Sitka City and Borough

At a presentation by Sitka Storytellers held at the Assemblies of God Church we learned that the Ani people who lived here about 10,000 years ago spoke Tlingit, and had very little contact with outsiders until the Russians arrived in the late eighteenth century. Alexander Baranof sailed here to harvest furs from the local sea otters near Old Sitka, which is now a national park on the south end of the island. In 1790, with agreement from local tribes, Baranof built a fort there. By 1800 the Russians had broken their agreement by over-hunting sea otters, and in 1802 the Tlingit attempted to expel the Russians, burning their outpost and killing almost all of its inhabitants. Baranof was shot, but lived. An accidental detonation of their own gunpowder killed a large number of natives, and in the aftermath of that incident, Baranof expanded his counterattack. The Tlingit continued to resist, ultimately wearing down the Russians. The Russians retreated across the rugged mountains (a phenomenal feat) and build another fort at the northern end of the island where modern Sitka now stands. This site had the advantage of allowing the Russians to intercept any ship from other European nations passing southward. Shortly afterward the sea otters were almost all killed off, and the Russians returned home. Returning in 1826, they built a fort at current site of Sitka. Decades of Russian prosperity followed. Relations with the indigenous tribes improved, and they were allowed inside Fort Baranof during daylight hours. Russians continued to hunt otters almost to extinction. A Russian war with Crimea in the mid-nineteenth century left the nation with a huge war debt. U. S. Secretary of State Seward wanted a buffer between the United States and Russia. Needing cash desperately, the new Tsar sold Alaska to the United States in 1867 for $7 million. Native Alaskans suffered discrimination for the next century, but changes after WW2 improved their lot considerably. Elizabeth Peratrovitch, herself a Tlingit, fought for human rights of Native Americans in the 1940’s. Alaska passed the first state law in US giving rights to non-white Americans twenty years before the Civil Rights Movement began in the American South. Alaska still celebrates annually Elizabeth Peratrovitch Day. The state is now attempting a major revitalization of Tlingit language, and all five of the major Native American nations in Alaska are experiencing a revival of their cultures.Read more