Alexander Andreyevich Baranov , sometimes spelled Aleksander or Alexandr and Baranof, was born in 1746 in Kargopol

Kargopol

-Culture and recreation:Today, Kargopol is a sleepy historical town adjoining the Kenozyorsky National Park. It is best known in Russia for Kargopol toys , which are small, simple clay figures painted in traditional style....

, in St. Petersburg Governorate

Saint Petersburg Governorate

Saint Petersburg Governorate , or Government of Saint Petersburg, was an administrative division of the Russian Empire, which existed in 1708–1927....

 of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

.

Alexander ran away from home at the age of fifteen. He became a successful merchant in Irkutsk

Irkutsk

Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...

, Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

. He was lured to Russian America, by the growing Maritime Fur Trade

Maritime Fur Trade

The Maritime Fur Trade was a ship-based fur trade system that focused on acquiring furs of sea otters and other animals from the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and natives of Alaska. The furs were mostly sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain, and other Chinese...

 there. He became a successful trader there and established and managed trading post

Trading post

A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....

s in the Kodiak Island

Kodiak Island

Kodiak Island is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the United States and the 80th largest island in the world, with an...

 region.

From 1799 to 1818, through Nikolai Rezanov

Nikolai Rezanov

Nikolay Petrovich Rezanov was a Russian nobleman and statesman who promoted the project of Russian colonization of Alaska and California. One of the ten barons of Russia, he was the first Russian ambassador to Japan , and participated in the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe ,...

's intervention, he became chief manager for the influential Russian-American Company

Russian-American Company

The Russian-American Company was a state-sponsored chartered company formed largely on the basis of the so-called Shelekhov-Golikov Company of Grigory Shelekhov and Ivan Larionovich Golikov The Russian-American Company (officially: Under His Imperial Majesty's Highest Protection (patronage)...

. He managed all of the company's interests in Russian America, including the Aleutian and Kuril Islands

Kuril Islands

The Kuril Islands , in Russia's Sakhalin Oblast region, form a volcanic archipelago that stretches approximately northeast from Hokkaidō, Japan, to Kamchatka, Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands and many more minor rocks. It consists of Greater...

. Activity in the region flourished as trading in sea otter

Sea Otter

The sea otter is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between 14 and 45 kg , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smallest marine mammals...

s and seal

Pinniped

Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...

s boomed. Baranov convinced native hunters to expand their range to include the coasts of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. Baranov also advocated more educational opportunities for the Alaska Native Americans

Alaska Natives

Alaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Aleut, Inuit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.-History:In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded...

. Under his leadership, schools were created and frontier communities became less isolated. During Baranov's rule, Russian Orthodox missionaries operated in Russian America.

Baranov was briefly replaced as chief manager and governor in January, 1818, by Russian navy Capt. Lt. Leontii Hagemeister amidst rumors that Baranov had secretly siphoned money to American banks in his own name. A subsequent financial audit by Kirill Khlebnikov disproved the rumors. In October, 1818, Hagemeister appointed Baranov's son-in-law, navy Lt. Semyon Ianovsky, to take his place as chief manager and governor. Two months later, Baranov and Hagemeister left Alaska by ship to return to Russia. The ship headed south on a route that would take it around the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

. Enroute, the ship made an extended stopover in the Dutch settlement of Batavia

Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...

, on the island of Java, then part of the colonial Dutch East Indies

Dutch East Indies

The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....

 (present day Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

), in March, 1819.
Alexander Andreyevich Baranov became ill there, and soon after the ship resumed its journey he died, and was buried at sea.

----

Baranof Island

Baranof Island

Baranof Island, also sometimes called Baranov Island, Shee or Sitka Island, is an island in the northern Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle, in Alaska. The name Baranof was given in 1805 by Imperial Russian Navy captain U. F. Lisianski to honor Alexander Andreyevich Baranov...

 in Alaska is named after Baranov.

See also

Russian Fort Elizabeth

Russian Fort Elizabeth

Russian Fort Elizabeth is a fort on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. It was the last remaining Russian fort on the Hawaiian islands, built in the early 19th century by the Russian-American Company as the result of an alliance with High Chief Kaumualii to gain influence in Hawaii...

, A fort in Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 constructed in 1817 by the Russian-American Company

Russian-American Company

The Russian-American Company was a state-sponsored chartered company formed largely on the basis of the so-called Shelekhov-Golikov Company of Grigory Shelekhov and Ivan Larionovich Golikov The Russian-American Company (officially: Under His Imperial Majesty's Highest Protection (patronage)...

.

Literature

• Chevigny, Hector; Lord of Alaska - Baranov and the Russian adventure, Portland, Oregon, Binfords & Mort, 1951, LIBRIS-id 2331138
• Khlebnikov, Kirill T.; BARANOV Chief Manager of the Russian Colonies in America (English translation of 1837 Russian original), Kingston, Ontario, The Limestone Press, 1973, ISBN 0-919642-50-0
• Engstrom, Elton & Engstromn, Allan,; Alexander Baranov - a Pacific Empire, Juneau, Alaska, Elton Engstrom & Allan Engstrom, 2004, ISBN 0-9645701-3-0