Alexander Andreevich Baranov

Alexander Andreevich Baranov

Alexander Andrejewitsch Baranow ( Russian Александр Андреевич Баранов ; * 1746 in Kargopol , Olonez Governorate ; † November 1819 at sea in the Sunda Strait on the journey home to Russia) was one of two area heads of the Shelikov Golfikov companies from 1790 on. From 1799 he headed the areas of Russian America and the Kuril Islands as the main administrator of the Russian-American Company founded that year .

Life

Baranov left home when he was 15. He became a successful trader in Irkutsk ( Siberia ). The increasing fur trade lured him to what was then Russian America , today's Alaska , where he founded and directed trading posts in the region of Kodiak Island .

In 1799, through the influence of Nikolai Resanov , he became head of the influential Russian-American company . In this post, which he held until 1818, he directed all of the company's interests in Alaska, including the Aleutian and Kuril archipelagos . Business in this region increased due to the increased trade in sea ​​otter and seal fur . Baranow convinced local hunters to extend their range to the coast of California. Baranow also promoted the educational opportunities of the indigenous people ; under his leadership schools were established and the border settlements were more involved.

During Baranov's leadership, Russian Orthodox missionaries worked in Russian America. Many of them accused the Russian fur traders of cruelty and abuse against the local people. Baranov had a tense relationship with the missionaries, who often secretly helped the locals.

After being replaced by Ludwig von Hagemeister in 1818, Baranow embarked on his return journey to Russia in 1819 , but fell seriously ill during the trip and died in the same year in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra after a stay in Batavia (now Jakarta ) . He received a burial at sea.

The United States named a ship after him during World War II .

literature

• Galitzin [Galitzan], Emmanuel: Notice biographique sur Alexandre Andreievitch Baranof , in: Nouvelles Annales des voyage et des sciences geographiques, 5th series, 6th year, Vol. 1, 1850, pp. 242-246.
• Chevigny, Hector, Lord of Alaska: Baranov and the Russian Adventure , 1958. [Fiction]
• Groma, Peter, Kaiser von Alaska , Berlin: Argon Verlag, 1958. [Fiction]
• Khlebnikov, Kiril Timofeevich, Baranov: Chief Manager of the Russian Colonies in America , translated by Colin Bearne, edited by Richard A. Pierce, Kingston, 1973.
• Meissner, Hans-Otto : In Alaska I am the tsar. The Adventures of Alexander Baranov ; Stuttgart (Cotta) 1967; New edition: Stuttgart (Klett) 1983, ISBN 3-12-920032-0 . [with fictional dialogues]
• James A. Michener: Alaska, 1988 Novel
• Richard A. Pierce , Russian America: A Biographical Dictionary , Fairbanks and Kingston: Limestone Press, 1990, pp. 20-23.
• Engstrom, Elton and Engstrom, Allan, Alexander Baranov & A Pacific Empire , Juneau, 2004.
• Andrei Val'terovich Grinev: Russian Colonization of Alaska: Baranov's Era, 1799-1818. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 2020, ISBN 978-1-4962-2216-9 .

Web links

Commons : Alexander Andrejewitsch Baranow  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files