Published In
Journal of Historical Geography
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-2024
Subjects
Sea otter -- Effect of human beings on -- Northwest Coast of North America -- History, Hunting, Fur trade, Discovery and exploration -- Russian, Colonies, Colonization, Indians of North America, Native Americans, Indigenous Peoples
Abstract
Early-nineteenth century Russian accounts of the coastline between Alaska and Fort Ross are rare. This article helps fill this gap, providing diary accounts by Russian American Company employee, Afanasy Shvetsov, of two joint Russian-American sea otter hunting trips along the Oregon and northern California coasts in 1808-09. Recently recovered and translated, these accounts aptly describe landscapes and biota, as well as Russian, American, and conscripted Aleut and Kodiak Alutiiq hunters' interactions with Native American communities. Presented in their historical, geographical, and anthropological context, Shvetsov's accounts offer a rare, revealing glimpse of early European encounters with this contact-period coastline.
Rights
© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
DOI
10.1016/j.jhg.2024.09.004
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/42621
Citation Details
La Follette, C., Deur, D., & Grinev, A. (2024). Russian views of the unknown coast: Shvetsov's accounts of the Oregon and northern California coastline during the sea otter trade, 1808-09. Journal of Historical Geography, 86, 219-228.