Ethnic Migrations in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands during the Period of Russian America

Abstract

Ethnic migrations, that is the movement of a people or part of it to new territories outside traditional ethnic boundaries, play a significant role in history and can be very diverse. This can be easily verified by analyzing ethnic migrations in Russian America. This name was given to the former colonies of the Russian Empire that emerged in the Aleutian Islands and Alaska in the second half of the 18th century and were then sold to the United States in 1867. Ethnic migrations during this period can be reduced to three main types: 1) migrations of Russians and representatives of other peoples of the Russian Empire to the Aleutian Islands and Alaska; 2) migrations of local dependent natives under the influence of Russians; 3) migrations of independent native groups. The first two types of migrations were characterized by an organized and predominantly forced nature. Numerous historical data indicate that during the period of Russian America, both the scale and intensity of ethnic migrations increased compared to the pre-contact period. At the same time, the result of such migrations was very significant demographic losses for a number of ethnic groups, a change in traditional ethnic boundaries and the formation of new ethnic communities, as well as very important changes in the culture of a number of Alaskan peoples.