Russian-American Company

In 1799, Russia chartered the Russian-American Company to trade for furs and to administer the region for the Czar. Despite the name, this company was owned and operated solely by Russia. Alexander Baranov was the first governor of the Russian-American Company, serving from 1799 to 1818. The company issued banknotes printed on split walrus skin, sealskin or parchment.

For the first fifty years, only a few trading posts were located north of Kodiak Island. In the 1840s, Lavrentii Zagoskin explored the Yukon, Kuskokwim and Koyukuk rivers, redirecting Russian-American Company trade into these lucrative areas. The Russian-American Company trade was disrupted in the 1850s by hundreds of American and British whalers and traders, who were searching for baleen and whale oil. Soon, the wildlife populations were over-harvested and the whaling industry sharply declined, adding further stress to the Russian economy.