Russian views of the unknown coast: Shvetsov's accounts of the Oregon and northern California coastline during the sea otter trade, 1808-09

Abstract

Early-nineteenth century Russian accounts of the coastline between Alaska and Fort Ross are rare. This article helps fill this gap, providing diary accounts by Russian American Company employee, Afanasy Shvetsov, of two joint Russian-American sea otter hunting trips along the Oregon and northern California coasts in 1808-09. Recently recovered and translated, these accounts aptly describe landscapes and biota, as well as Russian, American, and conscripted Aleut and Kodiak Alutiiq hunters' interactions with Native American communities. Presented in their historical, geographical, and anthropological context, Shvetsov's accounts offer a rare, revealing glimpse of early European encounters with this contact-period coastline.