Russian Colonization of North America Codexery

Fort Ross, California

Russian-American Company outpost in California.

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Where it is

Coordinates: 38°30′50″N 123°14′38″W (38.5140, -123.2440) · Open in OpenStreetMap

Coordinates and connected clubs: the infobox of Wikipedia: Fort Ross, California (CC BY-SA 4.0). Map: drawn by Codexery from OpenStreetMap tiles.

Located in what is now Sonoma County, California, Fort Ross was originally a Russian outpost on North America's western coast.[1] North of the Spanish missions in modern-day California, this settlement was the earliest community to include multiple ethnicities.[1]

Key facts and history

The site was originally called "Metini" by the Kashaya Pomo people, whose territory included the area.[1] The Russian-American Company established Fort Ross in 1812 as an agricultural base to supply its northern settlements with food.[1][2] Fort Ross was the site of California's first windmills and shipbuilding.[3] By 1839 the settlement's agricultural importance had decreased and local fur-bearing marine mammals had been depleted.[4]

The Russian-American Company sold Fort Ross to John Sutter in 1841.[4] The Fort Ross Chapel collapsed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and was re-erected in 1916.[5] The Russian-American Company's Commerce Counselor Ivan Kuskov founded Fort Ross.[6] From 1812 until 1841, this fort served as the central point for the southernmost Russian colonies in North America.[1]

In August 1821, sailors from the Russian-American Company ship Kutuzov administered the earliest vaccination ever given in California.[7] On October 5, 1970, a fire that was not set intentionally destroyed the chapel.[8]

What the cited sources add

Local legend indicates that the Russians used a valley near the present town of Geyserville to grow wheat.[9] The Mexican government began a concerted effort to foster settlement in the north to prevent further Russian settlement.[9] The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed February 2, 1848, ended the war between the United States and Mexico and ceded California to the United States.[10] According to the Pinas of Dry Creek account, from 1824 through 1836, each Mexican exploration party that went north of San Rafael and west of Sonoma came across troubling signs that Russians were in the area.[9]

A minimum of three Russian agricultural operations were set up further inland from Fort Ross.[9]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Fort Ross, California" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ballard, "Ethnicity and Chronology at Metini, Fort Ross State Historic Park, California", Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers, 1997, p. 116–140 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Fort Ross, California" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: The Russian American Colonies; Tikhmenev, P. A. A History of the Russia-American Company. ed. Richard A. Pierce and Alton S. Donnelly. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 1978, p. 141.; Fort Ross and the Sonoma Coast; Fort Ross and the Sonoma Coast; Historical Atlas of California; Historical Atlas of California (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Fort Ross, California" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fort Ross Interpretive Association (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Fort Ross, California" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Parfyonov, Leonid. Rossiyskaia Imperia (Russian Empire). Vol. 3. (2004); Albert L. Hurtado. John Sutter (2006). (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Fort Ross, California" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: The American Interpretation of the Russian Colony at Fort Ross (1999); The American Interpretation of the Russian Colony at Fort Ross (1999) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Fort Ross, California" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: The Destiny of Russian America; Khlebnikov, K. T., 1973, Baranov, Chief Manager of the Russian Colonies in America, Kingston: The Limestone Press, . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Fort Ross, California" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Silliman 2004. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Fort Ross, California" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Withdrawal of Fort Ross Chapel: National Historic Landmarks Program (NHL)" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. "The Pinas of Dry Creek", www.sonic.net. facts only, no text reused. sonic.net
  10. "Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)", National Archives, 2021-06-25. facts only, no text reused. archives.gov

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Fort Ross, California (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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