by Denis Davydov
[REGNUM] The widely spread news of the important meeting between the two presidents in Alaska once again made everyone remember that it had been under the control of the Russian Empire for just over a century. But during that time, the “little land of Alaska” had never been properly colonized.
From the moment when its shores were seen by the navigator Semyon Dezhnev in 1648, and until the middle of the 19th century, it remained a sparsely populated land. Small settlements appeared along the coast - redoubts, artels and single houses, and there was also its own capital - Novo-Arkhangelsk (now Sitka).
However, according to the state auditor Sergei Kostlivtsov, in 1860 there were 784 people in Russian America who wanted to return to Russia (of which 576 were Russian and 208 were “colonialists married to them”).
In 1867, according to Russian sources, there were 812 Russian citizens in Alaska who had contracts concluded with them by the Russian-American Company.
It is difficult to establish how many Russians were actually in the settlements scattered across the vast territory. But after the ships Tsaritsa, Ayan and Krylataya Strela took the bulk of the colonists and soldiers of the Novo-Arkhangelsk garrison to Russia, there were still Russian people, Russian toponymy and architectural monuments left in Alaska, which still exist today.
ORTHODOX CHURCHES
The cathedral of the Diocese of Sitka, Anchorage and Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America, the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel remains perhaps the most important monument to the Russian presence.
Initially, it was a chapel at the fortress of St. Michael, founded by the first ruler of Russian America, Alexander Baranov. In 1816, the first priest, Alexander Sokolov, arrived in the town of Novo-Arkhangelsk (now Sitka), and in 1848 the current cathedral was built on the site of the chapel.
Incidentally, it is included in the US National Register of Historic Places.
The temple has several chapels dedicated to Archangel Michael, the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and Saint Innocent of Moscow. But apart from it, several other churches have been preserved on the peninsula.
Thus, in memory of Father John Veniaminov, who became Saint Innocent of Alaska, there is the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Unalaska. In the 1760s, the settlement was the main Russian port in the region, through which the fur trade went. In 1772, a permanent Russian settlement was founded there, which became the unofficial center of the Russian colony in Alaska.
The current church building was constructed at the end of the 19th century on the site of the 1826 church founded by Innocent himself.
And in the village of Eklutna, 25 miles from the current capital of Anchorage, is the oldest building in the region. This is the wooden Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas of 1830, preserved as a monument - next to it there is a new, functioning temple. It is surrounded by a unique cemetery, where instead of graves there are Indian houses for the spirits of the dead, since the Athabaskan tribe at one time accepted Orthodoxy, but did not abandon their traditions.
Another church in honor of the same saint is very small and is located in the Tlingit Indian village of Hoonah on Chichagova Island. It was erected in 1897, when the council of the main Tlingit families donated land for construction.
And the third Nikolaevskaya appeared in Juneau in 1894, after the Russians left Alaska - the Tlingits fenced themselves off from American Protestant missionaries by accepting Orthodoxy.
The original Holy Resurrection Church in Kodiak, erected in 1796 to establish a settlement that became the headquarters of the Grigory Shelikhov Company and later the Russian-American Company, burned in 1942. A new one stands in its place, but it is home to the relics of St. Herman of Alaska, America's first Orthodox saint.
Finally, the Holy Dormition Church in Kenai was built in 1896, replacing an 1849 church. It was built from logs in the Pskov style, in the shape of a ship. In 1970, the church, chapel, and cemetery were recognized as a U.S. National Historic Landmark and included in the list of Alaska National Historic Landmarks.
OLD BELIEVER COMMUNITIES
Russian Orthodox missionaries were active in converting the Aleuts, Eskimos and Indians, who form the basis of the Orthodox community in Alaska. There are now about 90 parishes with 50 thousand believers, about 35 priests (all local residents) and more than 100 readers with seminary education.
However, much more interesting are the settlements of Old Believers who arrived in America after the country had purchased the peninsula. They are called "Alasoshniki", "Alaskantsy" or "Alasenskie", and they are the bearers of traditional Russian culture, preserving the colloquial and church Russian language of the 19th century in their families.
There are about three thousand Old Believers living here in six communities, mostly on the Kenai Peninsula.
The largest settlement is Nikolaevsk, founded by "Harbinites" who came to the States from Manchuria. It is home to about 400 residents who adhere to their own way of life and spiritual rules: they dress in traditional embroidered clothing, men do not shave their beards, and children at the local school study a (albeit abbreviated) Russian program.
The second large community is in the village of Ninilchik, founded in 1847 by Kaluga native Grigory Kvasnikov and his Creole wife from Kodiak, Mavra Rastorgueva, who were joined by other Russian families. For 80 years, the village lived in virtual isolation, which is why the “Ninilchik Russian language” has been preserved here, a disappearing archaic dialect in which, in particular, the neuter and feminine genders are rarely used, but there are Anglicisms, Eskimo and Indian words.
A small number of Old Russian speakers live in the cities of Kodiak, Kenai and Anchorage. Many know prayers and hymns in the Russian version of Church Slavonic by heart, without knowing Russian or understanding the true meaning of the texts.
In general, the bulk of Russian speakers in Alaska are descendants of mixed marriages, most of them are older people, the last bearers of such knowledge.
RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHY
After 1867, thousands of Russian-language names disappeared from the map, the US began an active process of Americanization of toponyms. However, many still remained everywhere as a reminder of legendary times.
The lowest level is streets named after former Russian homeowners, in Kodiak these are Wolkoff and Malutin Lane, Simeonof Street, Metrokin Way. As for place names, even after recolonization, Russian remains in third place in toponymy after English and the languages of indigenous peoples. Although in some cases this is a mechanical translation - for example, Rat Islands became Rat Islands.
And the names of the discoverers have been preserved out of respect for them.
On the map you can find the Alexander Archipelago - in honor of Emperor Alexander II and Baranov Island - in honor of the famous governor Alexander Baranov. The Shelikhov Strait, Veniaminov Volcano, Pribilof Islands and a bunch of other islands - Wrangel, Chichagov, Kupreyanov and fewer people - remained in their place.
At the same time, the names that Russian sailors and fishermen gave based on signs miraculously took root.
Mys Potainikof is an old Pomor word "potaynik", that is, "shallow". And right there are the islands of Otstoya, Povorotni and Nepovorotni, capes Malina, Krasny and Bobrovy, Belaya rock, Nizmenny Bay, the islands of Yelovy, Sosnovy, Chayachiy and Urilov (red-faced cormorants were called urils).
Further afield, you'll find Govorushka Lake (named after a species of seagull); Sabaka, Egumen, Taiga, and Tundra Lakes, all located within Kenai National Park.
Moreover, the Americans named a number of objects as if in memory of the former inhabitants of the region, such as the Samovar Hills or the adjective “Russian” for naming on the map: Russian Jack Springs Park, Russian Mountains, Russian River.
And in memory of the first Orthodox mission in the interior regions of Alaska, which was headed by priest Yakov Netsvetov, the village of Rashen-Mishen (Russian Mission) remains.
MILITARY CEMETERY
There is another memorial site in Alaska that is connected to the common history of the two countries: the burial site of Soviet military pilots who died during World War II while ferrying combat aircraft from the USA to the USSR.
As is well known, the Alaska-Siberia air route, also known as ALSIB, operated under Lend-Lease. The Soviet Union joined the program in November 1941, and in Alaska, Soviet pilots were trained to fly American aircraft, after which they were sent along a then-secret route with intermediate stops for refueling at various airfields in the USSR.
During the war, 205 people died along the route, but the remains of nine Soviet pilots, two servicemen who died in 1945, and two civilians remained in American soil.
Initially, the deceased pilots were buried in Nome and Fairbanks. But in 1946, by order of the US government, the remains were moved to a memorial cemetery at the Elmendorf-Richardson Joint Air Force Base near Anchorage.
A separate section of the cemetery was allocated to Soviet citizens. Thanks to the efforts of the memorial director Virginia Walker, tombstones with general information about the deceased were installed: last name and initials, rank, date of death, for which Walker became a laureate of the Russian Silver Archer award in 2019.
That same year, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs erected new monuments on the Alley of Soviet Pilots. Until recently, representatives of the Russian embassy regularly went to lay flowers on the graves, but after 2022, this opportunity was limited by the American side.
RUSSIAN CAPITAL
The city of Sitka also became a victim of renaming in a new way, and it was founded by Alexander Baranov under the name Novo-Arkhangelsk. More precisely, initially on a convenient rock there appeared a wooden fortress of St. Michael, soon captured by the Tlingit Indians, who tried to drive the strangers out of their hunting grounds.
However, during the Russian-Tlingit War (formally ended only in 2004), the Russians returned the fortress, and from 1808 until the sale of Alaska, the city of Novo-Arkhangelsk was the capital of Russian America.
Of the buildings from the Russian period, only the Bishop's House has survived in the city. In full accordance with the name, the first Orthodox bishop in these parts, Metropolitan Innocent, mentioned at the beginning, lived in it. Now the house houses his museum with recreated living rooms, a library, and a collection of icons.
A unique exhibit is a desk with secret drawers, made by the Metropolitan himself.
But Baranov Rock, on which the fortress stood and the residence of the ruler of Russian America was located, was not preserved by time. It was blown up during the Second World War during the construction of defensive structures.
Tourists are now only offered to look at a huge boulder on the Pacific coast, on which, according to legend, the governor himself liked to sit.
The city also has a statue of him, also seated. However, on July 14, 2020, amid the BLM protests sweeping the United States, the Sitka City Council decided to move it from the city center to a historical museum because Baranov, as the resolution states, oversaw the “enslavement, murder, and pillage of Alaska Natives.”
But the old Russian cemetery in Sitka has not gone anywhere. Among others, Princess Aglaida Maksutova, the wife of the last ruler of Russian America, is buried here.