Shelikhov Grigory Ivanovich(1747-1795)

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Anatol
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Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

Shelikhov Grigory Ivanovich(1747-1795)

Post by Anatol » Mon Apr 04, 2022 2:53 pm

Shelikhov Grigory Ivanovich (1747-1795), merchant, entrepreneur, explorer of the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, corresponding member of the Free Economic Society.
Born into a wealthy family that belonged to an old merchant family. His parents died by the age of 28, and he decided to move to Siberia forever.
In 1773 he came to Irkutsk, started buying furs, became rich, became a shareholder in eight different companies; marriage strengthened his financial position. In 1775 and 1778-1779 Shelikhov made two trips to Okhotsk. In 1776-1783, Shelikhov participated in the affairs of 10 trading enterprises, including a large state-owned merchant company.
Shelikhov's companions, merchants who traded in Siberia, were already establishing routes to the islands in the Pacific Ocean, where the sea beaver was found in abundance.
Moreover, Shelikhov constantly associated fishing activities with versatile research work and the arrangement of Russian settlements. In 1778, from Okhotsk, he sent Dmitry Yakovlevich Shabalin, the "leader" of the artel, on the brigantine "Natalya" to the South Kuriles. Industrialists visited the islands of Urup, Iturup, Kunashir and Hokkaido. However, it was not possible to establish trade relations with Japan. While sailing on one of the Kuril Islands, a volcanic eruption began, and the canoe was bombarded with stones. He sent the next expedition to the Aleutian Islands. During the latter, his navigator Pribylov discovered islands unknown before that, which were named after the navigator.
In 1783, he built three ships - "Simeon and Anna", "St. Michael” and “Three Saints” and in August of the same year, together with his wife and two young sons, went to them to Alaska to find new islands and rookeries of a sea animal. In addition to the crew, 192 industrialists sailed on the ships, ready to settle in new places. Having lost the ship "St. Michael", which, as it turned out later, was carried by a storm to the Kuril Islands and remained there for the winter, the expedition, passing about. Alaid (Atlasova) and Fr. Shumshu, got to about. Bering (Commander Islands). We had to winter here.
Shelikhov was the first to correctly present the true length (2600 kilometers) of the Commander-Aleutian underwater structure.
On July 22, 1784, the expedition landed on the island of Kodiak (Kyktak) in the harbor, which Shelikhov called Three Saints. (The stamp depicts the harbor and the ship "Three Saints") Russian fur merchants who had already visited these places dissuaded Shelikhov from establishing settlements here, since not long before that, local residents had killed a whole group of Russian hunters. Shelikhov did not listen to them. However, for security reasons, he decided to build the first Russian fortress on one of the islands, where it was easier to defend against attacks and bring the natives into submission. His choice settled on Fr. Kodiak off the coast of Alaska. It was here that the first Russian settlement was founded in 1784, which remained the center of Russian America for 20 years.
Within two years, from 1784 to 1785, Shelikhov, who lived on Kodiak, organized several more settlements on the northwestern shores of America and constantly sent small expeditions to explore the northern coast of the Gulf of Alaska. As a result, solid wooden huts of industrial artels appeared on the shores of many bays and bays, and on the Kenai Peninsula and on about. Afognak fortresses and settlements were erected.
In 1791, Shelikhov founded the Northeast Company, which in 1799 was transformed into the Russian-American Trading Company. Created on the initiative of Shelikhov, the Russian-American Company managed all Russian affairs in the northeast of America for almost 70 years, being both a trade and a political representation.
Shelikhov's undoubted success should be considered the attraction of A. Baranov as a manager and viceroy to Russian America.
A report on the voyage (under the title "The Russian merchant Grigory Shelikhov's first wandering from 1783 to 1787 from Okhotsk along the Eastern Ocean to the American shores ...") was published in 1789, was republished in 1793. The work was translated into German (three editions) and English (two publications).
In 1788, Empress Catherine II granted him for services to the Fatherland (“for diligence ... in discovering unknown lands and peoples”) with a nominal Gold Medal and a silver sword on a blue ribbon. A native of the merchant class was actually elevated to the rank of nobility.
In 1788, sailors D. Bocharov and G. Izmailov, who were in the service of Shelikhov, discovered (partly for the second time - after A. Chirikov and D. Cook) about 800 kilometers of the mainland coast of the Gulf of Alaska from the Kenai Peninsula to Lituya Bay, including Yakutat Bay. The collected materials allowed Shelikhov to compile the first detailed ethnographic description of the Kodiak Eskimos ("horses"), as well as the Indians of Alaska and coastal islands.
According to contemporaries, Shelikhov had an extraordinary mind and encyclopedic knowledge. He had extraordinary abilities
Russia 1991;20k; SG6234.
PMR 2019; [P].
LPR 2021;77r.
Sources: http://historybiz.ru/shelihov-shelehov- ... ovich.html.
https://shimanovskadm.ru/autotravel/cht ... m-g-i.html.
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