A formidable Alliance

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A formidable Alliance

The expansion of Russia eastwards is informed by the combination of resources of the Russian Government and merchants. Under the commission of Tsar Peter the great, Vitus Bering and Alexei Chirivoc discovered the Aleutian Islands and the Alaskan mainland in 1741. This subsequently triggered the interest of Russian hunters and traders alike. At the centre of the Russia’s eastward expansion, was the fur trade. Tsar Peter required finances to maintain his military strength to in the expansion agenda he pioneered. His support for commerce demanded personal relationships with merchants (Foust 471). The herds of sea otter and fur seal ignited the entreprenual spirits of Russia’s frontier merchants. Though sea otter pelt totaled to meager 5% it was a higher economic value relative to its abundant fur seal pelts.

The subsequent voyages were sponsored by merchants rather than the crown. The prosperity of the fur trade demanded permanent Russian posts in the Alaska. The first settlement was pioneered by ambitious and resourceful merchant Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov. His firm dominated the trade up to his demise in 1795.The death of the said enterprising merchant marked the dawn of anew era of enhanced cooperation between the Tsar and merchants. Shelikhov’s wife Natalia engineered a partnership of former competing Russian interest to form the United American Company. The declining profits due myriad of new players in the said frontiers demanded a change of strategy. To years later, the Tsar Paul 1 commissioned the company to become the main representative of Russian presence in the lands (Foust 477). It renamed to Russian American Company with duties that transcended trade. The Tsar family had shares in the said company. It follows that they continued the personal relationship with the merchants to protect their interest.

Work Cited

1. M. Foust, “Russian Expansion to the East Through the Eighteenth Century,” The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Dec., 1961), pp. 469-482;