Area History
1800s
1805
Conserving Seals
The
Russians ban taking of seals on their breeding islands in the Pribilofs as a conservation
measure as the animals become fewer. The ban is lifted in 1808.
1807-11
Names
Keep Changing
An island in Tlingit territory in Southeast Alaska, that
would later become part of the refuge, is renamed "Saint Lazaria" by
navigator and mapmaker Ivan Filipovich Vasilev who lived nearby in Sitka, capital
of Russian America.
1811
When Foxes Come, Birds Go
20
years after Russian fur promoters introduced arctic foxes on Atka Island in the
central Aleutians, local Aleuts complain that foxes have driven away birds and
now they must travel to other islands for feathers and bird skins to make their
traditional clothing. On Attu, site of the first known introduction of foxes in
the Aleutians, the Aleuts turn to making clothing from fish skins.
1816-17
Flowers
Tell a Story
Adelbert von Chamisso, naturalist with Otto von Kotzebues
second round-the-world voyage, collects plants at every Alaska landfall. For more
than 100 years the herbarium he compiled from the voyage is the principal source
of knowledge about the flora of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. An island named
for Chamisso is part of the Alaska Maritime Refuge.
1824
Missionaries
at Work
Father Ioann Veniaminof arrives in the Aleutian Islands to spread
the Word of God through the Russian Orthodox Church. He remains in Unalaska for
20 years, ministering to the local Aleut/Unangan people, ordaining Native priests,
and creating an alphabet to preserve the Unangan language.
1824
United
States and Britain Sign on for Trade
Russia signs two conventions with
the United States and Britain allowing foreign ships to trade in Russian territory
including Alaska. This opens the door for fierce competition by other traders
such as the Hudsons Bay Company, halting further expansion by Russians into
North America.
1843
Thar She Blows!
Bowhead whales,
rich in oil and plates of baleen, are first harvested by newcomers to the North
Pacific and Arctic waters. In the next few years, more than 500 New England whaling
ships set sail for these new whaling grounds. The slow-moving docile beasts are
easily captured, rendering 100 barrels of oil per whale. The most prosperous whaling
year is 1852 with 2,682 bowhead whales harvested. By 1855 bowheads are near extinction.
1865
Last
shots of Civil War fired here
In the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia
on June 22 through 29, the Confederate Navy raider CSS Shenandoah captures
and burns 25 Yankee whaling ships in the last offensive action of the Civil War
- two and a half months after Lees surrender at Appomattox.
1867
Russians
Sell Alaska
Alaska changes hands. Historian Hubert Howe Bancroft wrote
"... this vast area of land, belonging by right to neither, was transferred
from one European race to the offshoot of another."
Russia
sells its claims on the land of Russian America and the vessels of the Russian
American Company to the United States of America for $7,200,000. The territory
is named Alaska, based on a derivative of the Unangan term Alaxaxaq meaning
"land east of the Aleutians." American traders, fishers, trappers, and
prospectors become the next wave of settlers.
1869
First Wildlife
Reservation in USA
Congress creates the Pribilof Islands Reservation (including
St. Paul, St. George, Walrus and Otter islands) to protect fur seals on their
main breeding grounds. The American government will use these animals as a cash
crop until 1983.
1871-72
Reporting on Wildlife Resources
Scientist
William Healy Dall surveys the Aleutians and observes that on islands such as
Attu and Atka where foxes had been introduced, birds nest on offshore rocks and
islets and only in inaccessible locations. On fox-free islands, those same kinds
of birds nest on banks and hillsides of the main islands and avoid the offshore
inlets. Birds are "bold and fearless" on fox-free islands.
1874
Studying
Fur Seals and Polar Bears
Henry Wood Elliott, scientist studying northern
fur seals on the Pribilof Islands, took a special sailing trip north 230 miles
to view the polar bears that live year-round on St. Matthew Island. Earlier reports
"did not cause us to be equal to the sight we saw, for we met bears, yea
hundreds of them." Elliott and his party surveyed the island for nine days
and were never out of sight of bears. He estimated 250 to 300 bears.
1881
A
Struggling Culture
After nearly a century and a half under foreign control,
a combination of disputes, forced labor, and disease reduce the Unangan to only
two traditional settlements in the western and central Aleutians - Chichagof Harbor
on Attu Island and Nazan Bay on Atka Island.
1882
Bogoslof
Volcano Awakens Again
Fire Island ("new Bogoslof") rose from
the depths of the Bering Sea and remained steaming for about 10 years. It was
periodically joined to Bogoslof by sandy spits and changed shape from cone to
table top by 1895.
1891
No More Walrus on Walrus Island
The
last walrus that used Walrus Island in the Pribilof Islands is shot. After decimating
the whales, foreign traders harvest other marine mammals including walruses. The
Ice-laden waters of the Chukchi Sea provide some safety for remaining walruses
and seals.
1892
One Small Conservation Step
President
Harrison proclaims Afognak Island and surrounding waters a Forest and Fish Culture
Reservation to protect salmon, other fish and wildlife, and forest resources.
Those offshore islets and waters are part of todays Alaska Maritime National
Wildlife Refuge, one of the few refuges that includes marine waters.
1892
Americans
Stock Islands with Foxes
Americans escalate the introduction of foxes to
Alaskan islands to establish fox farming businesses. From now until the 1930s
blue arctic and red foxes are released to fend for themselves on more than 450
islands from the Aleutians to Southeast Alaska. Foxes survive on ground-nesting
native birds until those bird populations are devastated.
1899
Unique
Island Polar Bears Gone
Eager to see and hunt the polar bears that live
year-round on St. Matthew Island, the Harriman Expedition, with John Muir aboard,
lands there. No bears are found, only their deep-worn trails and bones. Polar
bears are never again seen there in summer.
In 1909 St. Matthew and neighboring
Hall and Pinnacle islands will be named among the first wildlife refuges in Alaska
by President Theodore Roosevelt and are now part of Alaska Maritime National Wildlife
Refuge.
Last updated:September 8, 2008
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