Sitka National Historical Park: Where the Tlingit Met the Russians

Sitka — Shee Atika, as its Native people called it — is a seaside town in Southeast Alaska known for its beauty and mild climate, and home to the state's oldest federally designated park. Made a national monument in 1910, Sitka National Historical Park commemorates Russian settlement in Alaska, interprets the battle in which the Russians defeated the Tlingit, and protects Native totems.

Sitka National Historical Park at sunset. Credit: National Park Service.

The Tlingit of Shee Atika

The Tlingit thrived on Sitka's wealth. Warm waters of the Japanese current kept the coast free of snow and ice year-round, and as a maritime people they lived mostly on salmon, shellfish, halibut, sea mammals and other fish. The forests supplied the materials for 60-foot canoes, multi-family houses, and bowls and boxes to store food for winter.

Their social life was rich. Clans gathered with kin from neighboring communities for weddings, births and other occasions, with dancing, feasting and gift-giving, and performed ritual dances before fishing and trading expeditions. The most important ceremony was the potlatch, held in winter and lasting several days, at which the host gave away possessions to guests to raise his standing — and guests brought food for the host.

The Battle of Sitka, 1804

Russian traders came to Alaska for its fur-bearing animals, and reached Sitka in 1799. The Kiks.ádi clan of Shee Atika were wary of the newcomers, whom they called Anooshi: they feared being made to work for free for the Russian trading company and to pledge allegiance to the tsar. Tensions grew as the Russians expanded their claims, and turned to violence when Tsar Paul I made the company's manager, Alexander Baranov, colonial governor.

Russian America

Baranov made Sitka headquarters of the Russian-American Company and renamed it New Archangel. By 1808 it was one of the busiest ports, and by the 1830s it had 1,300 people, schools, Orthodox chapels and Baranov's own residence, "Baranov Castle." Most residents were of Russian descent, but a small Tlingit community with ties to the missionaries stayed, supplying food to Russians who could not feed themselves.

Russian Orthodox missionaries built nearly 90 churches in Alaska and, by the early 1800s, had converted nearly 20,000 Native people. They let Native cultures continue, and helped develop alphabets based on Russian — including an Aleut dictionary.

An American park

The United States bought Alaska in 1867 and made Sitka the territorial capital; Presbyterian missions and schools for Native children followed.

In Sitka today, visitors can see the Kiks.ádi fort site and battle site, the Russian memorial, a collection of Native totems, Baranov Castle, Saint Michael's Cathedral, and the Russian Bishop's House — built in 1843, one of the few buildings left from Russian colonial North America. At the visitor center and Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center, Native artists work in view of visitors.

Sources

Based on "Alaska: Sitka National Historical Park," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.