The s and s were a time of imperial expansion and colonial occupation for many European nations, including Russia. Vitus Bering , a Dane in the service of the Russian Navy, and Aleksei Chirikov a Captain in the Russian Navy, were commissioned to explore and map Russia's northeast coast.
In , their explorations landed them in Alaska and they realized that the Siberian fur trade could be profitably extended further east. Siberian fur trappers known as promyshlenniki operated the fur trade through brutality. They often took hostages and forced Aleut and Alutiiq peoples to supply resources for their subsistence. Their justification for this behavior can be summed up in an Old Russian maxim, "God is high above, and the Tsar is far away," meaning that judgement of or punishment for their behavior was unlikely in this remote frontier.
After depleting the sea otter population around Kodiak, the RAC wanted to exploit the resources further south and establish Russian colonies in Southeast Alaska. However, they faced resistance from the local Tlingit and competition from British and American companies operating in the area. The Tlingit had already established trade networks with the Americans and the British, in which the Tlingit traded sea otter pelts for firearms.
The Americans and the British gladly provided armaments to the Tlingit in order to undermine Russia's colonization attempts in Alaska. The Fort housed multiple buildings, large defensive fortifications, a warehouse to store furs, and a barracks to house the garrison. In response, the Sitka Tlingit attacked and destroyed the Russian fort in Two years later, Baranov returned to enact revenge and re-establish his Russian colony, resulting in the Battle of The Russians were nearly defeated again, but the Tlingit gun powder reserve was accidentally lost.
Without adequate supplies, the Sitka Tlingit strategically withdrew from Sitka Sound to continue the fight elsewhere. Baranov quickly founded and fortified a new Russian settlement at Sitka, naming it New Archangel.
