Russian America : an overseas colony of a continental empire, 1804-1867 /
From 1741 until Alaska was sold to the United States in 1867, the Russian empire claimed territory and peoples in North America. This book examines how Russia governed its only overseas colony, showing how the colony fit into and diverged from the structures developed in the otherwise contiguous Rus...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford ; New York :
Oxford University Press,
[2011]
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| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | From 1741 until Alaska was sold to the United States in 1867, the Russian empire claimed territory and peoples in North America. This book examines how Russia governed its only overseas colony, showing how the colony fit into and diverged from the structures developed in the otherwise contiguous Russian empire. Russian America was effectively transformed from a remote extension of Russia's Siberian frontier penetrated mainly by Siberianized Russians into an ostensibly modern overseas colony operated by Europeanized Russians. Under the rule of the Russian-American Company, the colony was governed on different terms than the rest of the empire. Its economic, labor, and social organization reflected Russian hopes for Alaska, as well as the numerous limitations, such as its vast territory and pressures from its multiethnic residents, it imposed. This approach was particularly evident in Russian strategies to convert the indigenous peoples of Russian America into loyal subjects of the Russian Empire. The author looks closely at Russian efforts to acculturate the native peoples, including attempts to predispose them to be more open to the Russian political and cultural influence through trade and Russian Orthodox Christianity. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xiii, 258 pages) : illustrations |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 224-245) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780199838387 0199838380 9780199894369 0199894361 |