Russian-American company

The full official name of the company is the rise of the Highest His Imperial Majesty the patronage of the Russian American Company (Under the Highest of His Imperial Majesty the patronage of the Russian American company ) .

Historians and American historians insist that the correct abbreviated name of the company is the Russian-American company ^{[3] [4]} . This is confirmed by archival data and, most importantly, reflects the essence of the company. The company was completely Russian, it never had American capital, and the goals and objectives of the company met exclusively Russian interests ^[5] .

The flag of the Russian-American company was approved by Emperor Alexander I in 1806. It was the first special flag bestowed by the Russian government on a private company. A proposal to create such a flag was made by Minister Nikolai Rumyantsev , who paid special attention to the company and personally financed several scientific expeditions. The flag was presented to the Main Board of the company in St. Petersburg on September 19, 1806. The company was ordered to use the flag as a serf and sea .

The RAC flag had three stripes: lower red, middle blue and upper wider white. On the white strip was a double-headed eagle holding a ribbon in its claws with the inscription "Russian American Company." On the chest of the eagle was a red shield with the image of St. George .

From 1818 to 1831, a specially hired professional artist worked in the RAC, who painted flags and emblems.

The flag of the Russian-American company flew over Alaska until October 18, 1867 ^[6] .

In the first half of the 18th century, information about lands lying east of Kamchatka was obtained from the expeditions of Vitus Bering and Dmitry Pavlutsky . By the 1780s, only two large merchant companies were able to gain a foothold in Alaska: Shelikhova-Golikova and Lebedev-Lastochkina , between whose representatives there was almost unceasing rivalry. It ended in 1798 when the Lebedevites were forced to ingloriously leave America. Thus, already by 1799, when the Russian-American company was formed, in Russian America the hegemony of a conglomerate of companies belonging to the heirs of G. I. Shelikhov (d. In 1795) and his former companion I. L. Golikov had actually developed there is an almost complete trade and monopoly ^[7] . The formation of the RAC only legally consolidated the existing situation.

The well-known entrepreneur and organizer of the fur trade G.I.Shelikhov, who laid the foundation for the first permanent settlement on the island of Kodiak in 1784 , returned to Russia and proposed to provide his company with significant privileges. Shelikhov’s project provided for protection from the arbitrariness of the local Okhotsk and Kamchatka administrations by transferring his company to the patronage of the Irkutsk Governor General , sending a military team, specialists, exiled settlers and missionaries to American settlements, authorizing the purchase of slaves from native leaders in America and their resettlement in Kamchatka and Kurilakh , as well as permission to trade with the countries of the Pacific basin and India . To implement these large-scale plans, Shelikhov asked the treasury for financial assistance in the amount of 500 thousand rubles. and insisted on the prohibition of foreigners engaged in commercial activities within the framework of the emerging Russian America.

In the central government, plans to merge merchants into a single organization have been developed since at least 1780 , when the Secretary of the Commerce Collegium Mikhail Chulkov submitted to the Prosecutor General Prince A. A. Vyazemsky a corresponding carefully designed project, according to which the company would receive a 30-year monopoly for fishing and trade throughout the Pacific North. Although the Chulkov project did not receive support due to the persistent hostility to the monopolies of Empress Catherine II , he obviously became known to G.I.Shelikhov and I.L. Golikov and influenced their future plans and activities. Unlike previous merchant associations, the Shelikhov-Golikov company was founded in 1781 not for one “voyage”, but for ten years, and its goal was not just to produce furs in the New World, but to establish permanent settlements there. At the same time, companions sought direct patronage of the Irkutsk governors both over their company and over colonies based in America.

In March 1788, the Commission on Commerce, Navigation and Trade in the Pacific Ocean petitioned the Empress to provide the Shelikhov-Golikov company with the benefits and state assistance requested by it, including the provision of a trade and monopoly for it both in areas already mastered by the company and in territories newly discovered by it for a period of up to 20 years. However, Empress Catherine II sharply rejected the petition of the zealous merchants and the petitions of the highest state authorities.

After the death of the Empress on November 6 (17), 1796 and the accession to the throne of Emperor Paul I, the process of registering a monopoly on the fur trade and trade in the New World went by leaps and bounds. So, already in 1796 , a number of Irkutsk merchants came out with a proposal to merge merchant companies for trade in the Kuril Islands and Japan, and in 1797 , as a result of the merger of merchant capital, the foundation was laid for the creation of a single monopoly company in the Pacific North, where the leading role would soon be the heirs of G.I.Shelikhov and, first of all, his son-in-law N.P. Rezanov began to play .

The formation of the RAC was a unique phenomenon in the history of Russia in the late XVIII - early XIX centuries. The charter of the company was largely copied from foreign monopoly trade associations, primarily French. A number of explanations should be made here. If we talk about the uniqueness of the RAC, then it consisted primarily of a combination of trade and fishing functions with the functions of treasury management: the state temporarily delegated a significant part of its powers to the company. On the other hand, there was nothing phenomenal in the appearance of RAC - already in the 1750s. the first monopolistic trade organizations appear in Russia - Temernikovskaya , Persian and Central Asian. All of them were joint-stock companies, and a number of provisions in the constituent documents of the first of them very much resembled certain points of the rules and privileges of the RAC (including later additions and innovations). CANCER arose not only under the influence of foreign analogies such as the British East India Company , but largely thanks to the experience already existing in Russia of creating such organizations. At the same time, the state, monopolizing the activities of the RAC, sought to keep under its control merchant capital and initiative, as well as take part in the appropriation of monopoly super-profits through tax redistribution without unnecessary costs on its part.

The Russian-American company, finally formed in the summer of 1799 , served as a tool for the development and colonization of the New World. It was the result of a peculiar symbiosis of the interests of domestic entrepreneurs and the tsarist bureaucracy. Initially, the RAC emerged as a monopoly association of several companies, mainly Siberian merchants. The leading role was played by the Irkutsk merchant of the 1st guild Nikolai Prokofievich Mylnikov and his sons Dmitry and Yakov, as well as the heirs of the famous Kursk merchant Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov - his widow Natalya Alekseevna , companion Ivan Illarionovich (Larionovich) Golikov and son-in-law - rich merchant Mikhail Buldakov and chief secretary of the Governing Senate, current state adviser and chamberlain Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov . The latter, being close to the imperial court, soon became the unofficial head and intercessor of the company before the tsarist government. It was at his insistence that the Main Board of the RAC was transferred in 1801 from Irkutsk to St. Petersburg , and the company itself acquired the features of a semi-state monopoly when the emperor himself, members of the reigning family and a number of major dignitaries joined its shareholders.

House in St. Petersburg (72 Moika embankment), where in the first half of the 19th century The Russian-American company was located - a historical monument of federal significance.

Initially, the RAC still retained the features of a merchant association, since representatives of large commercial capital were at the helm of its management. The top management elite of the company included directors who were in the Main Board of the company (GP RAC) in St. Petersburg, as well as the main rulers (managers) of the Russian colonies in America.

In 1802, the famous merchant Alexander Andreevich Baranov , the native of the city of Kargopol , became the first chief ruler of Russian America, in 1790 he led the most significant company G.I.Shelikhov in America. Energetic and adamant, he managed to realize many projects of his patron, who died untimely in 1795. At the same time, Baranov was not only the first main ruler, but also the only representative of the merchant estate in this important position. In 1802, simultaneously with the title of chief ruler of the Russian colonies, he received the rank of college adviser, and in 1806 he received the Order of St. Anne of the 2nd degree, that is, he was incorporated into the bureaucratic hierarchy of the empire and acquired the right to hereditary nobility .

To the bureaucratic class belonged the successors of A. A. Baranov, sent to replace him by the RAC General Board at his numerous requests.

On August 25, 1816, a special council under the Main Board of the company decided to appoint Captain-Lieutenant L. A. Gagemeister as head of the colonial administration. Since that time, the post of chief ruler of Russian America has been replaced exclusively by officers of the navy, usually with the rank of captain of the 1st or 2nd rank.

The captain of the 1st rank, appointed by the chief ruler in 1854, Stepan Vasilyevich Voevodsky in August 1856 was promoted to rear admiral by the tsar for the able leadership of the colonies entrusted to him during the harsh years of the Crimean War. The Anglo-French squadron was then able to escape the ruin of Russian America thanks to the dexterity of the RAC Main Board, which managed to conclude a separate neutrality pact with the British Hudson Bay Company on the eve of the war.

The natural dependence of the colonies on naval officers commanding the ships of the RAC, came to its logical conclusion in transferring to them the fullness of executive power in Russian America almost 20 years after the formation of the Russian-American company.

As a result of the coming to power in the colonies of naval officers, many of the rights of merchant freedoms were eliminated, the situation of both Russian and especially local residents, including Aleuts and Creoles, who were in the service of the company, improved. However, serious shortcomings soon surfaced. Naval officers were appointed rulers of the colonies for short periods, and looked at their stay in America as a temporary phenomenon. Although they were knowledgeable, honest and respectable people, as a rule, they were not very well versed in commerce, and the economic affairs of the company after the Baranov change left much to be desired.

The coming to power in the colonies of naval officers was only the beginning of a qualitative degeneration of the highest leading elite of the RAC. The foundations for this were laid during the transfer of the Main Board from Irkutsk to St. Petersburg, which allowed to concentrate a large number of RAC shares in the hands of the capital's officials, officers and royal dignitaries, which by the end of the 1810s. began to actively influence decisions taken by the general meeting of shareholders - the supreme body of the company. Despite the transfer of the Main Board from Irkutsk to Petersburg, large blocks of shares of the RAC continued to be in the hands of the Siberian merchants.

The influence of the court nobility and the bureaucracy had a greater effect on the establishment in 1804 of a special interim committee (in 1813 it was transformed into an officially acting council) of three RAC shareholders to resolve political issues that were not subject to publicity. Moreover, one of the members of this body was not elected, but was appointed without fail from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The first members of the “political” committee were prominent statesmen — the then Minister of the Sea, Admiral N. S. Mordvinov , Deputy Minister of the Interior Count P. A. Stroganov, and Foreign Ministry spokesperson I. A. Weidemeyer .

When the company was founded in 1799, it was planned that its Main Board should consist of two directors, but already in 1800 their number increased to four. They were elected at the general meeting of the shareholders of the RAC, who had the right to vote (that is, who owned at least 10 shares). The right to be elected to the post of director was received only by persons holding at least 25 shares. Since initially each share was worth more than 1000 rubles, it is natural that only very wealthy people could get into the leadership of the company. The power of directors was very significant, and ordinary shareholders could not interfere in their activities and dispute the orders: for this it was necessary to organize a general meeting of shareholders, which was quite a difficult task.

Over the incomplete 70 years of the management of Russian America by the Russian-American company, the composition of its leading elite has undergone very significant changes. If initially the leadership of the RAC in the colonies and the metropolis consisted exclusively of merchants, albeit closely connected with state structures (and in Russia it could not be otherwise), then already 20 years after the founding of the RAC, the power in the colonies passed into the hands of naval officers. Almost 15 years later, only of them their deputies begin to be recruited. A little more than 10 years pass, and the merchants finally lose control of the Main Board, and after a decade they completely disappear from the composition of the directors of the RAC. This evolution was in fact a reflection of the transformation of the company itself, which over the period has gone from a merchant organization under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance to the State Department for the Management of Overseas Territories as a kind of offshoot of the Ministry of the Sea.

Since the mid 1840s The top management of the Russian-American company is finally turning into a specific semi-state structure. It was the military-bureaucratic monopoly that best corresponded to the social system that had developed in the empire. This system reached its peak by the middle of the XIX century. and, having largely exhausted the internal reserves of its development, he began to quickly lose ground in post-reform Russia. Neither the RAC as a whole, nor its managerial elite did not want and could not take into account the trends of the new capitalist era, did not manage to adapt to the new realities, transferring the economy of Russian America to “capitalist rails”, which led to a deterioration in the financial situation of the company in the 1860s . Таким образом, процесс огосударствления, бюрократизации высшей управленческой элиты РАК явился одной из косвенных причин продажи Аляски США в 1867 г. и последующей ликвидации самой Российско-американской компании, что пока не нашло должного отражения на страницах отечественной и зарубежной историографии.

При содействии российского правительства компания в 1804—1840 организовала 25 экспедиций, в том числе 15 кругосветных ( И. Ф. Крузенштерна , Ю. Ф. Лисянского и др.).

С именем Российско-американской компании связаны первые в истории России попытки установить торгово-экономические отношения с Японией. Япония начала XIX в. была закрытой страной, фактическая власть в которой принадлежала феодальному роду Токугава , известному своей непримиримой политикой по отношению к иностранцам. Согласно указам сёгуната никто, кроме голландцев, не имел права вести торговлю на территории Японии. Тем не менее даже голландская торговля, для которой был отведён порт Нагасаки , находилась под строгим контролем чиновников сёгуната. История знает немало примеров попыток западных государств установить торговые и политические контакты с токугавской Японией, однако все они заканчивались неудачами. В подобной обстановке «закрытых дверей» со стороны Японии Российско-американская компания решила направить туда свою экспедицию для открытия новых рынков сбыта промышленных товаров. Возможно, что в качестве ещё одной основной задачи, стоявшей перед РАК, было подписание договора, по которому рассчитывалось поставлять в дальневосточные области Российской империи японские товары. Деятели РАК видели в этом более удобный способ обеспечить провиантом один из стратегически важных регионов страны.

29 июля 1802 г. главное правление РАК обратилось к императору Александру I для получения разрешения на отправку из Кронштадта первой русской кругосветной экспедиции, с целью доставить в свои тихоокеанские владения припасы и необходимые для кораблестроения материалы. Основной целью было установление торговли с Китаем и Японией, а затем и распространить сферу своей деятельности и на соседние страны. Для этого компания просила обеспечить её опытными офицерами и приказчиками, а также суммой денег в размере 250 тыс. рублей.

Император Александр I утвердил предложение в тот же день. Начальником экспедиции был назначен И. Ф. Крузенштерн , а его помощником стал капитан-лейтенант Ю. Ф. Лисянский. В распоряжении историков имеется записка царю министра коммерции Н. П. Румянцева «О торге с Японией». « Сама природа, поставя Россию сопредельно Японии и сближая обе империи морями, даёт нам перед всеми торговыми державами преимущества и удобность в торговле, к которой ныне купечество наше, как кажется, ожидает токмо единого от правительства одобрения ».

On the day the expedition left, Alexander I personally visited the ships of the Neva and Nadezhda companies, emphasizing the importance attached to the embassy. The expedition ended in 1805 when the Nadezhda left the Japanese coast, having failed to overcome the desire of Japanese officials to maintain the country's closed position. However, there were a number of positive points. For example, the expedition members were able to collect for the Academy of Sciences a collection of samples of flora and fauna of Japan, handicrafts, clothes, utensils, which gave a powerful impetus to the scientific study of Japan in our country. In addition, the expedition facilitated the acquaintance of two neighboring peoples, paved the way for their further rapprochement and the signing of the Shimodo agreement on the start of trade in 1856.

In 1816, Dr. Schaeffer , an employee of the Russian-American company, arrived on the island of Kauai with a mission to rescue the hijacked Bering ship, and on his own initiative secured the signing of a protectorate petition by the governor of the island of Kaumualia , vassal of the monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii Kamehamehi I. Subsequently, the emperor refused to ratify the treaty ^[8] . Sheffer managed to build three fortresses on the island, the ruins of one of which - Elizabethan - have survived to this day. However, already in 1817, Schaeffer was forced to leave the island due to the aggressive actions of American businessmen and sailors, whose side was also taken by Caumualia, who reached information about Schaeffer's real powers.

In 1795, the Russian-American company breathed new life into the Russian-Aleutian settlement on about. Urup (known since 1771), having established warehouses and giving it the name " Kurilorossia ". The first colonists, there were about 40 people (including Russians , Aleuts and Kamchadals ) ^[9] . The colonists were commanded by the stargazer editor. However, in May 1806, another group of Japanese Russian envoys on the island was not found - only a few Ainu remained there. Rezanov sent a protest to the Japanese government, indicating that to the north of Hokkaido all the lands and waters belong to the Russian emperor. In order to better manage the Kuril Islands, on the instructions of the Russian government, the Russian-American company, based on the Russian settlement that existed on Urup Island, created a special Kuril department headed by warrant officer Etolin.

From 1820 to 1867, the RAC in the person of priest Jacob Netsvetov conducted rather active missionary activity in the northern Kuril Islands, which was somewhat dissonant with the desires of Russian officials (General Koshelev) to give these territories to the Japanese in the hope of establishing trade between Russia and Japan in the future ^[10] , which and happened in 1875. At the same time, the natives themselves, who converted to Orthodoxy by 1736 , and by 1811 already owned Russian literacy, reacted extremely negatively to such a move by Kamchatka officials ^[10] .

The era of the Russian presence in California began on August 30, 1812 . On this day, an employee of the Russian-American company Ivan Kuskov and his staff (25 Russians and 80 Aleuts) raised the flag of the RAC at a point with coordinates 38 ° 33 's. w. and 123 ° 15 'z. d.

The final decision to begin the construction of a Russian settlement in California (Ross Fortress) was made by the chief ruler of Russian America, Alexander Baranov, at the end of 1811 . Prior to this, he twice sent research expeditions in search of a suitable place. The expedition was led by the aforementioned Ivan Kuskov, who put almost fifteen years of his life on the creation and development of Russian California. His choice fell on the high shore of a small bay north of Bodega Bay , 15 miles above the Slavyanka River (present - day Russian River ) and 70 miles north of San Francisco .

The sale of Alaska was initiated by the Ministry of Finance, headed by Michael Reitern , who sent a special note to Emperor Alexander II of September 16 (28), 1866 , in which he pointed out the need for the strictest possible savings in state funds and the rejection of various kinds of subsidies. In addition, Reiter emphasized that for the normal functioning of the empire, a three-year foreign loan of 15 million rubles was required. in year. Under these conditions, obtaining even a part of this amount was of certain interest to the government ^[11] . The sale of Alaska could provide a significant part of this amount, while saving the treasury from the burdensome annual subsidies of the RAC in the amount of 200,000 rubles. in silver.

The government began practical implementation of this project after the arrival of Russian envoy Edward Stekl from Washington , who was actively lobbying for the concession of Alaska to the United States . After his meetings with the led. Prince Konstantin and Reitern, the latter submitted to Chancellor Alexander Gorchakov on December 2 (14), 1866, a note on the advisability of a deal with the United States.

A similar note was presented to the Foreign Minister, Prince Gorchakov, and from the Ministry of the Sea, led by Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich .

On December 16 (28), a secret “special meeting” was held, which was attended by Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, Alexander Gorchakov, Mikhail Retern, Eduard Stekl and Vice Admiral Nikolai Krabbe (from the Ministry of the Sea) led by Emperor Alexander II. It was these people who decided the fate of Russian America. All of them unanimously supported its sale to the USA ^[12] .

After the supreme authorities of the Russian Empire made a final decision on the “Alaskan issue”, Stekl immediately left St. Petersburg in January 1867, and arrived in New York on February 15. In March, short negotiations began, and the agreement on the sale of Alaska by Russia for $ 7 million in gold was signed on March 18 (30), 1867 (an area of 1,519 thousand km² was sold for 7.2 million dollars in gold, that is, less than 5 cents per hectare). And only on April 7 (19) the leadership of the RAC was notified of a fait accompli ^[13] .

• Perch S. B. Russian-American company: historical outline. - M .; L .: State. social. Publishing House, 1939. - 258 p.: ill.
• Tikhmenev P. A. Historical review of the formation of the Russian-American company and its actions to date. Part 1-2. - SPb., 1861-1863.
• Ermolaev A.N. Russian-American company in Siberia and the Far East (1799-1871). Kemerovo: INT Publishing House, 2013.620 p.

• Russian-American company // Belt - Safi. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1975. - ( Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. Ed. A. M. Prokhorov ; 1969-1978, vol. 22).
• Collection of Gennady V. Yudin: Documents of the Russian-American company. Materials of the Library of Congress
• “Watch, friends, in honor of the fatherland!” B. Ryabukhin. Historical excerpt in literature
• History of Russian America