Stephan Gavrilovich Glotov (Russian : Степа́н Гаврилович Гло́тов) (c. 1729 in Yarensk, Russia – May 5, 1769 in Unimak Island) [1] was a Russian navigator, explorer, and fur trader. He was the first Russian captain to enter the waters of the eastern Aleutian Islands, [2] and was the European discoverer of Kodiak Island and several other Alaskan islands.
Glotov's first recorded voyage was in 1746 aboard the vessel Ioann ("John"), belonging to the merchant Fyodor Kholodilov of Totma. This ship sailed from the Kamchatka Peninsula, hunting for sea otters and seals, and wintered on Bering Island. In the following spring, the Ioann went in search of the middle Aleutian Islands (the chain had fairly recently come to the awareness of the Russians), but were unsuccessful.
In 1758–1762, Glotov and Cossacks of the Nizhny Kamchatsky ostrog explored aboard the vessel Saint Julian. Aboard were the Cossack Ponomarev and the merchant Peter Shishkin. This expedition opened up the Aleutian Islands to the Russian fur trade. [3]
The Saint Julian set off from the mouth of the Kamchatka River on September 2, 1758 (September 15 New Style). After nine days Glotov arrived at the Komandorski Islands. After spending the winter on Medny Island, Glotov's expedition sailed east and discovered Umnak Island in the Aleutians, landing there on September 1, 1759. Aleuts immediately attacked his expedition, wounding Glotov and killing two of his men, but Glotov exercised restraint at this time. [4] Glotov and his men spent three winters at Umnak, amassing over a thousand pelts of fox fur (Glotov was the first to bring large amounts of fox fur back to Russia from Alaska) as well as many sea otter skins. [5] During this time (1759–1762), Glotov and his men discovered several islands of the Aleutian chain, including Unimak and Unalaska.
The Saint Julian returned to Kamchatka on August 31, 1762 (September 13 New Style). In his report, Glotov lists 29 islands and describes their wildlife.
On October 1, 1762 (October 14 New Style), Glotov embarked on another expedition from the coast of Kamchatka to the Aleutian Islands and the northwestern coast of North America, on the vessel Adrian and Natalia, belonging to the merchant Lapin. Glotov had a crew of 38 Russians and eight Kamchadals (Kamchatka natives). Glotov and his men again wintered on Medny Island, setting forth from there on July 26, 1763 (August 8 New Style). Glotov discovered several more islands, including Kodiak Island (the 80th largest island in the world, slightly larger than Cyprus, Puerto Rico, or Corsica).
During this expedition, Glotov and his men suppressed a revolt of the Aleut natives of the Fox Islands. The Aleuts were unhappy with the depredations of Promyshlenniks (Russian fur workers) who followed on the heels of the explorers, and who were brutal and avaricious [4] and pursued a policy of forcing natives to work and pay the Yasak (tax paid in furs) by taking their families hostage. [6] The Aleuts had consequently revolted against the Russian occupation, killing many Russians and driving most of the rest from the islands, and destroying most of the Russian vessels in the area. [7]
Glotov and his men destroyed all the Aleut villages on the southern part of Umnak, and with the assistance of other forces the revolt was ended, with several hundred Aleuts being killed directly and many more perishing from related causes (wounds, hunger, cold and disease). This effectively ended Aleutian independence.
Ethnographer and missionary I. E. Veniaminov, relying on the accounts of eyewitnesses of these events, wrote of Glotov: "He, under the pretext of revenge for the death of his compatriots, as well as for rebellion itself, destroyed almost all the villages that were on the southern side of Umnak, and the inhabitants of the islands of Samalga and the Islands of Four Mountains." [8] [9]
In the course of this expedition, Glotov collected valuable ethnographic information about the Aleuts, in addition to killing them.
In October of 1768, Glotov was part of an expedition led by Krenitsyn and Levashov, which explored 200 kilometres (120 miles) of the northern coast of the Alaska Peninsula and discovered Port Moller Bay.
Glotov died of scurvy in the spring of 1769, while wintering on Unimak Island.
A mountain on Kodiak Island is named for Glotov, as is a street in the village of Yarensk.
In 1992, archaeologists working for the Aleut located the site where Glotov was attacked by armed Unangan. [7]
Aleuts are the Indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleuts and the islands are politically divided between the US state of Alaska and the Russian administrative division of Kamchatka Krai. This group is also known as the Unangax̂ in Unangam Tunuu, the Aleut language. There are 13 federally recognized Aleut tribes in the Aleut Region of Alaska. In 2000, Aleuts in Russia were recognized by government decree as a small-numbered Indigenous people.
From 1732 to 1867, the Russian Empire laid claim to northern Pacific Coast territories in the Americas. Russian colonial possessions in the Americas are collectively known as Russian America. It consisted mostly of present-day Alaska in the United States, but also included the outpost of Fort Ross in California, and three forts in Hawaii, including Russian Fort Elizabeth. Russian Creole settlements were concentrated in Alaska, including the capital, New Archangel, which is now Sitka.
Bering Island is located off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Bering Sea.
Akutan is a city on Akutan Island in the Aleutians East Borough of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, United States. The population was 1,589 at the 2020 census, up from 1,027 in 2010, making it the 4th fastest-growing city of the decade in Alaska. Akutan Harbor is adjacent.
Nikolski is a census-designated place (CDP) on Umnak Island in Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 39 at the 2020 census, up from 18 in 2010. Nikolski is on Nikolski Bay, off the southwest end of the island. It is 116 air miles west of Unalaska, and 900 air miles from Anchorage. Residents are known as Unangan, and Aleut is spoken in most of the remaining homes.
The City of Unalaska is the main population center in the Aleutian Islands. The city is in the Aleutians West Census Area, a regional component of the Unorganized Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Unalaska is located on Unalaska Island and neighboring Amaknak Island in the Aleutian Islands off mainland Alaska. The population was 4,254 at the 2020 census, which is 81% of the entire Aleutians West Census Area. Unalaska is the second largest city in the Unorganized Borough, behind Bethel.
Aleut or Unangam Tunuu is the language spoken by the Aleut living in the Aleutian Islands, Pribilof Islands, Commander Islands, and the Alaska Peninsula. Aleut is the sole language in the Aleut branch of the Eskimo–Aleut language family. The Aleut language consists of three dialects, including Unalaska, Atka/Atkan, and Attu/Attuan.
The Fox Islands are a group of islands in the eastern Aleutian Islands of the U.S. state of Alaska. The Fox Islands are the closest to mainland North America in the Aleutian chain, and just east of Samalga Pass and the Islands of Four Mountains group.
Innocent of Alaska, also known as Innocent Metropolitan of Moscow, was a Russian Orthodox missionary priest, then the first Orthodox bishop and archbishop in the Americas, and finally the Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna. Remembered for his missionary work, scholarship, and leadership in Alaska and the Russian Far East during the 19th century, he is known for his abilities as a scholar, linguist, and administrator, as well as his great zeal for his work.
Umnak is one of the Fox Islands of the Aleutian Islands. With 686.01 square miles (1,776.76 km2) of land area, it is the third largest island in the Aleutian archipelago and the 19th largest island in the United States. The island is home to a large volcanic caldera on Mount Okmok and the only field of geysers in Alaska. It is separated from Unalaska Island by Umnak Pass. In 2000, Umnak was permanently inhabited by only 39 people and by 2010, around 18, placing the settlement of Nikolski in difficulty and its school was closed.
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Preobrazhenskoye was a village (selo) in Aleutsky District of Kamchatka Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, located on Medny Island in the Commander Islands group east of the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Medny Island, also spelled Mednyy or Mednyi, sometimes called Copper Island in English, is the smaller of the two main islands in the Commander Islands in the North Pacific Ocean, east of Kamchatka, Russia. These islands belong to the Kamchatka Krai of the Russian Federation.
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Unalaska is a volcanic island in the Fox Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in the US state of Alaska located at 53°38′N167°00′W. The island has a land area of 1,051 square miles (2,720 km2). It measures 79.4 mi (127.8 km) long and 34.7 mi (55.8 km) wide. The city of Unalaska, Alaska, covers part of the island and all of neighboring Amaknak Island where the Port of Dutch Harbor is located. The population of the island excluding Amaknak as of the 2000 census was 1,759 residents.
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The Aleutian Islands —also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain of 14 main, larger volcanic islands and 55 smaller ones. Most of the Aleutian Islands belong to the U.S. state of Alaska, with the archipelago encompassing the Aleutians West Census Area and the Aleutians East Borough. The Commander Islands, located further to the west, belong to the Russian federal subject of Kamchatka Krai, of the Russian Far East. The islands form part of the Aleutian Arc of the Northern Pacific Ocean, and occupy a land area of 6,821 sq mi (17,666 km2) that extends westward roughly 1,200 mi (1,900 km) from the Alaskan Peninsula mainland, in the direction of the Kamchatka Peninsula; the archipelago acts as a border between the Bering Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. Crossing longitude 180°, at which point east and west longitude end, the archipelago contains both the westernmost and easternmost parts of the United States, by longitude. The westernmost U.S. island, in real terms, however, is Attu Island, west of which runs the International Date Line.
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Potap Kuzmich Zaikov (17??-1791) was a Russian navigator who operated across the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska during the developing Maritime Fur Trade from the 1770s to 1791. Working primarily in what became Russian America, Zaikov would over the course of his career be employed by several groups of Russian fur merchants.
Unangan hunting headgear are wooden hats associated with the Unangan or Unangas, the Indigenous peoples of what are currently known as the Aleutian Islands.