Shelikhov's death was mourned by the best people of Russia. The poet Derzhavin wrote poems dedicated to Shelikhov, which are engraved on his monument:
On the other side of the monument are verses by the poet Ivan Dmitriev:
How kingdoms fell at Catherine's feet,
Ross Shelikhov without troops, without thunderous forces
Flowed into America, through the stormy abysses
And he conquered a new region to Her and to God.
Don't forget, descendant.
That Ross, your ancestor, was also loud in the East.
Passerby, honor the decay in this tomb
Columbus of Russia is buried here.
Shelikhov’s activities were not in vain. His widow Natalya Alekseevna, mainly with the help of her son-in-law, Chamberlain Rezanov, managed to achieve from Emperor Paul I what her husband was striving for. On September 8, 1797, Paul I granted the Shelikhov company, called the American United Company, monopoly rights in America. Two years later, the company, renamed “Russian-American”, was taken under the highest patronage and granted privileges for 20 years. This laid the foundation for the growth and expansion of the company, as well as the spread of Russian influence throughout Alaska and even California for many decades, until the sale of Alaska to the United States of America in 1867.
Grigory Shelikhov (1747 - 1795) was a Russian industrialist who conducted geographical studies of the northern islands of the Pacific Ocean and Alaska. Founded the first settlements in Russian America. The strait between the island is named after him. Kodiak and the North American continent, a bay in the Sea of Okhotsk, a city in the Irkutsk region and a volcano in the Kuril Islands.
Nowadays, few people know that in the 18th century, quite a large part of the North American continent belonged to Russia. This was the so-called Russian America, occupying all of Alaska. Russian trading posts were located on the coast of North America all the way to California. The initiator and organizer of the development of these lands was the Russian industrialist Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov (sometimes another spelling of the surname is found - Shelekhov).
The remarkable Russian merchant, geographer and traveler, nicknamed by G. R. Derzhavin “Russian Columbus”, was born in 1747 in the city of Rylsk, Kursk province, into a bourgeois family. He learned to read and write early, and from childhood he was distinguished by his energy, curiosity and enterprise. Already at a young age, having started working behind the counter of his father’s shop, he managed to organize his own small trading business and successfully ran it. However, Gregory strived for more. An expensive silver ladle, once given to one of the Shelikhovs by Peter I himself, became for him a symbol of success and, in his own words, prompted him to “be an imitator of his ancestors.”
Life in a poor provincial town did not provide the opportunity to develop. Many acquaintances from Rylsk and even Kursk left for other regions to improve and expand their trade. Therefore, at the age of twenty-five, the future organizer of Russian colonies and large trade operations went to seek his fortune, first in Irkutsk, and then in the Far East.
Overcoming the space from Irkutsk to the Lama (Okhotsk) Sea became his first journey. Together with a group of the same seekers of the best places for business, Shelikhov in 1774 from the headwaters of the Lena descended its course, then climbed up the Aldan and along the May, along the Yudoma, walked to the portage through the difficult, snow-covered Dzhundzhur ridge, overcame it and rafted along the Okhota River to the sea coast. Here the industrialist looked for a place to build ships and over time began to think about an expedition to the shores of Alaska (“Alyaksy,” as Shelikhov called it), as well as the founding of Russian settlements on the Aleutian Islands. This promised great profit, since it was known that these places were rich in fur and sea animals.
In Irkutsk, Shelikhov first served with the merchant Ivan Golikov, then with the Okhotsk industrialist Okonshchinikov. Later, in company with Golikov, and then on his own, he took up the fur and marine trade and managed to earn a fortune. He associated this activity with the exploration and development of new territories.
Some time later, the promising industrialist married a certain Natalya Alekseevna, the young widow of a wealthy Irkutsk merchant. His wife brought serious money into the house, and this made it possible for Shelikhov to speed up the implementation of his plans.
By 1776 Shelikhov became the owner of the ship “St. Pavel" and on it went to the Aleutian Islands for fur. The voyage was successful, and this confirmed the industrialist in the correctness of his chosen path. From 1777 to 1780 Shelikhov’s ships “St. Andrew the First-Called", "Nicholas", "St. John the Baptist" and "John of Rylsky" visited the Aleutian and Japanese (Kuril) islands more than once.
On his initiative, on August 17, 1781, a permanent Northeast Company was created, which received exclusive rights to trade and industrial activities on the islands and shores of America. To achieve a monopoly, Shelikhov, together with his former owner Golikov, made a long trip to St. Petersburg. In the capital, they enlisted the support and financial assistance of many influential dignitaries who believed in the benefits of the enterprise.
The creation of the company contributed to the intensification of activity in the discovery and development of new lands. In the same 1781, Gavriil Pribylov, navigator of the St. Georgiy”, owned by Shelikhov, discovered two islands in the Bering Sea and named them in honor of his own and another ship belonging to the Shelikhov company. However, Shelikhov named them the Pribilof Islands in 1789, and this name has remained with them to this day.
Shelikhov also had other navigators under his command who contributed to the discovery of lands in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. Among them, it should be noted Evstrat Delarov, who led the Shelikhov trading posts in Russian America for four years, co-navigators Gerasim Izmailov, Dmitry Bocharov. All of them, on the orders of Shelikhov, carried out expeditions and at different times discovered the Delarova Islands, Yakutat Bay, and described many kilometers of the Alaskan coast. For some time, the remarkable discoverer of the territories of Russian America, Alexander Baranov, who founded the famous Fort Ross in California, also worked under the leadership of Shelikhov.
The fortune of the successful industrialist grew, and this opened up new opportunities to satisfy his passion for developing new lands. Since it was not possible to establish permanent contacts with Japan, which at that time was closed to all Europeans except Dutch merchants, Shelikhov turned his gaze to the north.
In 1783, he built three more ships - “Simeon and Anna”, “St. Michael" and "Three Saints" and in August of the same year, together with his wife and two young sons, he set off on them to Alaska to find new islands and rookeries of sea animals. In addition to the crew, 192 industrialists sailed on the ships, ready to settle in new places.
Having lost the ship “St. Mikhail", which, as it turned out later, was carried by a storm to the Kuril Islands and remained there for the winter, the expedition, passing about. Alaid (Atlasova) and Fr. Noise, I got to Fr. Bering (Commander Islands). We had to spend the winter here. Shelikhov knew about the sad fate of Bering and his team, so he took a number of measures to prevent scurvy. He found out that on the island there were “cutagorum and saran root”, as well as various animals. This made it possible to eat fresh meat and “vegetables”. As a result, during the winter, no one not only died, but did not even get scurvy. Throughout the rather harsh winter, travelers went out on foot and on skis to hunt and explore the island.
In mid-June 1784, the expedition moved on. We agreed on a meeting place in case the ships lost each other. When going to o. This is exactly what happened to Copper in the Fog. Both ships moved to the Captain's Harbor on the island. Unalaska, as agreed. However, after 23 days on the Aleutian Islands, “Three Saints” and “Simeon and Anna” safely found each other.
Together we swam to the island. Unalaska, where we met industrialist Potap Zaikov. He had just returned from the American coast and said that a group of Russian industrialists had been destroyed by the Indians. He warned Shelikhov and his companions against traveling to these regions, but the leader of the expedition firmly decided to move on, striving to “achieve the goal of society’s intentions and my own.” However, for security reasons, he decided to build the first Russian fortress on one of the islands, where it would be easier to defend against attacks and bring the natives to submission. His choice settled on Fr. Kodiak off the coast of Alaska. It was here that the first Russian settlement was founded in 1784, which remained the center of Russian America for 20 years.
The local residents called themselves Kanyagmyuts, and the Russians changed this self-name into something more familiar to them and began to call the natives konyags. The horses were quite aggressive. There was a large rock on the island that was their gathering place. It probably had some kind of cult significance. Shelikhov decided that in order to eliminate the threat from the natives, first of all it was necessary to take possession of this rock. He had only 130 people at his disposal. But the Russians had guns. This settled the matter. The battle was bloody - after all, Shelikhov’s detachment was opposed by about 2 thousand horses. However, none of Shelikhov’s companions was killed, and those seriously, but not mortally wounded, soon recovered. Half of the natives, frightened by the gun salvoes, fled. The rest were taken prisoner, about 600 people were released, and the rest were brought to their harbor. At night, a “Kulibino lantern” was installed on the ship - something like a modern searchlight. The “sun” that the white people knew how to light at night, as well as the instant destruction of the rock, convinced the local residents of the power of the white people. But Shelikhov acted not only through intimidation.
Despite the fact that weapons were used to seize the territory from the very beginning, he was undoubtedly a fairly humane person. The industrialist wrote: “After... incomprehensible, wonderful and at the same time terrible phenomena for them, all the horses of the island abandoned their efforts to oust us, for I, avoiding as much as possible, the shedding of blood... imagined to them that I wanted to live with them in friendship, and not to wage war... This and many examples of affectionate treatment and small gifts completely pacified them. In this way I acquired such great favor from them that they finally called me their father.”
At the same time, some Western researchers prefer to consider Shelikhov a “destroyer of the Aleuts.” They claim that even after several months it was impossible to approach Kodiak due to the unbearable stench of corpses.
However, something else is known. The Russians allowed the prisoners to live peacefully 15 versts from their settlement. Shelikhov found a leader for them among the horses. The natives were given boats and fishing gear. But “to be sure,” hostages were still taken - 20 boys, for whom Shelikhov created a school where they taught Russian literacy, mathematics and music. Other children of the horses who lived nearby also attended it. The merchant wanted “that over time they would become sailors and good sailors.” Very pleased with their successes in the sciences, he wrote: “We must give justice to this people in the sharpness of their minds...” Later, the entrepreneur ensured that children of Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts began to be brought to study in Russia, who over time did a lot for the study of Russian America.
On Kodiak, travelers built good-quality wooden houses and began work to describe the shores and search for new islands. By the summer of 1786, Shelikhov's people were able to discover many islands in the Komandorsky, Aleutian archipelagos and other island groups near Kodiak. Large rookeries of fur seals, sea otters, and sea lions were also found. Many beavers, arctic foxes, a thousand pounds of walrus ivory and 500 pounds of whalebone were caught on the islands.
Over the course of two years, from 1784 to 1785, Shelikhov, who lived on Kodiak, organized several more settlements on the northwestern shores of America and constantly sent small expeditions to explore the northern shore of the Gulf of Alaska. As a result, high-quality wooden huts of industrial cooperatives appeared on the shores of many bays and bays, and on the Kenai Peninsula and on the island. Afognak fortresses and settlements were erected.
Finally Shelikhov decided that the Russians in the area had sufficiently strengthened their position, and decided to return to Russia with a new project. Instead of himself, he left the Yenisei merchant K. A. Samoilov as the boss in Kodiak, who, in addition to spreading Russian influence in Alaska by exploring new territories and creating settlements there, was also supposed to collect ethnographic collections, buying household items, costumes, and ritual items from the indigenous residents . It is noteworthy that most of the Russian sailors remained on Kodiak. Instead, 40 natives set sail to the shores of Siberia, who, as Shelikhov claims, expressed a desire to visit Russia.
In 1787, the conqueror of Alaska came to Irkutsk to see the Governor-General of Siberia I. Jacobi, and from there he went to St. Petersburg with a new plan, this time consolidating Russia in the Amur region and the Kuril Islands. However, Catherine II, due to the fact that Russia was at war with Turkey, refused financial support, limiting herself to awarding Shelikhov and Golikov with swords and medals. The merchants were also denied a monopoly right to trade in the Pacific coast area. The Empress did not want to limit other entrepreneurs.
Shelikhov's gaze turned again to Alaska. As a result, from this year the systematic settlement of North American territories by Russians began. Shelikhov understood that in order to secure the territories he had developed for Russia, it was necessary to establish a state border here. As a result of his activities, this was done. On 415 boards dug into the ground it was engraved: “Land of Russian Dominion” and displayed copper Russian coats of arms. The exploration of Russian America continued by the ships left in Alaska, which penetrated along the coast almost to the level of San Francisco.
The vigorous activity of this man - an ardent patriot, a tireless entrepreneur, a discoverer and a humanist - only ceased with death. Shelikhov, at the age of forty-eight years, died suddenly on July 20, 1795, probably from peritonitis. According to one eyewitness, he “had extreme pain in his stomach and such inflammation that, in order to quench the fire for a moment, one might say, he swallowed a whole plate of ice.” He was buried in Irkutsk on the territory of the former Znamensky Monastery (modern Znamenskaya Church).
The enormous respect that Shelikhov enjoyed among his contemporaries was best expressed by G. Derzhavin in the epitaph carved on the tombstone of the merchant traveler:
“Russian Columbus is buried here,
Sailed the seas, discovered unknown countries.
And it’s in vain that everything in the world is decay,
He set his sail
Into the heavenly ocean -
To seek heavenly, unearthly treasures..."
After the death of the industrialist, Natalya Alekseevna and the sons of Grigory Ivanovich were granted nobility. In addition, Emperor Paul I granted the widow monopoly rights in America. And in 1798, on the basis of the Shelikhov merchant campaign, the Russian-American Company was created, the leadership of which continued the work of the founder. Geographical exploration of the territory of North America was headed by Alexander Andreevich Baranov, already known to us, who lived continuously in Russian America for 28 years and permanently led the company here.
During his travels, Shelikhov not only discovered unknown islands and contributed to the study of the North American coast. He collected huge ethnographic collections and was the first to give detailed descriptions of the customs and morals of the Eskimos and Alaska Indians. They are still of great value to science.
During the author’s lifetime, in 1791, a report written back in 1787 and slightly revised, “The Russian merchant Grigory Shelikhov’s first journey from 1783 to 1787 from Okhotsk along the Eastern Ocean to the American shores,” was published. Then the book was reprinted many times, the last time this happened in 1971.
