We once discussed such an interesting question for a long time, about that, and now let’s get acquainted with the material, how it all began...

The development of Alaskan lands 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 sea animal hunters gradually approached the territory inhabited by the Tlingit, one of the most powerful and formidable tribes of the Northwest Coast. The Russians called them Kolosha (Kolyuzha). This name comes from the custom of Tlingit women to insert a wooden strip - kaluzhka - into the cut on the lower lip, causing the lip to stretch out and sag. “Angrier than the most ravenous beasts,” “a murderous and evil people,” “bloodthirsty barbarians”—these were the expressions used by Russian pioneers to describe the Tlingit people.

And they had their reasons for that.

TO end of the XVIII V. The Tlingit occupied the coast of southeastern Alaska from Portland Channel 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, Khutsnuwu, 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 motries 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 the tribal and clan ties that were the most significant and lasting in Tlingit society.

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

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 woven wooden kuyak, elk cloaks and beast-like helmets (apparently made from animal skulls). The Indians were armed mainly with bladed and throwing weapons.

If, when attacking the party of A. A. Baranov in 1792, the Tlingits had not yet used firearms, then already in 1794 they had many guns, as well as decent supplies of ammunition and gunpowder.

Peace Treaty with the Sitka Indians

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

After several minor skirmishes with small Kixadi detachments led by the young military leader Katlean, Alexander Andreevich Baranov enters into an agreement with the leader of the Kixadi tribe, Skautlelt, to acquire land for the construction of a trading post.

The alliance between the Russians and the Kixadi 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 construction of the fort “St. Archangel Michael”, now this place is called Old Sitka.

Meanwhile, the Kixadi and Deshitan tribes concluded a truce - the hostility between the Indian clans ceased.

The danger to the Kiksadi has disappeared. Too close a connection with the Russians is now becoming too burdensome. Both the Kixadi and the Russians felt this very quickly.

Tlingits from other clans who visited Sitka after the cessation of hostilities there mocked its inhabitants and “boasted of their freedom.” The biggest disagreement occurred on Easter, however, thanks to the decisive actions of A.A. Baranov, bloodshed was avoided. However, on April 22, 1800 A.A. Baranov left for Kodiak, leaving V.G. in charge of the new fortress. Medvednikova.

Despite the fact that the Tlingits had a wealth of experience communicating with Europeans, relations between Russian settlers and aborigines became increasingly strained, 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 machinations of insidious foreigners, just as these events were not generated solely by the natural bloodthirstiness of the “fierce ears.” The Tlingit Kuans were put on the warpath by other, deeper reasons.

Prerequisites for the war

Russian and Anglo-American traders had one goal in these waters, one main source of profit - furs, sea otter fur. But the means to achieve this goal were different. The Russians themselves extracted precious furs, sending parties of Aleuts for them and establishing permanent fortified settlements in the fishing areas. Buying skins from the Indians played a secondary role.

Active sea otter fishing, which was carried out by Russian parties, was the reason for the depletion 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 relations of the Indians towards the Russian colonists. The Anglo-Saxons actively fueled their hostility.

Every year, about fifteen foreign ships exported 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 sea animals, which was launched by the Russian-American company, undermined the basis of the economic well-being of the Tlingit people, depriving them of the main product in profitable trade with Anglo-American maritime traders, whose inflammatory actions served as a kind of catalyst that accelerated the outbreak of the brewing 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 Khutsnukuan (Admiralty Island), at which it was decided to start a war against the Russians. The council developed a plan of military action. With the onset of spring, it was planned to gather soldiers in Khutsnuva and, after waiting for the fishing party to leave Sitka, attack the fort. The party was planned to be waylaid in the Lost Strait.

Military operations began in May 1802 with an attack at the mouth of the Alsek River on the Yakutat fishing party of I.A. Kuskova. The party consisted of 900 native hunters and more than a dozen Russian industrialists. The Indian attack was successfully repulsed after several days of gunfire. The Tlingits, seeing the complete failure of their warlike plans, negotiated and concluded a truce.

Tlingit uprising - destruction of Fort Mikhailovsky and Russian fishing parties

After Ivan Urbanov’s fishing party (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 Alexey Evglevsky and Alexey Baturin went hunting to the “distant Sioux Stone”. The other inhabitants of the settlement continued to blithely go about their daily affairs.

The Indians attacked simultaneously from two sides - from the forest and from the bay, arriving in war canoes. This campaign was led by the military leader Kiksadi, Skautlelt's nephew, the young leader Katlian. An armed crowd of Tlingit, numbering about 600 people under the command of Sitka chief Skautlelt, surrounded the barracks and opened heavy rifle fire on the windows. In response to Skautlelt's calling cry, a huge flotilla of war canoes came out from behind the head of the bay, carrying at least 1,000 Indian warriors, who immediately joined the Sitka men. Soon the roof of the barracks was on fire. The Russians tried to fire back, but could not withstand the overwhelming superiority of the attackers: the doors of the barracks were knocked down and, despite direct fire from the cannon located inside, the Tlingits managed to get inside, kill all the defenders and plunder the furs stored in the barracks

There are different versions of the participation of the Anglo-Saxons in starting the war.

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

By bribing the Indian chiefs with weapons, rum and trinkets during a 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 ambition 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 in Sitka clearly not by accident. There is a version that he was privy to the plans of the Tlingit people, or even participated directly in their development.

It was predetermined from the beginning that foreigners would be declared the culprits of the Sitka disaster. But the reasons that the Englishman Barber was then recognized as the main culprit probably lie in the uncertainty in which Russian foreign policy was in those years.

The fortress was completely destroyed and the entire population exterminated. Nothing is being built there yet. The losses for Russian America were significant; for two years Baranov gathered forces to return to Sitka.

The news of the defeat of the fortress was brought to Baranov by the English captain Barber. Near Kodiak Island, he deployed 20 cannons from his ship, the Unicorn. But, afraid to contact Baranov, he went to the Sandwich Islands to trade with the Hawaiians in goods looted in Sitka.

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

The Tlingits had a special hatred for Vasily Kochesov, the famous hunter, known among the Indians and Russians as an unsurpassed marksman. The Tlingits 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 Ridge 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 did not suddenly, but gradually cut off their nose, ears and other members of their body, stuffed their mouths with them, and viciously mocked the torments of the sufferers. Kochesov...could not endure the pain for long and was happy at the end of his life, but the unfortunate Eglevsky languished in terrible agony for more than a day.”

In the same 1802: the Sitka fishing party of Ivan Urbanov (90 kayaks) was tracked down by the Indians in the Frederick Strait and attacked on the night of June 19-20. Hidden in ambush, the warriors of Kuan Keik-Kuyu did not betray their presence in any way and, as K.T. Khlebnikov wrote, “the party leaders did not notice any trouble or reason for displeasure... But this silence and silence were the harbingers of a cruel thunderstorm.” The Indians attacked the party members while they were spending the night and “almost completely destroyed them with bullets and daggers.” 165 Kodiaks died in the massacre, and this was no less a heavy blow to Russian colonization than the destruction of the Mikhailovsky Fortress.

Return of the Russians to Sitka

Then came 1804 - the year the Russians returned to Sitka. Baranov learned that the first Russian round-the-world expedition had set sail from Kronstadt, and eagerly awaited the arrival of the Neva in Russian America, while at the same time building an entire 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 their kayaks and with the ships “Ermak”, “Alexander”, “Ekaterina” and “Rostislav”.

A.A. Baranov ordered the Russian ships to position themselves 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. At the beginning of October, the brig Neva, commanded by Lisyansky, joined Baranov’s flotilla.

After stubborn and prolonged resistance, the envoys appeared from the ears. After negotiations, the entire 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 founded 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 the Indians called Baranov’s Castle.

Only in the fall of 1805, an agreement was again concluded between Baranov and Skautlelt. Gifts included a bronze double-headed eagle, a Peace Cap modeled on Tlingit ceremonial hats by the Russians, and a blue robe with ermine. But for a long time, the Russians and Aleuts were afraid to go deeper into the impenetrable rain forests of Sitka; it could cost them their lives.

Novoarkhangelsk (most likely early 1830s)
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, and residential buildings. 222 Russians and over 1 thousand natives lived here.

Fall of the Russian Fort Yakutat

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

Thus, the armed actions of the Tlingit and Eyak people in 1802-1805. significantly weakened the potential of the RAC. Direct financial damage apparently reached at least half a million rubles. All this stopped the Russian advance southward along the northwestern coast of America for several years. The Indian threat further constrained the RAC forces in the area of the 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 a village of Indians living near the Russian single (factory) Nulato in the Yukon. The loner herself was also attacked. However, the attackers were repulsed with damage. The Russians also had losses: the head of the trading post, Vasily Deryabin, was killed and a company employee (Aleut) and the English lieutenant Bernard, who arrived in Nulato from the British sloop of war Enterprise to search for the missing members of Franklin's third polar expedition, were mortally wounded. That same winter, the Tlingits (Sitka Koloshes) started several quarrels and fights with the Russians in the market and in the forest near Novoarkhangelsk. In response to these provocations, the main ruler N.Ya. Rosenberg announced to the Indians that if the unrest continued, he would order the “Koloshensky market” to be closed altogether and would interrupt all trade with them. The reaction of the Sitka people to this ultimatum was unprecedented: the next morning they attempted to capture Novoarkhangelsk. Some of them, armed with guns, hid in the bushes near the fortress wall; the other, placing pre-prepared ladders up to a wooden tower with cannons, the so-called “Koloshenskaya Battery,” almost took possession of it. Fortunately for the Russians, the sentries were alert and raised the alarm in time. Came to the rescue armed detachment He 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 St. Andrew's Alone in the lower Yukon. At that time, its manager, a 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 plundered. The surviving RAC employee Lavrentiy Keryanin managed to escape and safely reach the Mikhailovsky redoubt. A punitive expedition was immediately sent out, which found the natives hiding in the tundra who had ravaged Andreevskaya alone. They holed up in a barabor (Eskimo semi-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.

Let's remember this story: how they tried and again. Here's another story and just recently there was such news on the Internet that The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -

Russian-Tlingit War 1802-1805

The first Europeans to visit Alaska on August 21, 1732 were members of the St. Gabriel" under the command of surveyor M. S. Gvozdev and navigator I. Fedorov during the expedition of A. F. Shestakov and D. I. Pavlutsky of 1729-1735.

From July 9, 1799 to October 18, 1867, Alaska and its adjacent islands were under the control of the Russian-American Company.

Alaska was inhabited in those days by Aleuts, Eskimos, and Athabaskans.
And in the south of Alaska there are three indigenous peoples: Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian. Or in common parlance - Indians.

In the period 1794-1799. Russian fishing parties penetrated deeper into Alaska, establishing bases there and conducting predatory fishing. In 1794, Yegor Purtov and Demid Kulikalov were sent to the south at the head of a party that included 10 Russians and more than 900 local residents. Meetings and negotiations with the Tlingit Yakutat-kuan ended with the removal of twelve amanats, both men and women, to Kodiak. There they were baptized by priests from the Orthodox mission that had just arrived in the colony. They became, formally, perhaps the first Christians among the Tlingits. In 1795 A.A. Baranov visited Yakutat and Sitka on board the Olga ship.

The predatory fishing of sea animals, which was launched by the Russian-American company, undermined the basis of the economic well-being of the Tlingit people, depriving them of the main commodity in trade, which accelerated the outbreak of the brewing 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. This struggle resulted in open war against Russian settlements and fishing parties, which the Tlingits waged both as part of extensive alliances and by the forces of individual kuans and even clans.
The most famous battle, the Battle of Sitka on October 1-4, 1804, became the largest military clash between the Russians and their allied American natives on the one hand and the Tlingit Indian tribe (whom the Russians called the Koloshes) on the other. The reason for it was the destruction by the Tlingits in June 1802 of the first Russian settlement on the island of Sitka - St. Michael's Fortress, founded by the Russian-American Company three years earlier.
Of all the Indian tribes of North America, the Tlingit had the most complex and advanced weapons and armor, including iron daggers and spears, as well as helmets and shells made of alder wood, which were often impervious even to rifle bullets.
In 1972, by decision of the US authorities, “in order to perpetuate the Tlingit and Russian past of Alaska,” the Sitka National Historical Park was created on the site of the Battle of Sitka. In memory of the dead Tlingits, a totem pole was erected on the site of their fortress, and in memory of the dead Russians, a monument was erected on the shore where the Russian troops landed. In September 2004, on the two hundredth anniversary of the battle, Native American and Russian descendants of the participants took part in the traditional Tlingit Rite of Lamentation, and the next day the Kixadi clan held a reconciliation ceremony, marking the formal end of two centuries of hostility.

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Moving south along the mainland coast of Alaska in search of richer fishing grounds, Russian parties of sea animal hunters gradually approached the territory inhabited by the Tlingit, one of the most powerful and formidable tribes of the Northwest Coast. The Russians called them Kolosha (derived from the custom of Tlingit women to insert a wooden strip - kaluzhka - into the cut on the lower lip, causing the lip to stretch out and sag). “Angrier than the most ravenous beasts,” “a murderous and evil people,” “bloodthirsty barbarians”—these were the expressions used by Russian pioneers to describe the Tlingit people. And they had their reasons for that.

By the end of the 18th century. The Tlingit occupied the coast of southeastern Alaska from Portland Channel in the south to Yakutat Bay in the north, as well as the adjacent islands of the Alexander Archipelago.

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 kuyak, elk cloaks and beast-like helmets. The Indians were armed mainly with bladed and throwing weapons.

The alliance between the Russians and the Kixadi 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 construction of the fort “St. Archangel Michael”, now this place is called Old Sitka.

Meanwhile, the Kixadi and Deshitan tribes concluded a truce - the hostility between the Indian clans ceased.

The danger to the Kiksadi has disappeared. Too close a connection with the Russians is now becoming too burdensome. Both the Kixadi and the Russians felt this very quickly.

Due to the specifics of their position, British and American (Boston) traders did exactly the opposite. They periodically came on their ships to the shores of the Tlingit country, conducted active trade, bought furs and left, leaving the Indians in return with fabrics, weapons, ammunition, and alcohol.
The Russian-American company could not offer the Tlingits practically any of these goods, so valued by them. The current ban on the trade in firearms among Russians pushed the Tlingits to even closer ties with the Bostonians. For this trade, the volume of which was constantly increasing, the Indians needed more and more furs. However, the Russians, through their activities, prevented the Tlingits from trading with the Anglo-Saxons.

Tlingit uprising - destruction of Fort Mikhailovsky and Russian fishing parties

The Indians attacked simultaneously from two sides - from the forest and from the bay, sailing in war canoes. This campaign was led by the military leader Kiksadi, Skautlelt's nephew, the young leader Katlian. An armed crowd of Tlingit, numbering about 600 people under the command of Sitka chief Skautlelt, surrounded the barracks and opened heavy rifle fire on the windows. In response to Skautlelt's calling cry, a huge flotilla of war canoes came out from behind the head of the bay, carrying at least 1,000 Indian warriors, who immediately joined the Sitka men. Soon the roof of the barracks was on fire. The Russians tried to fire back, but could not withstand the overwhelming superiority of the attackers: the doors of the barracks were knocked down and, despite direct fire from the cannon located inside, the Tlingits managed to get inside, kill all the defenders and plunder the furs stored in the barracks.

.................................................

There are different versions of the participation of the Anglo-Saxons in starting the war.

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

...............................................

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

The Tlingits had a special hatred for Vasily Kochesov, the famous hunter, known among the Indians and Russians as an unsurpassed marksman. The Tlingits 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 Ridge 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 did not suddenly, but gradually cut off their nose, ears and other members of their body, stuffed their mouths with them, and angrily mocked the torment of the sufferers. Kochesov... could not endure the pain for long and was happy the end of life, but the unfortunate Eglevsky languished in terrible torment for more than a day."

Return of the Russians to Sitka

Military operations began. At the beginning of October, the brig Neva, commanded by Lisyansky, joined Baranov’s flotilla.

After stubborn and prolonged resistance, the envoys appeared from the ears. After negotiations, the entire tribe left.

Novoarkhangelsk - the capital of Russian America

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

Examples.

So, on February 4, 1851, an Indian military detachment from the river. Koyukuk attacked a village of Indians living near the Russian single (factory) Nulato in the Yukon. The loner herself was also attacked. However, the attackers were repulsed with damage. The Russians also had losses: the head of the trading post, Vasily Deryabin, was killed and a company employee (Aleut) and the English lieutenant Bernard, who arrived in Nulato from the British sloop of war Enterprise to search for the missing members of Franklin's third polar expedition, were mortally wounded. That same winter, the Tlingits (Sitka Koloshes) started several quarrels and fights with the Russians in the market and in the forest near Novoarkhangelsk. In response to these provocations, the main ruler N.Ya. Rosenberg announced to the Indians that if the unrest continued, he would order the “Koloshensky market” to be closed altogether and would interrupt all trade with them. The reaction of the Sitka people to this ultimatum was unprecedented: the next morning they attempted to capture Novoarkhangelsk. Some of them, armed with guns, hid in the bushes near the fortress wall; the other, placing pre-prepared ladders up to a wooden tower with cannons, the so-called “Koloshenskaya Battery,” almost took possession of it. Fortunately for the Russians, the sentries were alert and raised the alarm in time. An armed detachment that arrived to help threw down three Indians who had already climbed onto the battery, and stopped the rest.

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Tlingit.

Russian pioneers considered the Koloshes to be bloodthirsty barbarians, “more evil than the most predatory animals.” The American authorities who bought Alaska from Russia also had problems with this warlike Indian tribe. To calm them down, ships had to be brought in from time to time. navy and use artillery. These savages had a terrifying appearance and repulsive morals. In the past they had developed slavery.

The Koloshi (Tlingit) are an Indian tribe that has lived for several thousand years in southeastern Alaska and adjacent parts of Canada, right down to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 1840s. in America there were up to 14,000 souls of both sexes. Currently, there are about 20,000 people living in the United States and Canada. The territory in which they settled has an inhospitable climate with constant dampness and rain.

The tribe's self-name is Tlingit, which means "man". The Russians called them Koloshas, since they were indelibly impressed by the strange custom of this tribe of inserting a kalyuzhka - a piece of wood, shell or stone - into a cut and pulled down lip. Typically, this type of jewelry was worn by women and elders. These lip inserts were made for girls after their first monthly cleansing. Kalyuzhka prevented women from speaking and eating, and when chewing tobacco, which local women loved very much, saliva constantly flowed from it.

In addition, the procedure itself is very painful. First, a small hole is made in the lower lip with a bear claw, into which a small pin is inserted, which over time is replaced by a pin up to 12 cm in circumference. Kalyuzhka was a sign of a good family. The replacement of the Kalyuzhka with a new, larger size was accompanied by a family celebration with dancing in masks.

It must be said that these stern people have always had a great passion for dancing. Dancers in terrifying masks spin around the fire to the sound of a drum, shaking rattles. The audience clap their hands as loudly as possible.

Our compatriots, seeing the koloshi for the first time, were horrified. Here is a description of the Koloshes by Russian travelers: “These people are distinguished by a strong, but extremely ugly and disproportionate physique. Their black, shiny hair hangs haphazardly over their prominent cheekbones. The massive face features a wide and flat nose and a large mouth with thick lips. Despite their large facial features, their eyes are small and black, burning with wild fire. There is, however, one advantage - amazingly white teeth.” But even this seemed to the pioneers a terrible sight, since the teeth sparkled on extremely dark skin.

It turns out that the Koloshes smeared their faces and entire bodies with ocher and black soil every day. In addition to kalyuzki, they sought to decorate themselves and their children in another savage way - immediately after birth, they squeezed the child’s skull with tools in the form of shoulder blades. As a result of such deformations, the Indians' nostrils widened, their eyebrows rose upward, and their already disproportionate facial features made an even more repulsive impression.

They had another custom - to paint their faces with wide black, white and red stripes of cinnabar and soot, intersecting in all directions. Of course, the travelers did not see any order in this coloring, but, apparently, representatives of different tribes were able to distinguish each other using these stripes. The breast feathers of a bald eagle protruding from their matted hair gave them an even more frenzied appearance. Of course, the natives really liked themselves.

The travelers were struck by another feature of these savages - they were absolutely not afraid of the cold and dressed the same both in the most intense heat and in the winter cold. The climate of these places is quite harsh and frosts of twenty degrees are not uncommon. Even in winter, the Koloshes walked around practically naked. If they froze, they used a very strange way to warm up - they sank up to their necks in cold water. They loved to spend the night in the open air, on the hot ashes of the fire. True, it was necessary to turn from time to time on one side or the other so as not to get burned.

In the 18th century, the Koloshes did not have permanent settlements, but wandered along the coast. They traveled in large boats, which contained all their belongings, as well as material for temporary huts. Having chosen a good place, they stuck many poles into the ground, filling the gaps between them with planks, and covered the roof with tree bark. During the cold season, a fire burned in the center of the hut.

A person who dared to cross the threshold of their wretched home saw an unsightly picture: ugly women looking for insects in animal skins or in the heads of men, a large communal chamber pot. In addition, the hut smelled of rotten fish, blubber and all sorts of garbage.

But their slaves were in even more deplorable condition. Rich Koloshes had many male and female slaves, who were called kalga. Prisoners of war and their descendants became slaves. The slave's owner had every right to kill him. If the owner died, then two slaves were killed at his grave so that he would have servants in the next world, in the world of the souls of dead people and animals.

According to the concepts of these Indians, there is different types afterlife. There is a heaven for those who have died of old age or illness. There is another heaven for those who have been victims of violence. People who drown or get lost in the forest remain on the ground. They become half-human, half-otter. The Indians also believed in spirits who, they believed, lived on star fires. Spirits patronized lakes, rivers, glaciers, mountains and other elements. They believed that the sun and moon were alive. They have a legend that the earth rests on a giant pillar in the shape of a beaver's paw, and it is held up by the underground old woman Agishanuku. The main character of their myths is the raven man Yelom, who fights with an old woman, and because of this, earthquakes occur.

By the end of the nineteenth century most of Tlingits converted to Orthodoxy, some came under the influence of Presbyterian missionaries. After the Americans became the sovereign masters of Alaska, US law gave citizenship only to those who led a civilized lifestyle.

The Presbyterians established a school for the local population, while at the same time seeking to completely eradicate the local cultural traditions and language. Their ancestral lands were almost completely taken away from the Koloshes. At first, the Indians tried to offer armed resistance, but then accepted the proposed rules of the game.

WITH late XIX centuries, the Koloshes began to engage in commercial fishing and moved to towns and cities. At the same time, a significant part of the Tlingits live in traditional villages, but according to the rules of American culture. By the beginning of the 20th century, in connection with the general process of Americanization, the institution of slavery was abolished, and shamanism fell into decline. The importance of the clan system has fallen, but large family ties and many clan traditions have been preserved.

In 1971, under the influence of the public defending the rights of the Aboriginal people, part of the land was finally returned to them. To manage these lands, a Regional and 10 village corporations were organized. In these territories they are actively engaged in logging and fishing.

Among the educated Koloshes there are teachers, lawyers, and engineers. At the same time, among young people there is a high level of unemployment, alcoholism, drug addiction, and murder. Tlingits tend to explain this as a cultural shock when confronted with new cultural values, the decline of traditional culture. Native language knows no more than 700 ears.

Of course, it is a pity when the national identity of a people is lost, but this benefited the Koloshes to a certain extent. Despite the negative phenomena, since the 1950s, the natural increase in the indigenous population, including the Kolosha, has sharply increased in Alaska. A striking picture has been observed over the past three to four decades in terms of marriages - 60% are interethnic. At the same time, children from interethnic marriages, as a rule, are recognized as Tlingit.

Today, among the Tlingit there are bright leaders in government agencies, one of them is Paul William (1885-1977). He began as a law school graduate and practicing lawyer and became the first Tlingit to take part in the activities of the Alaska state representative body, contributed to the granting of equal rights to the Tlingit people, and worked on the settlement of land issues. One of the brightest leaders was Frank J. Peratrovich (1895-1984), who received an honorary doctorate from the University of Alaska for public service. He was the first Tlingit to sit in the Alaska Senate.

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Tlingit daggers.

The Tlingit warriors, dressed in leather and wood armor, used bows and arrows, heavy spears, clubs, and iron and copper daggers as weapons.

Tlingit men not only during the war, but also in Everyday life They constantly wore daggers, in leather sheaths, hung around the neck on a belt (blade down). The dagger was not only a weapon for them, but also a household tool. The Tlingits had the habit of giving their daggers, along with other types of weapons, proper names. There is evidence that before a battle, the Tlingits sometimes tied daggers to their hands, probably using part of the wrapping of their handles with a leather strap, so as not to lose the weapon during the battle. But here, it seems, we are not talking about ordinary battles, where spears were primarily used (the dagger was a backup weapon), but about lightning-fast raids that the Tlingits used to carry out at dawn, quickly slaughtering the sleeping inhabitants of the settlements of hostile tribes and hostile clans with daggers directly in their homes.

The Tlingit double-bladed daggers probably resulted from a gradual evolution in which the massive carved pommels characteristic of conventional (single-bladed) Tlingit daggers one day evolved into a second (short) blade. Perhaps it was the belligerence of the Tlingit that became the basis for this improvement and the development of sophisticated fencing techniques with double-bladed daggers. One of the most common techniques looked like this - taking advantage of the fact that the enemy, first of all, was watching the main (long) blade of the dagger, the Tlingit warriors strove with an unexpected movement to inflict a shocking wound on his face with the second (short) blade, and then finish him off with the main blade. The short blade of the Tlingit double-bladed dagger was usually equipped with its own leather scabbard, probably for greater safety of the owner and greater ease of use of the dagger (its long blade) as a tool.

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Tlingit. Catalog of Kunstkamera collections:

Literature: A. Zorin, A. Grinev, N. Bolkhovitinov...

Pictures and explanations by Gordon Miller: http://gordonmiller.ca/index_natives.htm

Russian-Indian War in Alaska

On September 16, 1821, the Russian Empire officially confirmed its exclusive rights to Alaska. It is believed that Russian settlers were not too zealous in developing Alaska, however, there is a lot interesting facts, indicating the opposite.

1. From Ivan the Terrible to Alaska

It is believed that Russian people first came to Alaska in the 18th century, and these were members of the expedition of Pavlutsky and Shestakov from the ship “St. Gabriel”. Vitus Bering also searched the North American coast. But the Russian traveler Jacob Lindenau, who explored Siberia, wrote back in 1742 that the Chukchi “go to Alaska in canoes” and “from that land they bring wooden utensils similar to Russian ones.”

In 1937, scientists found an ancient settlement in Cook Inlet off the southern coast of Alaska. Researchers have established that Russians lived in the huts, and this was more than three centuries ago. It turns out that our ancestors arrived in America under Ivan the Terrible.

But the Americans themselves go even further. The history of the state of Alaska reports that the first people came here from Siberia about twenty thousand years ago. We came because at that time between North America and Eastern Eurasia was an isthmus located where the Bering Strait is today. By the time the first Europeans arrived, the settlers formed indigenous peoples - Eskimos, Aleuts, Athapaskan, Haida, Tlingit, etc.

2. “Russian Pizarro”

The first ruler of Russian lands in America was a merchant Alexander Andreevich Baranov.

There would be no happiness, but misfortune would help. His ship crashed off the coast of Alaska. Baranov himself, along with the surviving crew members, rowed on the wreckage for a long time and eventually sailed to Kodiak Island.

Baranov began the exploration of Alaska and ruled here for 28 years. With his direct participation, such Russian settlements as Fort Ross and Novoarkhangelsk were erected, where Alexander Andreevich subsequently moved the capital of Russian America from Irkutsk. Baranov’s energy was truly inexhaustible. Thanks to him, Alaska began to trade with the Hawaiian Islands and even China! He founded a shipyard, began mining coal, and built a copper smelter.

Baranov proudly called himself “Russian Pizarro.” However, the unspoken title “Father of Alaska” suited him better. Paul I himself awarded Alexander Andreevich a personalized medal for his hard work and services to the fatherland.

3. Russian-Indian War

Even before Baranov, the Russian explorer Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov was involved in the development of navigation between the Kuril and Aleutian ridges.

When he set out to found a village on the same Kodiak island, they began to dissuade him, since local residents shortly before this, several dozen Russian hunters were killed. The Eskimos also offered resistance to Shelikhov himself. But he didn’t listen to anyone, founded a village, and then carried out a real massacre. According to various sources, between 500 and 2,500 Eskimos were killed during clashes with the aborigines. Shelikhov captured more than a thousand people.

Baranov faced similar problems. One day, the Tlingit Indians, who were famous for their belligerence and terrified other tribes, slaughtered a Russian settlement. Of the eighty people, only one survived. “Russian Pissarro” responded two years later, waiting for reinforcements from Kruzenshtern’s expedition. The clashes took place as part of the Russian-Indian War (it turns out there was such a thing), which lasted from 1802 to 1805. In battle, the Tlingits looked scary. They wore elk cloaks and beast-like helmets. But how could this scare a Russian peasant who was going after a bear?

Actually, on the site of one of the destroyed Tlingit settlements, Alexander Andreevich founded Novoarkhangelsk (later Sitka). The conquered Indians presented Baranov with a golden helmet as a sign of peace.

4. "Apostle of Alaska"

Despite the truce, tensions remained between the Russian settlers and the Indians. Missionaries from the Russian Church helped smooth it out. The most famous of them is Father Innokenty Veniaminov, who was nicknamed the “Apostle of Alaska.”

Father Innocent became famous for preaching sermons not only in Russian, but also in Tlingit. The “Apostle of Alaska” studied and compiled the Aleut alphabet and opened a school for children.

The Indians accepted Christianity quite willingly. Moreover, this made them equal to Russian settlers, and the same Aleuts could no longer be used as cheap labor. Officially, serfdom did not exist in Alaska, but the Russians treated the Indians as slaves. That’s why the same Baranov initially opposed the too rapid churching of the aborigines.

From the Aleutian Islands, Father Innocent moved to Alaska, where he began the Christianization of the Koloshe Indians. Veniaminov translated the Gospel of Matthew into the languages of local residents, including the Kodiaks.

5. No beavers, no whales

As you know, in 1867 Alaska was sold to the United States for $7.2 million. Is this a lot of money? It turns out that for Russian Empire it was mere pennies. Alaska was sold for about 11 million rubles, while Russia's GDP was 400 million rubles a year.

You are even more surprised by the deal when you find out that, according to Baranov’s estimates, beavers alone in the first decade of the 19th century were harvested in Alaska for 4.5 million rubles. And the annual whaling off the coast of Alaska, according to Russian researcher Novikov, brought in $8 million.

Nevertheless, the Russian press of that time called the deal very smart. Although even its supporters muttered that the importance of the treaty “will not be understood immediately.” It seems they still don't understand.

The Russians called them Kolosha (Kolyuzha). This name comes from the custom of Tlingit women to insert a wooden strip - kaluzhka - into the cut on the lower lip, causing the lip to stretch out and sag.

“Angrier than the most ravenous beasts,” “a murderous and evil people,” “bloodthirsty barbarians”—these were the expressions used by Russian pioneers to speak of the Tlingit people. And they had their reasons for that.

It was the tribal and clan ties that were the most significant and lasting in Tlingit society.

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

If, when attacking the party of A. A. Baranov in 1792, the Tlingits had not yet used firearms, then already in 1794 they had many guns, as well as decent supplies of ammunition and gunpowder.

Peace Treaty with the Sitka Indians

In 1795, Russians appeared on the island of Sitka, which was owned by the Tlingit Kixadi clan. Closer contacts began in 1798.
After several minor skirmishes with small Kixadi forces led by a young war chief Kotlean, Alexander Andreevich Baranov enters into an agreement with the leader of the Kiksadi tribe, Skautlelt, to acquire land for the construction of a trading post.

Scoutlet was baptized and his name became Michael. Baranov was his godfather. Skautlelt and Baranov agreed to cede part of the lands on the coast to the Kiksadi Russians and build a small trading post at the mouth of the Starrigavan River.
The alliance between the Russians and the Kixadi 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 construction of the fort “St. Archangel Michael”, now this place is called Old Sitka.

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

The danger to the Kiksadi has disappeared. Too close a connection with the Russians is now becoming too burdensome. Both the Kixadi and the Russians felt this very quickly.
Tlingits from other clans who visited Sitka after the cessation of hostilities there mocked its inhabitants and “boasted of their freedom.” The biggest disagreement occurred on Easter, however, thanks to the decisive actions of A.A. Baranov, bloodshed was avoided. However, on April 22, 1800 A.A. Baranov left for Kodiak, leaving V.G. in charge of the new fortress. Medvednikova.

Prerequisites for the war

Russian and Anglo-American traders had one goal in these waters, one main source of profit - furs, sea otter fur.

But the means to achieve this goal were different. The Russians themselves extracted precious furs, sending parties of Aleuts for them and establishing 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) traders did exactly the opposite. They periodically came on their ships to the shores of the Tlingit country, conducted active trade, bought furs and left, leaving the Indians in return with fabrics, weapons, ammunition, and alcohol.

The Russian-American company could not offer the Tlingits practically any of these goods, so valued by them. The current ban on the trade in firearms among Russians pushed the Tlingits to even closer ties with the Bostonians. For this trade, the volume of which was constantly increasing, the Indians needed more and more furs. However, the Russians, through their activities, prevented the Tlingits from trading with the Anglo-Saxons.
Active sea otter fishing, which was carried out by Russian parties, was the reason for the depletion 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 relations of the Indians towards the Russian colonists. The Anglo-Saxons actively fueled their hostility.
Every year, about fifteen foreign ships exported 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.

With the onset of spring, it was planned to gather soldiers in Khutsnuva and, after waiting for the fishing party to leave Sitka, attack the fort. The party was planned to be waylaid in the Lost Strait.
Military operations began in May 1802 with an attack at the mouth of the Alsek River on the Yakutat fishing party of I.A. Kuskova. The party consisted of 900 native hunters and more than a dozen Russian industrialists.

The Indian attack was successfully repulsed after several days of gunfire. The Tlingits, seeing the complete failure of their warlike plans, negotiated and concluded a truce.

Continued on the website: For Advanced - Battles - Russian-Indian War 1802-1805 Part II

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

When they tell me that the Americans killed Indians and seized their lands, I ask a counter question: “How many Indians did the Russians kill?” After this, 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 the island of Unalaska. Few people in Russia have heard about the expedition of Grigory Shelikhov, who (I quote the source) “carried out a massacre of the local population, killing from 500 to 2500 Eskimos.” Few people have heard about the expedition of Ivan Kuskov (1808-1809), who, before the founding of Fort Ross, killed many Indians and then concluded a truce with them. Few people have heard about how industrialist Larion Belyaev “cleared” Attu Island of all the Aleuts who lived there...

In the 200 years before the sale of Alaska, the Russians killed many thousands of indigenous people along America's Pacific coast. Now historians are trying to restore the picture of the past, but they cannot even approximately name the number of killed Indians of the 49th US state. The victims were not even counted. And the Russians were considered only “their nobility,” noble merchants and industrialists. Ordinary people didn't count.

But when you read Russian historical documents, letters, notes, reports, ship logs, etc., you get the impression that it was the Indians who attacked Russia and mocked people near Moscow. They were reluctant to talk about their “exploits”; they were often kept silent and not mentioned at all. For example, the captain of the ship “St. Evdokim" Mikhail Vasilyevich Nevodchikov, in his logbook, upon arrival on Agatta Island, wrote that "due to an unfortunate misunderstanding, an Aleut was wounded by a gun shot." The fact that after this “unfortunate” shot a fight broke out can only be learned in the context of the recordings. How many people were injured during this incident is not reported at all.

So almost every expedition. If anyone landed on the shores of America or Kamchatka, blood was sure to be shed. And the fault was, of course, the local residents, who were described as: “more evil 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), was subordinate to a certain industrialist Alexander Andreevich Baranov (1746 - 1819), who insisted on promoting the Russian company deeper into the mainland. Shelikhov liked this idea and appointed Baranov in his place. 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 assembled an expedition of 30 military sailors and set off on two canoe boats (each with a capacity of up to 30 people) east of Kodiak Island, which was already firmly entrenched in the hands of the Russians. Baranov was also accompanied by Aleuts who were enslaved by the Russians. Having sailed to Montague Island, then called Sukli Island, Baranov met there the Tlingit Indians, who differed from the rest of the inhabitants of Alaska in that they were skilled hunters. That’s why they were armed with spears, axes, bows, arrows and knives. Before this, the Russians had never encountered 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 suddenly a scream, a stomp, a strong rustling sound, the cracking 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 long-standing scores.

However, the Russians considered this a danger to themselves and opened fire on the Tlingits with rifles. As a result of the night clash, 2 Russians were killed and 15 wounded. Baranov himself was “almost killed.” Although in the same letter, in which he described spending the night on Sukli, he admitted that he was dressed in chain mail, which “the bullet did not take.” It was thanks to her that he remained alive. That is, the bullet didn’t kill, but the Indian arrow almost killed...

Baranov did not say how many Indians died on both sides. Just think, some Eskimos. The Americans killed the Indians - yes, this was genocide at a minimum. The Russians were only defending themselves...

But I will continue my story about the Russian-Indian War. The thought of moving deeper into the mainland never left Baranov. The next year, Alexander Andreevich sent an armed detachment of Lebedev-Lastochkin, which (I quote the notes) “devastated two Chugach villages, 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 assembled a fleet of 500 kayaks and went to Shi Island (full name "Shi Attica" or "Sitka"), which was later renamed Baranov Island. Approaching the shore, the Russians saw Indians armed with guns and falconets. Therefore, they were afraid to go ashore and sailed away.

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

Shelikhov was extremely angry at Baranov’s report and personally, a year before his death, went on an armed campaign from Okhotsk to the island of Unalaska. There he gathered reinforcements and sailed further to the island of Atha, which he completely cleared of Aleuts. Historians do not explain why the island of Atha was chosen as a scapegoat and try to avoid this point. But after the defeat of the island, Shelikhov wrote an angry letter to Baranov, where, almost as an order, he demanded advancement deeper into the mainland. Baranov was greatly frightened by Grigory Ivanovich’s raid and understood perfectly well that he would have to face powerful resistance from local residents, and therefore decided to carefully consider the plan for the “development” of the eastern lands of Alaska.

As a result, an unexpected decision was made - to make peace with the Indians! The Indians, of course, outnumbered Baranov’s people, so they could easily sweep them out of Kodiak Island, and indeed from Alaska in general, but peace for them is sacred. And in this regard, the Indians are ready for anything. Sailing to the island of Hinchinbrook ("Thalha" in Eskimo), Baranov invited the Chilhat leader, nicknamed Skautlelt, to make peace. He readily agreed. In honor of this, a small feast was held with fire water :) The Indians were presented with gifts in the form of unnecessary trinkets, and in response, the leader of the Tlingit tribe married Baranov to 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 daughter never found out about this).

Since 1795, after peace was concluded with the Indians, the Russians settled on Shea Island and built the Mikhailovsky Fortress there. The fortress was named in honor of the Tlingit leader Skautlelt, whom Baranov baptized into Orthodoxy, giving him the name Mikhail. The Russians managed to occupy the island without a fight and settled in the Sitka Sound, into which merchant ships from Britain, France, the USA and Sweden often sailed. By that time, Baranov’s patron, Shelikhov, had passed into another world and thereby gave complete freedom to 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 among themselves. Although the local residents, who lived here, according to historians, for about 10 thousand years, were terribly unhappy with the behavior of the Russians. After all, the Tlingit Indians literally idolized their women and perceived any attack on them as a personal insult and insult. And every now and then, after drinking strong drinks purchased from Scottish and Irish merchants, Russian sailors raped the turkeys as best they could. And it was only thanks to Baranov-Skautlet that serious skirmishes were avoided.

But in 1800, Baranov was called to Kodiak Island and 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), Skautlelt (aka Mikhail), refused to speak out against the Russians. Because he was faithful to the truce that was concluded with Baranov. On such occasions the Indians express extraordinary devotion to their promise.

Then his nephew, the leader of the Chilkhat tribe Katlian, became the leader of the uprising. The Russians repelled the first attack in the summer of 1800 without any problems, and Medvednikov did not report this to Baranov. After 2 years, Katlian joined forces with the Eyaks and finally besieged the fortress of St. Archangel Michael, destroying everyone in it.

However, American sources say that only 12 Russians were killed, while the rest were simply wounded. The capture of the fortress occurred at the moment when several ships under the command of captains Alexei Evglevsky and Alexei Baturin set off for the “distant Sioux Stone” to hunt. Therefore, the Russian losses were not so great. Perhaps the Indian leader knew full well that the Russians were hunting, and simply took advantage of the moment.

Returning from the hunt, the Russians discovered that the fortress was occupied by Indians and quickly turned their ships towards Kodiak Island, where Baranov was located at that time. And he simply flew into a rage when he learned about the Tlingit uprising. The head of the North-Eastern Russian company announced general mobilization and proclaimed the beginning of the Russian-Indian War.

Baranov collected everything he had at his disposal, plus he grabbed Captain Lisyansky, who in his brig “Neva” accidentally ended up there, committing trip around the world, and together they moved to Sitka. The fortress was taken in 4 days - from October 1st to October 4th, 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 were still hiding in the mountains.

In 1805, Baranov ordered to surround the island and destroy all Indians who came into sight. Thus, the eighth largest island of Alaska was “cleared”, which was quickly renamed “Baranov Island”. The war ended quietly, without the signing of capitulations or 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 Yakutat Bay were occupied by Indians (although sources do not confirm this and Baranov himself went to Sitka from one of them), the commander-in-chief Russian army in Alaska, he sent Demyanenkov’s detachment there, which indiscriminately burned both fortresses. Whether there were Indians there or not is not known. But everyone died, which Demyanenkov reported to Baranov.

The number of Indians killed in this war is still unknown. Although it is assumed that there could be several thousand of them - no less. In Russia they don’t know anything about this and don’t want to know. In their correct opinion, if Indians were killed, only Americans could do it.

In 2004, 200 years later, a delegation from Russia led by a descendant of A.A. was invited to Alaska. Baranova - I. O. Afrosina. In the vicinity of the city of Sitka, a truce was concluded between the Russians and American Indians from the Kiksadi tribe (descendants of the leader Katlian), which put an end to 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) was officially declared over.

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The conquistadors became famous for their cruelty to the local population, but the Indians themselves were not at all pacifists. Archaeologists managed to restore the chronology of the bloody events that occurred almost 500 years ago.

The anachronistic term "genocide of the American Indians" is one of the cornerstones of the black legend transmitted 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 shockingly stupid: the illegitimate son of Charles I of Spain never participated in the conquest of America. Thus, among lies, inflated figures and fictitious events, the myth that the Spaniards committed planned massacres of American Indians matured and has survived to this day. The truth of this historical debate is that while the Spanish were brutal in pursuing their goals, it was diseases introduced by Europeans that caused the true genocide.

There is a very common myth that the sharp decline in the number of Indians after the arrival of Europeans in America was a consequence of 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 accuse the US government loudest of all, which is not surprising. Now in politically correct America, self-flagellation has become the norm, and justifying government policies is considered bad form. 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, wrote an article back in 2007 entitled “Were the American Indians Victims of Genocide?” (Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?), the translation of which I would like to bring to your attention.

For the majority of our citizens unknown fact assistance from the American people remains under the American Relief Administration (ARA) program. 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 confiscated, and drought.

Historians have different assessments of this man’s contribution to the history of our country. On the one hand, his name is associated with mass repression. On the other hand, during his reign Soviet Union became an industrialized country, which allowed us to win the Second World War. But how did the USSR turn from a backward agricultural country into an industrial giant in just a few years? Remember the famous phrase “He took the country with a plow, but left with atomic bomb"? Let's open the pages of history not described in school textbooks.

In neo-Soviet society, the idea has long been ingrained that the United States is a relatively young country that does not have a serious background compared to “thousand-year-old” Russia. Meanwhile, the first highest educational establishments appeared in the USA earlier than in Russia.

Famine in world history; ARA (American Relief Administration) assistance to starving Russia in 1922; Famine in the Netherlands in 1944-1945; The Politics of Famine 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. Thus, the American Relief Administration spent about $78 million over two years to provide assistance to Russia, providing food and medicine to the hungry. However, its activities still remain poorly understood. We are publishing previously unpublished documents from the South Ural archives about the cooperation of the Russian and American sides during the famine of the 1920s and the activities of the American Relief Administration in the Southern 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 confiscated, and drought.

Protocols of interrogations of village residents have been preserved, who en masse 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 the inquiry of the village of Aleksandrovka on the investigation of human meat in boiled form” (the spelling of the document is preserved) on February 27, 1922: “A few days later, two boys of wanderers 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 stabbed him on February 23... (inaudible) who screamed and fought for a very long time and before that we also stabbed Vera Shibilina, a girl who came to spend the night with us, and we took off her felt boots and took her to her aunt Tatyana Akishkina and she were told that we got sick and died and we buried her.”

And they had their reasons for that.

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

If, when attacking the party of A. A. Baranov in 1792, the Tlingits had not yet used firearms, then already in 1794 they had many guns, as well as decent supplies of ammunition and gunpowder.

Peace Treaty with the Sitka Indians

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

The alliance between the Russians and the Kixadi 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 construction of the fort “St. Archangel Michael”, now this place is called Old Sitka.

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

The danger to the Kiksadi has disappeared. Too close a connection with the Russians is now becoming too burdensome. Both the Kixadi and the Russians felt this very quickly.

Prerequisites for the war

Tlingit uprising - destruction of Fort Mikhailovsky and Russian fishing parties

The Indians attacked simultaneously from two sides - from the forest and from the bay, arriving in war canoes. This campaign was led by the military leader Kiksadi, the nephew of Skautlelt, the young leader Katlian. An armed crowd of Tlingit, numbering about 600 people under the command of Sitka chief Skautlelt, surrounded the barracks and opened heavy rifle fire on the windows. In response to Skautlelt's calling cry, a huge flotilla of war canoes came out from behind the head of the bay, carrying at least 1,000 Indian warriors, who immediately joined the Sitka men. Soon the roof of the barracks was on fire. The Russians tried to fire back, but could not withstand the overwhelming superiority of the attackers: the doors of the barracks were knocked down and, despite direct fire from the cannon located inside, the Tlingits managed to get inside, kill all the defenders and plunder the furs stored in the barracks

There are different versions of the participation of the Anglo-Saxons in starting the war.

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

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

Military operations began. At the beginning of October, the brig Neva, commanded by Lisyansky, joined Baranov’s flotilla.

After stubborn and prolonged resistance, the envoys appeared from the ears. After negotiations, the entire tribe left.

Novoarkhangelsk - the capital of Russian America

Novoarkhangelsk (most likely early 1830s)

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, and residential buildings. 222 Russians and over 1 thousand natives lived here.

Fall of the Russian Fort Yakutat

Relapses of confrontation

So, on February 4, 1851, an Indian military detachment from the river. Koyukuk attacked a village of Indians living near the Russian single (factory) Nulato in the Yukon. The loner herself was also attacked. However, the attackers were repulsed with damage. The Russians also had losses: the head of the trading post, Vasily Deryabin, was killed and a company employee (Aleut) and the English lieutenant Bernard, who arrived in Nulato from the British sloop of war Enterprise to search for the missing members of Franklin's third polar expedition, were mortally wounded. That same winter, the Tlingits (Sitka Koloshes) started several quarrels and fights with the Russians in the market and in the forest near Novoarkhangelsk. In response to these provocations, the main ruler N.Ya. Rosenberg announced to the Indians that if the unrest continued, he would order the “Koloshensky market” to be closed altogether and would interrupt all trade with them. The reaction of the Sitka people to this ultimatum was unprecedented: the next morning they attempted to capture Novoarkhangelsk. Some of them, armed with guns, hid in the bushes near the fortress wall; the other, placing pre-prepared ladders up to a wooden tower with cannons, the so-called “Koloshenskaya Battery,” almost took possession of it. Fortunately for the Russians, the sentries were alert and raised the alarm in time. An armed detachment that arrived to help threw down three Indians who had already climbed onto the battery, and stopped the rest.