Northern North America (820 – 963 CE): Salmon Worlds, Woodland Mosaics, and Mound Horizons

Geographic and Environmental Context

Northern North America stretched from the Pacific fjords and salmon rivers of Alaska and British Columbia to the Great Lakes and Mississippi valleys, the Appalachian woodlands, and the Gulf–Southwest deserts and plains.

• Northwest: temperate rainforests and fjord coasts of the Pacific, merging with subarctic taiga and Arctic tundra.

• Northeast: broad river valleys, Great Lakes basins, Atlantic seaboard, and Greenland’s fjordlands.

• Gulf & West: the Mississippi and Arkansas basins, desert Southwest, and California’s coasts and oak savannas.

These varied landscapes sustained distinct yet interconnected economies of salmon, maize, and mound-building and sea-mammal hunting, all adapting to warming conditions as the Medieval Warm Period began around 950 CE.

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Climate and Environmental Shifts

• Pacific coast: cool, wet regimes fostered vast cedar and hemlock forests; longer summers enhanced salmon productivity.

• Interior plains and woodlands: warmer, wetter centuries advanced maize cultivation into the Ohio–Mississippi valleys.

• Arctic and subarctic: seasonal sea-ice retreat improved marine hunting; inland caribou and moose herds expanded.

• Southwest: stable precipitation favored canal irrigation; California’s Mediterranean rhythm supported oak and marine abundance.

These conditions encouraged population growth, sedentism, and regional integration.

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Societies and Political Developments

Northwestern North America

• Coastal chiefdoms—Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakwakaʼwakw, Coast Salish—organized into ranked lineages that controlled fisheries and ceremonial exchange (potlatch).

• Unangan, Sugpiaq, Yup’ik–Inupiat mastered sea-mammal hunting from the Aleutians to the Arctic.

• Athabaskan (Dene) bands coordinated caribou hunts and riverine fisheries inland.

• Villages of cedar plank-houses and monumental art expressed hereditary prestige; inland, leadership was merit-based and mobile.

Northeastern North America

• Woodland cultures (Iroquoian, Algonquian ancestors) practiced mixed farming, hunting, and fishing from the Appalachians to the Great Lakes.

• Mississippian precursors in the Ohio–Illinois valleys organized maize-based mound centers.

• Prairie societies blended bison hunting with riverine farming.

• Greenland Norse colonies formed late in this age (~985), linking the North Atlantic to European trade.

• Arctic Dorset peoples persisted before later Thule migrations.

Gulf and Western North America

• Lower Mississippi communities raised platform mounds at Plaquemine and Caddoan sites.

• Chaco Canyon (850–1130) blossomed with great houses, roads, and regional integration.

• Hohokam irrigators along the Salt–Gila rivers cultivated maize, beans, and cotton.

• Mogollon and Sinagua villagers farmed uplands; Chumash chiefdoms expanded their tomol canoe trade between the Channel Islands and mainland California.

• The Great Basin remained home to highly mobile foragers trading salt and obsidian.

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Economy and Trade

• Coastal salmon economies: smoked and dried fish sustained dense settlements; eulachon oil circulated as prestige wealth.

• Fur, copper, and dentalium moved along interior–coastal trade paths linking Dene hunters and Northwest Coast carvers.

• Maize, beans, and squash supported mound-center surpluses; shell beads, mica, and copper traveled the Mississippi corridor.

• Southwest networks carried turquoise, macaws, and copper bells from Mesoamerica to Chaco; Hohokam exported cotton and shell jewelry.

• California distributed shell currency north and obsidian east; the Great Basin mediated salt and desert goods.

• Atlantic and Great Lakes trade moved copper, wampum-like ornaments, and marine shells over thousands of kilometers.

• Greenland exported walrus ivory and hides to Europe at the period’s close.

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Subsistence and Technology

• Cedar architecture and canoes defined the Pacific coast; interior pit-houses and bark lodges housed Dene and Plateau peoples.

• Weirs, reef-nets, and wicker traps optimized salmon harvests; smokehouses and grease rendering secured surplus.

• Canal irrigation and terraced fields underpinned Hohokam and Chaco agriculture.

• Mound construction required coordinated labor and stored maize.

• Tomol plank canoes of the Chumash and skin-boats of the Arctic extended seafaring economies.

• Iron was unknown, but native copper, bone, stone, and wood technologies were highly refined.

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Belief and Symbolism

• Northwest Coast cosmologies dramatized animal ancestors—Raven, Eagle, Wolf, Killer Whale—through masks, poles, and potlatch rites.

• Woodland mound cosmologies aligned earth, sky, and underworld in their architecture.

• Chaco’s kivas embodied solar and cardinal symbolism; astronomy regulated ritual calendars.

• California and Arctic shamans mediated between people and animal spirits; carved regalia and rock art memorialized transformation myths.

• Greenland Norse practiced pagan burial customs soon to yield to Christianity.

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Adaptation and Resilience

• Multi-resource economies—salmon, maize, acorns, sea-mammals, and game—buffered environmental risk.

• Preservation technologies (drying, smoking, rendering oils) stabilized food supplies.

• Trade alliances and kin networks distributed surpluses and mitigated famine.

• Mobility: canoes, sleds, and foot trails ensured resource flexibility across ecological zones.

• Ritual redistribution (potlatch, feasts) converted surplus into prestige and diplomacy.

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Long-Term Significance

By 963 CE, Northern North America had matured into a tapestry of salmon chiefdoms, woodland farmers, and desert irrigators connected by trade and shared ecological intelligence:

• Northwest Coast chiefdoms exemplified surplus-based artistry and ranked social orders.

• Woodland and Mississippian peoples advanced maize agriculture and mound ceremonialism.

• Chaco and Hohokam anchored southwestern urbanization, while Chumash maritime trade linked the Pacific rim.

• Across the continent, Dene and Inuit mobility, Atlantic mound-building, and Greenland colonization prefigured the continental complexity of later centuries.

These interwoven economies of salmon, maize, and monumental exchange formed the ecological and cultural foundations for the flourishing civilizations of medieval and early modern North America.

Northwestern North America (820 – 963 CE): Salmon Worlds, Cedar Civilizations, and Dene–Inuit Frontiers

Geographic and Environmental Context

Northwestern North America includes western Canada (the Yukon and British Columbia), Alaska, Washington, northern Idaho, and the northwestern portions of Montana, Oregon, and California.

• A mosaic of temperate rainforests, glaciated fjords, salmon rivers, and inside passages framed the Pacific littoral, while the subarctic taiga and tundra stretched inland across Alaska and the Yukon.

• Coastal societies clustered along the Gulf of Alaska, Alexander Archipelago, and Salish Sea; interior peoples ranged river valleys and high plateaus; Arctic communities occupied the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort coasts.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• Cool, maritime conditions dominated the coast; inland, long winters and brief, productive summers shaped subsistence.

• The approach to the Medieval Warm Period (after c. 950) modestly lengthened ice-free seasons and supported robust salmon runs on major rivers (e.g., Fraser, Skeena, Columbia, Copper, Yukon).

• Sea-ice extent in the western Arctic fluctuated interannually, affecting seal and whale migrations.

Societies and Political Developments

• North Pacific Coast chiefdoms: Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakwakaʼwakw, and Coast Salish organized into ranked societies (nobles, commoners, slaves) anchored by house-lineages and winter ceremonial orders.

• Unangan (Aleut), Sugpiaq/Alutiiq, and Yup’ik–Inupiat communities specialized in sea-mammal hunting across the Aleutians, Kodiak–Prince William Sound, and Arctic coasts.

• Athabaskan (Dene) peoples (e.g., Gwich’in, Tahltan, Carrier, Kaska) maintained flexible band polities in the subarctic interior, coordinating seasonal caribou hunts and riverine fisheries.

• Leadership was situational inland (successful hunters, travel-masters) and hereditary–ritual on the coast (house heads who hosted potlatch distributions).

Economy and Trade

• Salmon surplus (smoked/dried) formed the coastal economic base, supporting dense villages and long ceremonial cycles.

• Interregional exchange moved obsidian, native copper, dentalium shells, furs, and carved wood among the coast, Columbia–Fraser plateaus, and the subarctic—linking Coast Salish, Plateau peoples, and Dene networks.

• Arctic and Gulf of Alaska routes circulated sea-mammal oil, seal/sea otter pelts, and ivory; inland trails moved chert, birchbark, and tanned hides between taiga and coast.

Subsistence and Technology

• Cedar plank-house villages, monumental posts, and carved crest panels characterized the coast; interior groups used pit houses, bark lodges, and seasonal camps.

• Dugout canoes (cedar) enabled open-water travel and trade; in the north, skin boats—qayaq (kayak) and umiak—excelled in sea-mammal hunting.

• Salmon harvests employed weirs, reef-nets, and wicker traps; smokehouses and grease rendering (eulachon/oolichan) secured winter stores.

• Composite harpoons with toggling heads, sinew-backed bows, snowshoes, toboggans, and microblade-derived tool traditions persisted inland.

Movement and Interaction Corridors

• The Inside Passage threaded canoe travel from Southeast Alaska to the Salish Sea; coastal headlands served as trade and marriage-alliance nodes.

• River highways—the Fraser, Skeena–Bulkley, Columbia, Stikine, Copper, and Yukon—connected salmon fisheries to interior Dene trails and caribou grounds.

• Arctic littoral routes linked Kotzebue Sound, Bering Strait, and Norton Sound communities; portage chains bridged drainages between taiga and coast.

Belief and Symbolism

• Coastal cosmologies tied house-crests, clan histories, and animal beings (Raven, Eagle, Wolf, Killer Whale) into ceremonial performances and winter dances; prestige was distributed in potlatch feasts.

• Shamanic healing and spirit-guardian relationships guided hunting luck from the Kodiak–Aleutian chain to the Mackenzie Delta.

• Mortuary poles, memorial feasts, and carved regalia materialized lineage rights; interior Dene story cycles mapped rivers, passes, and animal migrations onto sacred geography.

Adaptation and Resilience

• Multi-resource scheduling—spring eulachon, summer salmon, fall deer/moose/caribou, year-round shellfish—spread risk across ecosystems.

• Food preservation (smoking, drying, grease) and communal labor in reef-net or weir fisheries produced stable surpluses for ritual economies.

• Kin-based trade alliances buffered local shortages and secured access to distant copper, obsidian, and dentalium sources.

• Mobility—canoe fleets on the coast, snow travel inland—allowed communities to pivot with climate and animal cycles.

Long-Term Significance

By 963 CE, Northwestern North America sustained complex, surplus-based chiefdoms on the coast and highly adaptive Dene–Inuit economies inland and Arctic. A web of canoe routes and river corridors integrated salmon, sea-mammal, and caribou landscapes into a single macro-region—an enduring foundation for the monumental art, ceremonial exchange, and wide-ranging trade that would define the centuries to follow.

Northern North America (1252 – 1395 CE): Salmon Chiefdoms, Iroquoian Ascendancy, and the Continental Exchange

Across the northern half of the continent, from Alaska’s fjords to Florida’s mangroves, the centuries between 1252 and 1395 were marked by both consolidation and transformation. As the warmth of the Medieval era ebbed, cooler and stormier centuries tested the great riverine and coastal societies of North America—but they endured through ingenuity, mobility, and exchange. The result was a web of civilizations linked by trade in salmon, copper, shells, maize, and ideology, stretching from the Arctic whaling camps to the Mississippi mounds and the Californian shores.

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Northwestern Shores and Salmon Kingdoms

Along the North Pacific Coast, maritime chiefdoms reached their peak. From the fjords of Southeast Alaska to the Salish Sea, ranked lineages of Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakwaka’wakw, and Coast Salish peoples controlled salmon rivers, tidal flats, and cedar forests. House-crests, totems, and potlatch feasts codified rights to resources, transforming stored salmon, seal oil, and copper ornaments into instruments of status and diplomacy. In the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands, the Unangan and Sugpiaq built skin-covered boats and toggling harpoons to hunt seals and whales, while Arctic Iñupiat communities of Thule descent perfected cooperative bowhead hunts along the frozen shore.

Inland, Dene (Athabaskan) peoples—Gwich’in, Kaska, Tahltan, and others—moved between river fisheries and caribou ranges. They exchanged native copper, obsidian, and hides for coastal eulachon oil carried over mountain “grease trails.” Together, these coastal and interior systems formed a salmon-and-grease economy that tied the Yukon to Puget Sound and proved resilient under the first chills of the Little Ice Age.

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Eastern Forests and Great Lakes Peoples

Far across the continent, the riverine chiefdoms of the Mississippi Valley waned as new polities rose. The great city of Cahokia, weakened by floods, droughts, and internal stress, was abandoned by the mid-fourteenth century. Yet its mound-building legacy endured in the Lower Mississippi, where Natchez, Plaquemine, and Etowah peoples sustained maize agriculture and ritual kingship. Farther north, around the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence, Iroquoian and Algonquian villages flourished.

The Iroquoian towns of Ontario and New York, enclosed by palisades and defined by longhouse clans, organized around matrilineal lineages that prefigured later confederacies. Their maize-beans-squash agriculture supported dense settlements; hunting and fishing supplied surpluses for diplomacy and war. To their north and east, Algonquian nations combined farming, fishing, and forest foraging in a flexible cycle that ensured survival through climatic fluctuation.

Meanwhile, on the continent’s frozen edge, the Inuit (Thule) expanded across the Arctic archipelago and into Greenland, displacing the Norse settlers whose farms succumbed to failing pastures and isolation. The last Norse church bells faded in the late fourteenth century as Inuit umiaks and sled teams dominated the northern seas.

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Western Deserts, Plateaus, and Pacific Rim

Southward and inland, in the mountains and deserts of the West, the onset of aridity reshaped communities. In the Southwest, the Ancestral Puebloans entered the Pueblo IV era, gathering into larger towns on the Zuni and Hopimesas and along the Rio Grande. Painted kivas and katsina ceremonies unified villages under shared ritual calendars. In the Hohokam lowlands of the Salt and Gila rivers, extensive irrigation networks continued, though salinization and drought forced migration and reorganization.

Across the Great Basin, small foraging bands expanded pine-nut and seed use; in the California valleys and coasts, Chumash, Miwok, and Ohlone peoples created rich economies based on acorns, shell-bead currency, and ocean trade. Chumash plank canoes (tomols) connected the Channel Islands to mainland markets, exchanging shell beads, fish, and pigments. These Pacific chiefdoms paralleled their northern neighbors in complexity, forging an unbroken coastal network of ritual exchange and seaborne commerce.

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Southern Plains and Gulf Chiefdoms

Eastward, the Lower Mississippi and Gulf Coast retained a tapestry of mound-town chiefdoms and coastal polities. At Spiro (Oklahoma) and Etowah (Georgia), elaborate copper plates, shell gorgets, and birdman effigies reflected the ceremonial universe of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. Along the Gulf, the Calusa and other coastal fisher-chiefs ruled estuaries from fortified towns, wielding sacred bundles and tribute networks sustained by marine abundance.

In the Texas–Oklahoma plains, bison hunting intensified, while maize farming along rivers provided stability. Across the Southwest–Plains transition, trade carried turquoise, bison robes, shells, and macaws in circuits reaching from Mesoamerica to the Mississippi.

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Economy, Exchange, and Technology

Northern North America thrived on environmental variety.

• Coasts and rivers: salmon, cod, and eulachon oil in the Pacific; herring and shellfish in the Atlantic.

• Forests: maize, beans, acorns, and wild rice anchored diverse agricultures.

• Mountains and plains: obsidian, copper, and bison products supplied continental trade.

Canoes—dugout, plank, or birchbark—were universal instruments of movement; so were snowshoes, sleds, and storage pits. Long-distance corridors connected every major culture zone: Inside Passage fleets linked Alaska to Puget Sound; the Mississippi and Missouri funneled goods north and south; Great Lakes waterways met Hudson Bay routes; and overland paths tied Puebloan mesas to Gulf chiefdoms and the Pacific coast.

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Belief and Symbolism

Ritual life revolved around animals, ancestors, and celestial order.

• North Pacific lineages carved crests and totems affirming ties to salmon and bear spirits; first-salmon ceremonies renewed ecological balance.

• Mississippian societies celebrated fertility and war through birdman imagery, mound rituals, and sacred fire.

• Pueblo kivas sustained cyclical dance traditions linking earth and sky; Chumash voyagers mapped constellations into their maritime cosmology.

• Iroquoian longhouse rituals honored Sky Woman and the Three Sisters of agriculture; Algonquian vision quests sought harmony with guardian spirits.

• In the Arctic, whale and seal ceremonies reaffirmed reciprocity between human and animal worlds.

Everywhere, spiritual practice reinforced environmental stewardship and social solidarity.

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Adaptation and Resilience

The onset of cooler climates demanded flexibility. Coastal storage economies—smoked fish, rendered grease, dried acorns—bridged lean seasons. River and lake villages relocated when floods or silt clogged channels. Irrigation, mound renewal, and ritual redistribution managed ecological stress. Mobility and diplomacy mitigated conflict: alliances forged through feasts, intermarriage, and ceremonial trade allowed populations to recover from famine or warfare.

Despite regional collapse—Cahokia in the Mississippi valley, Norse Greenland in the Arctic—neighboring societies restructured rather than declined. Diversity of subsistence, surplus storage, and shared ideology ensured continuity through climate shock and disease.

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Long-Term Significance

By 1395 CE, Northern North America was a continent of mature, interconnected societies.
The North Pacific chiefdoms refined hierarchical systems based on salmon and cedar wealth; the Thule-derived Inuit achieved their greatest whaling expansion before later cooling; and Dene traders spanned interior forests with copper and fur exchange.
In the east, Iroquoian and Algonquian peoples dominated the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence, heirs to the Mississippian legacy; Inuit hunters replaced the Norse in Greenland’s fjords.
In the south and west, Pueblo IV, Chumash, and Gulf Coast societies preserved complex ritual economies tied to broader continental networks.

Together these worlds formed a continuous northern commonwealth—one bound by waterways, storied landscapes, and ecological intelligence. Through adaptability, mobility, and trade, the peoples of Northern North America sustained cultural florescence on the eve of the colder centuries to come.

Northwestern North America (1252 – 1395 CE): Salmon Chiefdoms, Thule Whalers, and the Grease Trails

Geographic and Environmental Context

Northwestern North America includes Alaska, western Canada (Yukon and British Columbia), Washington, northern Idaho, northwestern Montana, Oregon, and the northwestern portions of California.

• Coastal fjords and archipelagos (Southeast Alaska, Haida Gwaii, Vancouver Island, the Salish Sea) supported dense plank-house towns.

• Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian coasts sustained sea-mammal hunters and offshore fishers.

• Interior plateaus and river valleys (Stikine, Skeena, Fraser, Columbia, Yukon) tied foragers and farmers into salmon and trade networks.

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Climate and Environmental Shifts

• The late Medieval Warm Period gave way to the early Little Ice Age after c. 1300: slightly cooler, stormier coasts and more variable snowpacks inland.

• Salmon runs remained robust but fluctuated by river; cooler seas favored some stocks while harsher winters increased risk for interior travel.

• Along the Arctic rim, sea-ice season lengthened modestly late in the period, without halting whale migrations.

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Societies and Political Developments

• North Pacific Coast chiefdoms (Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakwakaʼwakw, Coast Salish):

  • Ranked house-lineages controlled salmon weirs, tidal flats, cedar groves, and canoe landings.

  • Competitive feasting and alliance-building (potlatch-like institutions) intensified; warfare over fisheries and trade routes is attested in oral histories.

• Gulf of Alaska & Aleutians (Unangan/ Aleut, Sugpiaq/Alutiiq):

  • Maritime villages specialized in sea-lion, seal, and offshore fish, with flexible alliances between winter villages and summer camps.

• Arctic Alaska (Iñupiat/Thule):

  • Thule-derived whaling societies flourished on bowhead migrations; large multi-house communities and cooperative whale hunts peaked before later 15th-century cooling.

• Interior Dene (Athabaskan) (Gwich’in, Kaska, Carrier, Tahltan, among others):

  • Highly mobile river-and-taiga bands coordinated seasonal caribou hunts and salmon fishing; trade partnerships linked interior copper and obsidian to coastal towns.

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Economy and Trade

• Salmon surplus economies supported smoking houses, oil rendering, and long-term storage; eulachon grease from the Skeena–Nass became a premier trade good moved on grease trails to interior partners.

• Prestige metals and shells: native copper (Upper Yukon/Alaska, northwestern BC), dentalium shells, and carved antler circulated as wealth.

• Maritime staples: sea-mammal oil, hides, baleen (Arctic and Gulf coasts); dried halibut and cod (outer coasts).

• Interior staples: caribou, moose, berries, and roots complemented river fish; canoe-borne exchange reached well into the Columbia and Fraser networks.

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Subsistence and Technology

• Cedar technologies (coast): monumental plank houses; box-and-steam cooking; bentwood chests; dugout canoes for freight and war.

• Fishing systems: tidal weirs, stake traps, reef-nets (Salish Sea), river weirs and dip-nets on interior rapids.

• Arctic/Gulf craft: skin boats and kayaks (qayaq), open whale-boats (umiak), toggling harpoons, compound lines and drags for large sea mammals.

• Hunting kit (interior): sinew-backed bows, copper and stone points, snowshoes, toboggans; smokehouses and cache pits for winter stores.

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Movement and Interaction Corridors

• Inside Passage stitched together Tlingit–Haida–Kwakwakaʼwakw–Salish towns in year-round canoe traffic.

• Grease trails climbed from eulachon rivers (Nass, Skeena, Bella Coola) across mountain passes to interior Dene partners.

• Yukon–Copper–Tanana waterways linked interior copper sources to coastal brokers.

• Arctic littoral hosted seasonal whaling migrations and trade fairs among Iñupiat communities.

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Belief and Symbolism

• House-crest systems (coast) articulated lineage rights to places and stories; crest poles, regalia, and feasting transformed surplus into status and alliance.

• Shamanic healing and spirit guardians governed luck in hunting and warfare; rituals marked first-salmon, first-whale, and eulachon runs.

• Iñupiat/Thule whale ceremonies honored animal masters and redistributed meat and oil across households.

• Dene narratives mapped rivers and passes as sacred geographies anchoring seasonal movement.

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Adaptation and Resilience

• Portfolio economies (salmon + sea mammals + terrestrial game + stored oil) buffered climate swings at the onset of the Little Ice Age.

• Storage and redistribution—smoked fish, rendered grease, whale shares—stabilized communities through bad runs and hard winters.

• Flexible mobility: interior bands shifted traplines and wintering grounds; coastal towns maintained alternate fishing sites and alliance harbors.

• Conflict management: diplomacy and ceremonial gifting balanced raiding over high-value fisheries and trade chokepoints.

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Long-Term Significance

By 1395, Northwestern North America stood out as a maritime-and-riverine commonwealth:

• Pacific chiefdoms refined lineage rule and long-distance trade around salmon and grease.

• Thule-derived Iñupiat communities reached a high point of cooperative whaling before later climatic tightening.

• Interior Dene maintained wide exchange networks linking copper, furs, and food stores to the coast.
  These resilient systems—house societies, storage economies, canoe corridors, and Arctic whaling alliances—carried the region successfully into the colder centuries that followed.

Grigory Shelikhov founds the first Russian settlement in Alaska, Three Saints Harbor, in 1784.

Although Russian fur hunters had established temporary shore stations in Alaska earlier, they intend the Three Saints site to be a permanent colonial settlement.

The site is poorly chosen, for the hillside above the shore area is too steep to build on, and the shore area is too small for a substantial settlement.

When it is visited in 1790, it is described as a cluster of small structures (probably barabaras), with a population of about fifty men and a small number of women.

The site is harmed by subsidence and a probable tsunami in the wake of a 1788 earthquake.

In 1791 Alexander Baranov begins moving the main Russian settlement to the site of Paul's Harbor, now known as the city of Kodiak.

Russian fur-trading voyages have become longer and more expensive as the traders sail farther east.

Smaller enterprises are merged into larger ones.

During the 1780s, Grigory Shelikhov (also spelled Gregory Shelikov), who has organized commercial trips of the merchant ships to the Kuril Islands and the Aleutian Islands starting from 1775, has begun to stand out as one of the most important traders.

In 1783–1786, he leads an expedition to the shores of Russian America, during which they found the first permanent Russian settlements in North America.

Shelikhov's voyage is done under the auspices of the so-called Shelikhov-Golikov company, the other owner of which is Ivan Larionovich Golikov.

This company will later form the basis on which the Russian-American Company is founded in 1799.

In 1784, Shelikhov arrives in Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island with two ships, the Three Hierarchs, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom and the St. Simon.

The indigenous Koniaga, an Alutiiq nation of Alaska natives, harasses the Russian party and Shelikhov responds by killing hundreds and taking hostages to enforce the obedience of the rest.

Having established his authority on Kodiak Island, Shelikhov founds the first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska on the island's Three Saints Bay. (Unalaska had existed long before, but it was never considered the permanent base for Russians until Shelekhov’s time).

Shelikhov envisions a continual extension of the Russian maritime fur trade, with trading posts being set up farther and farther along the coast all the way to California.

Shelikhov seeks exclusive control of the fur trade, and Empress Catherine II decides in 1788 to grant his company a monopoly only over the area it already occupies.

Other traders are free to compete elsewhere.

Catherine's decision is issued as the imperial ukase (proclamation) of September 28, 1788.

The Russians have spent over forty years establishing and expanding their maritime operations in North America by the time of Catherine's ukase of 1788, just as other nations are entering the maritime fur trade.

A number of colonies are being established over a large region stretching from the Aleutian Islands to Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound.

Many ships sail from Kamchatka to Alaska each year.

The Russians not only have an early start, but they control the habitats of the most valuable sea otters.

The Kurilian, Kamchatkan, and Aleutian sea otters have fur that is thicker, glossier, and blacker than those on the Northwest Coast and California.

There are four grades of fur based on color, texture, and thickness.

The most prized furs are those of Kurilian and Kamchatkan sea otters, Aleutian furs are second grade, those of the Northwest Coast third, and the poorest grade is that of Californian sea otters.

Russia also controls the sources of sable furs, the most valuable fur-bearing land mammal.

The Russian system differs from the British and American systems in its relationship with indigenous peoples.

Using the same method they had used in Siberia the Russians have employed or enserfed Aleut and Alutiiq people, the latter being a subgroup of the Yupik Eskimo people.

The Aleut and Alutiiq people are expert sea otter hunters, noted for their use of kayaks and baidarkas.

Russian ships are mainly used for transporting and assisting native hunting parties.

This differs from the British and American system, where the natives hunt sea otters and prepare the furs on their own, and are essentially independent agents of the fur trade.

The Russians do not trade freely with the native Alaskans, rather they impose a fur tribute known as yasak.

The yasak system, which is widely used in Siberia, essentially enslaves the natives.

It is banned in Russian America in 1788, only to be replaced by compulsory labor.

A Russian captain in Kamchatka leads Kōdayū's people to Okhotsk.

The Japanese castaways, after staying temporarily in Yakutsk, are introduced by the captain to Erik Laxmann, who assists Kōdayū's and his crew in Irkutsk.

Kōdayū departs for Saint Petersburg in 1791 in the company of Laxman to ask to be returned home.