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A Brief History
of Alaska
George Pararas-Carayannis
(This
brief summary of the history of Alaska was prepared in connection
with the compilation of a Catalog of Tsunamis in Alaska initially
published by the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics of the University
of Hawaii, then as a report of the World Data Center A- Tsunami)
Introduction
This brief review
of the early history of Alaska was prepared in connection with
the compilation of a Catalog of Tsunamis in Alaska which was
co-authored with Professor Doak Cox. It was initially published
as a report of the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics of the University
of Hawaii, then as a report of the World Data Center A- Tsunami.
The completeness of the record of Alaskan tsunamis and the reliability
of its information have depended upon learning of cultural development
along the coasts. Thus, researching Alaska's early history for
Tsunami information was important to the compilation of a catalog
on tsunamis. 
Alaska's history began
over 200 years ago, but in some ways it is still a sparsely settled
frontier. Hence, the history of Alaska is discussed in this report
with special reference to its exploration, the development of
permanent settlements, and other aspects bearing on the probabilities
that events such as tsunamis would have been not merely noted,
but permanently recorded. The historical section presented here
is based mainly on a review of the works of Bancroft (1886),
Beaglehole (1966), Colby (1939), Friis (1967), Gruening (1954),
and Heintzleman (1957)
Early Map of Alaska
Early Alaskan Settlements
Prior to its European
discovery, Alaska was populated by Indians in the north eastern
portion and the interior, by Eskimos on the coasts and islands
of the Bering and Arctic Seas, Cook Inlet and Kodiak Island,
and by Aleuts on the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands.
The European exploration
of Alaska began with the 1741 voyages of Vitus Bering and Alexei
Chirikoff to the Aleutian Islands, the coasts of the Gulf of
Alaska, and southeastern Alaska. Beginning in 1745, the Aleutian
Islands and the Alaska Peninsula were visited frequently by Russian
fur traders, some of whom wintered on one or another of the islands.
They established a settlement of at least semipermanent European
occupancy in about 1760 or 1770 at Iliuliuk on Unalaska. The
Fox Islands were explored in some detail by an official Russian
expedition under PoKo Krenitsin and Mikhail Levashev. Prince
William Sound was explored by the English expedition under James
Cook in 1778. Information about the Alaskan-Aleutian coasts was
extended further by late 18th century Russian, Spanish, and French
expeditions.
The first permanent
settlement in Alaska was made in 1784, at Three Saints Bay, Kodiak
Island, by a Russian fur company headed by Gregory Shelikoff.
The second followed in 2 years at Kasilof on Cook Inlet. In 1792,
the Kodiak Island settlement was moved to the present town of
Kodiak, and a rival fur trading company established a post in
Cook Inlet. A settlement was established near Yakutat in 1795,
and a shipyard was established in Resurrection Bay.
In 1799, 4 years after
Shelikoff's death, his company was reorganized under a Russian
Irnperial charter as the Russian American Company and given control
over all of the Russian territory in America. Alexander Baranov,
the new head, established a new settlement in that year, which,
following a massacre in 1802, was relocated in 1804 and became
the present town of Sitka. The company established a considerable
number of other forts and trading posts. A census in about 1818
showed a total Russian population of 321 scattered among nine
settlements from Sitka to Kodiak.
Russian vessels carried
supplies to the settlements and transported the furs back to
Russia. In the early 19th century, a large part of the trading
was taken over by American vessels. A whaling ground was discovered
off Kodiak in 1835, and other grounds subsequently off the Aleutian
Islands and in the Bering Sea and in the Arctic Sea in 1848,
which led to the presence in these waters of scores of whalers,
mostly American, during the summer months.
Early
Map of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands
Russia Sells Alaska
to United States
The dwindling of the
fur trade and involvement in the Crimean War led Russia to sell
Alaska to the United States in 1867. The Alaska "district"
was administered in succession by the Army for 10 years, the
Treasury Department for 2 years, and the Navy for 5 years, without
even a code of laws. Its first governor was appointed in 1884,
it was given its own legal code between 1898 and 1900, and in
1906 it was permitted to send an official delegate to the National
Congress. Alaska finally became a territory in 1912, and a state
in 1959.
In spite of the almost
total lack of government, some industries were maintained and
even added in the early years of American administration. First,
fish salteries and later fish canneries were established, most
of which operated in the summer only. Gold was discovered in
1876, and Juneau was established in 1880 following a gold find
there. The capital was moved there from Sitka in 1906. A placer
operation was begun in 1887 at Yakutat; shortly after a lode
mine opened on Unga Island in the Shumagins, and in 1895, there
was a gold rush to the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet. Trans-shipment
needs in connection with the development of the mining led to
the establishment of a number of ports on the Gulf of Alaska
and Prince William Sound. Cordova was established in about 1890,
Valdez in 1898, and Seward in 1902. Other towns developed as
a result of fishing needs, and schools were established at Indian,
Aleut, and Eskimo villages.
REFERENCES
Pararas-Carayannis,
G, and D. C. Cox. A
Catalog of Tsunamis in Alaska.
Data Report Hawaii Inst.Geophys. Mar. 1968
Pararas-Carayannis,
G, and D. C. Cox. A
Catalog of Tsunamis in Alaska.
World Data Center A- Tsunami Report, No. 2, 1969.
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