Native interpreters in Russian America

Andrei V. Grinëv
Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University

Translation by Richard L. Bland

This article analyzes the formation of a special professional group of

indigenous translator-interpreters in the Russian colonies of America
(including Mestizos-Creoles). They shared with the Russians all the
hardships of opening up new lands, acted as mediators between the new
arrivals and the natives, settled conflicts, warned the Russians about
dangers, and sometimes perished during shipwrecks and attacks by hostile
locals. Some of the interpreters participated in creating a written language
for the native inhabitants of Alaska.

Keywords: Russian America, indigenous population of Alaska, interpreters,

Creoles, Russian colonization of the New World

This topic has yet to receive special study in Russian and, as far as we know, for-
eign historiography, although native translators are repeatedly spoken about in
documents connected with the Russian colonization of the Aleutian Islands and
Alaska between 1741 and 1867; they are also mentioned in the scholarly literature.
We will examine this interesting topic in greater detail below.
Any study must begin with the fact that indigenous translators (perevodchiki)
or, as they were called in Old Russia, tolmachi, were widely used by the Russians
during the exploration and settlement of Siberia. They not only carried out their
obligations in direct contact with local residents but sometimes served as guides
in new territories, and, at times, even as spies. Some of them were in permanent
service, receiving a salary from the royal treasury. When the Russians discovered
and began settling the New World, they were informed by their Siberian experi-
ence of using indigenous interpreters. It is not by chance that among the mem-
bers of the expedition of Vitus Bering and Aleksei Il’ich Chirikov, which in 1741
claimed for Russia the shores of Southeast and South Alaska as well as the Aleut-
ian Islands, there were interpreters who entered into negotiations with the local
inhabitants. They included the baptized Chukchi Aleksei Lazutkov who knew, in

https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.19063.bla | Published online: 13 November 2019

Translation and Interpreting Studies 14:3 (2019), pp. 479–499. issn 1932-2798 | e‑issn 1876-2700
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
480 Andrei V. Grinëv

addition to Chukchi, the Koryak language. He travelled on the flagship, the packet
boat Sv. Petr [Saint Peter], commanded by Captain Bering. Two more inter-
preters, – Dmitrii Sharakhov and Ivan Panov (apparently baptized Kamchadal/
Itel’men who knew the Koryak language) travelled on the galliot Sv. Pavel [Saint
Paul], commanded by Captain Chirikov; did not return from the voyage, disap-
pearing without a trace on 21 June 1741 when they were sent from the packet boat
to the American shore for water in a ten-man crew led by senior navigator Avraam
Mikhailovich Dement’ev (see Grinëv 2005a). Regarding Aleksei Lazutkov, during
episodic contacts with the native inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands, he could not
understand their language, nor they the Chukchi or Koryak languages. The Aleuts
tried to keep him on shore by force, but when the sailors sent with him fired their
guns (as a result of which, the terrified islanders lay on their backs), Lazutkov
was able to free himself and rejoin the crew of the packet boat (RE 1984: 224–225,
231–232, 243–244).
After the return of the members of the Bering-Chirikov expedition, Siberian
merchants and hunters spread out across the newly-discovered islands, drawn by
rumors of fur riches in the new territories. By 1743 the first ship set off on a hunt
from Kamchatka, after which others followed, travelling ever farther to the east
along the chain of the Aleutian Islands, pursuing a diminishing population of fur-
bearing animals. It is natural that this put the Russians into contact with the local
inhabitants – the Aleuts. The Russians tried to teach some of the Aleuts their lan-
guage in order to facilitate mutual understanding (ARGO D. 2:16–17). One of the
first such interpreters was a young Aleut from the island of Atka by the name
Khalyunasan, who was brought to Kamchatka in 1752 by the Cossack mariner
Dmitrii Nakvasin. Khalyunasan was baptized there, receiving the name “Il’ya,”
but he did not live very long, dying far from his homeland in 1753 (Lyapunova
1987: 59, 61). After this, the Russians would occasionally bring young Aleuts to
Kamchatka, where they tried to educate them as loyal employees and interpreters,
some of them even being taught to read and write. Thus, in 1758 an Aleut youth
from Kanaga Island was brought to Kamchatka, baptized, and received the name
Ivan Cherepanov. He was registered as a Cossack and participated as a translator
on a hunting expedition on the boat Sv. Gavriil [Saint Gabriel] of quartermaster
Gavriil Gavrilovich Pushkarev in 1760–1762 to the Andreanof and Fox Islands as
well as to the Alaska Peninsula. On the Andreanof Islands Pushkarev took another
Aleut youth for training as an interpreter (ARGO D. 2:56). Then Cherepanov
was accepted into the government expedition led by Petr Kuzmich Krenitsyn and
Mikhail Dmitrievich Levashov (1764–1770) to study the Aleutian Islands and the
coasts of Alaska. Unfortunately, immediately after his return from this expedition,
Cherepanov drowned along with Captain Krenitsyn at the mouth of the Kam-
chatka River on 4 July 1770 (Lyapunova 1987: 59).
 Native interpreters in Russian America 481

Here it is worth noting that during the exploration and settlement of the
Aleutian Islands, hostages (zalozhniki-amanaty)1 – sons of local elders, whom
the Russians referred to by the Yakut term toyon or toion – often became inter-
preters. Hunters widely used the practice of amanatstvo, or “hostage taking,”
which played an important role in the Russian colonization of Siberia and the
Caucasus. One such amanat interpreter was the son of the Aleut toyon Bakutan
from the island of Attu – Uguyatak Bakutaev – who served as a translator with
the mariner Andreyan Tolstykh on the ship Sv. Andreyan i Natal’ia [Sts. Adrian
and Natalia] during the hunting expedition of 1761–1763. Together with Uguyatak,
Tolstykh had another zalozhnik-amanat and part-time interpreter – the son of an
Aleut elder from Attu Island who was referred to in the documents by various
names – Ishoka, Ishaka Kinikin, Ishanoyuk Inikin, and others, whom Tolstykh
called Nikita (RE 1989: 88, 94). Later, in 1768, he was taken to Kamchatka on the
ship Sv. Ioann Ustyuzhskii [St. John of Ustyug], captained by Vasilii Shoshin. Here
Ishoka learned the Russian language well, converted to Russian Orthodoxy, and
was given the name Osip Arsen’evich Kuznetsov. (His godfather was the Totma
merchant Arsenii Kuznetsov.) It was believed that baptism was an indispensible
sign of the natives’ loyalty to the Russians, and therefore almost all the Aleuts who
arrived in Kamchatka were encouraged to convert. Soon the governor of Siberia,
Denis Ivanovich Chicherin, sent the newly-baptized Osip Kuznetsov to St. Peters-
burg, accompanied by Lieutenant Timofei Ivanovich Shmalev. There, in 1770, the
Aleut was formally presented to Catherine II. The Empress awarded him a gold
medal with the inscription “Za poleznye obshchestvu trudy” [For Valuable Civic
Works]. On the return trip to Kamchatka, Ishok-Kuznetsov spent some time in
Moscow, where Academician Gerhard Müller worked with him, gathering valu-
able information about the Aleuts. On the journey back through Siberia the young
Aleut died, never reaching Tobolsk (IRA 1997: 254; Durov 1999: 57–58; Korsun
2006: 549–550). Such was the fate of many of his fellow native, who, finding them-
selves in Russia, were not always able to withstand the changes in climate and
food, and especially the impact of various diseases; their immune systems were
ill-equipped to deal with new forms of infection.
As the historian Sergei Korsun notes, before the 1780s Russian hunters con-
stantly hired translators and predominantly from Attu Island in the Near Islands.
The Aleuts from this island worked as interpreters on the hunting expeditions
of Pushkarev (1760–1762), Tolstykh (1760–1764), Ivan Korovin (1767–1770 and
1772–1776), and others (Korsun 2006: 551). Aleut amanaty interpreters not only
fulfilled the duties of a translator but at times warned the Russians about danger

1. A zalozhnik is a hostage taken by force, an amanat is a more or less voluntary hostage held
as a security (see Grinëv 2003). – Trans.
482 Andrei V. Grinëv

from their fellow tribesmen. Sometimes the informants were the close relatives
of such hostages, who feared for their lives at the hands of the Russians. Thus,
the son of the Aleut toyon Kyginyk from Unalaska Island was an amanat for
the mariner Stepan Gavrilovich Glotov from the ship Sv. Iulian [St. Julian] in
1760–1762, and then for the mariner Ivan Ivanovich Korovin from the ship Sv.
Zhivonachal’naya Troitsa [Holy Life-giving Trinity] in 1763–1764. Through inter-
actions with the Russians he knew a little of their language and therefore was
used as an interpreter, receiving the name Aleksei. It was his relatives who warned
Korovin about the intended attacks by his fellow tribesmen, which permitted both
the mariner and several members of his crew to survive an uprising of the Aleuts
in December of 1763. In 1766 Aleksei was voluntarily baptized by mariner Ivan
Maksimovich Solov’ev of the ship Sv. Petr i Pavel [Sts. Peter and Paul], who took
the translator with him to Kamchatka, where he converted to Orthodoxy and
received the name Aleksandr Popov (RO 1948: 130–131; RE 1989: 109; Lyapunova
1987: 67).
Interpreters loyal to the Russians often risked their lives. For example, an
Aleut from Umnak Island by the name of Agyuyak (Agayak, Ageyak, Yagiyan) ini-
tially served as interpreter for the mariner Glotov on the latter’s hunting expedi-
tion of 1758–1762, during the course of which the Fox Islands were discovered.
Then Agyuyak went to work for the mariner Quartermaster Denis Medvedev,
who arrived there in 1763 on the ship [St. John] to hunt. The crew of this ship
was completely annihilated by local Aleuts, though Agyuyak himself managed to
escape. He hid for a long time from his fellow tribesmen, and then worked again
as an interpreter, now for the mariner and peredovshchik Solov’ev on the ship Sv.
Petr i Pavel,2 the crew of which carried out hunting expeditions on the neigh-
boring island of Unalaska. Solov’ev and his assistants treated the Aleuts severely
as punishment for the uprising against Russian hunters that took place in the
winter of 1763/64. In the spring of 1765 Agyuyak and another Aleut interpreter
with Solov’ev’s expedition – Kashmak – warned him of an intended attack by the
Unalaskans, which permitted Solov’ev to avoid open conflict by initiating negoti-
ations. Agyuyak faithfully served Solov’ev until he drowned in April of 1766 (RO
1948: 148, 156, 163).
As representatives of a kind of “fifth column,” interpreters often earned the
hatred of their fellow tribesmen. Thus, in the fall of 1771 during a subsequent voy-
age by Solov’ev to the Aleutian Islands on the ship Sv. Apostol Pavel [St. Paul the
Apostle], the inhabitants of Sannak Island killed the Aleut interpreter Vas’ka who
was with him, and then in December they attacked one of the hunters’ artels. In

2. Peredovshchik – a clerk in charge of the cargo on a merchant ship and carrying out hunting
and trade as well as the conduct of the crew on shore during hunting expeditions in America.
 Native interpreters in Russian America 483

the spring, the interpreter’s murderer was arrested by the Russians and executed
by order of Solov’ev. In November of 1772 on Avatanak Island about 70 Aleut war-
riors attempted to launch an attack on his crew, but another Aleut interpreter,
who had replaced Vas’ka, managed to discover their intentions and warned the
Russians. As a result, a night attack on Solov’ev’s camp proved unsuccessful (only
the night watch was killed – the Yakut Petr Volozhaninov) (Ogloblin 1892: 198,
203, 208). From the point of view of the indigenous interpreters themselves, their
“intelligence work” for the Russians was not an act of betrayal; indeed, as a rule
they were inhabitants of other Aleut settlements or islands that were often hostile
to the local population.
This does not mean, however, that the interpreters’ loyalty to the Russians
was boundless. Some of them were probably playing a double game, supplying
information to both sides. Thus, during a voyage of the ship Sv. Pavel [St. Paul]
(1765–1770), under the command of mate’s apprentice Afanasii Ocheredin, the
Aleuts in the Fox Island chain carried out several attacks on his crew. During one
of the clashes, the interpreter who was with the Russians fled from the field of bat-
tle together with the retreating Aleut warriors (ARGO D. 2:50). From this fact it
can be concluded that he was, in modern parlance, a double agent.
Nevertheless, some Aleut interpreters quite voluntarily (unlike the amanaty),
and at times repeatedly, entered into the service of mariners of various merchant
companies that were carrying out fur trading in the Aleutian Islands and Alaska
during the second half of the eighteenth century. For example, the baptized Aleut
Ivan Gur’ev, who presented himself to Solov’ev in 1772 on Unalaska, offered his
services as a translator. In addition, he presented the Russian mariner with a let-
ter of recommendation from the peredovshchik of the ship Sv. Adreyan i Natal’ia
[Sts. Adrian and Natalia], Luka Vtorushin, in which Gur’ev “has proven his zeal-
ous loyalty for the Russian people” (Ogloblin 1892: 207). It is probable that Gur’ev
and other Aleut interpreters were encouraged to make such a move for various
reasons: obtaining valuable gifts and relatively regular provisions, as well as the
patronage of the powerful new arrivals, who could potentially elevate their social
status. Noteworthy in this regard is the fate of Kashmak (Kashpak), an Unalaska
Aleut (although, according to other data, a Kodiak Eskimo). He initially served as
an interpreter for the mariner Glotov from the boat Sv. Iulian, who discovered the
island during a hunting expedition in 1758–1762. After this, Kashmak was inter-
preter for the mariner and peredovshchik Korovin from the ship Sv. Troitsa [Holy
Trinity] in 1763–1764, and then for the mariner Solov’ev from the ship Sv. Petr i
Pavel in 1764–1766. Kashmak was devoted to the Russians and was rewarded by
Solov’ev for his loyalty with various gifts and a glowing reference before his depar-
ture to Kamchatka in May of 1766 (RO 1948: 124, 130–131, 133, 148, 165). After this,
in 1768–1769 Kashmak served as an interpreter for the Krenitsyn- Levashov expe-
484 Andrei V. Grinëv

dition. It is probable that it was Kashmak, or “Kashpak,” as he is called in the

notes of the Finnish geologist Henrik Johan Holmberg, who was brought as an
interpreter in 1784 from Unalaska to Kodiak Island when the well-known mer-
chant Georgii Ivanovich Shelikhov was in the process of taking over the island
(Holmberg 1855: 135). If this were the case, then Kashmak/Kashpak was a native
of the island, an Eskimo who had been taken captive in childhood by Unalaska
Aleuts, which in turn may explain Kashmak’s special loyalty to the Russians.
The nephew of Toyon Shushak from Umnak Island by the name of Mushkal’
or Mushkol’ (probably, Mushkalyaks), who is referred to in the documents as Ivan
Stepanovich Glotov, as his godfather was the well-known mariner Stepan Glotov,
served the Russians for many years, making a successful career for himself. Like
some other interpreters, Mushkal’ was initially taken as an amanat by Glotov dur-
ing his hunting expedition in the Fox Islands on the ship Sv. Iulian (1758–1762).
Glotov not only baptized Mushkal’ but also took him to Kamchatka. Soon the
young Aleut set off as an interpreter on a hunting expedition as part of Glotov’s
the crew on the ship Sv. Adreyan i Natal’ia. In 1764–1766 he visited the Fox Islands
and Kodiak Island (where he did not understand the language of the local Eski-
mos) (RTE 1979: 318; RE 1989: 103, 109). Then Mushkal’-Glotov took part in the
Krenitsyn-Levashov expedition of 1768–1769 with his godfather. After this, Ivan
Glotov became the toyon of the village of Samonakh (Recheshnoe) on Umnak
Island, and on 28 April 1792 Mushkal’ was awarded a gold medal by the mem-
bers of the government expedition led by Joseph Billings and Gavriil Andreevich
Sarychev for his many years of loyal service to the Russians. In 1806 he had the
Orthodox chapel of St. Nickolas built in the village and conducted church services
there, since he was able to read Russian, which he had probably learned during
his stay in Kamchatka (RA 1994: 111).
The Russians themselves very rarely undertook the study of the Aleut lan-
guage, and so only the occasional Russian could communicate with the native
inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands without an interpreter. For example, the Kam-
chatka Cossack Sila Shevyrin was a tribute collector and interpreter on several
hunting expeditions to the Near and Andreanof Islands of the Aleutian chain in
1747–1760. Another Kamchatka Cossack who knew the Aleut language and was
friendly with the local residents – Rodion Durnev – was navigator on the ship Sv.
Ioann Predtecha [St. John the Baptist] from 1760–1763 (AVPRI:25–26 ob.; Pallas
1781: 38; Makarova 1968: 183). In addition, from 1756–1759 the baptized Koryak,
Semyon Serebrennikov, travelled as an interpreter on the ship Sv. Adreyan i
Natal’ia, the skipper of which was Andrean Tolstykh). Serebrennikov had learned
the Aleut language when he deserted from the crew of the ship Sv. Petr [St. Peter],
which was wrecked on Attu Island during a storm in 1750. Serebrennikov spent a
couple of years among the Aleuts. However, after a visit to the island by the ship
 Native interpreters in Russian America 485

Sv. Ioann [St. John] in 1754, he joined the crew and served as interpreter, con-
tributing much to the collection of tribute from the local Aleuts,3 including 49
especially valuable sea otter hides. In 1755 Serebrennikov returned to Kamchatka
with the crew of the Sv. Ioann (ARGO D.2:35).
After Shelikhov had founded the first permanent Russian colony on Kodiak
Island in 1784, native interpreters began to be widely used in the service of his
company. Among them were both Aleuts from the Fox Island chain and local
newly-baptized Kodiak Eskimos. One of them, Efrem Shelikhov (whose godfather
was Grigorii Shelikhov himself ), was sent to Shuyak Island, neighboring Kodiak
Island, accompanied by two Russian hunters for the purpose of trade and intelli-
gence. However, they were soon killed by the local Eskimos, who stole their prop-
erty, for which Shelikhov sent a punitive expedition to the island, during which
all the residents of a settlement on Shuyak were killed (Shelikhov 1971: 49–50;
Pamyatniki 1873: 374–375).
The founder of Russian America set great store by native interpreters. Before
his departure from Kodiak in the spring of 1786, Shelikhov gave “instructions”
to the manager of his company, the Yenisei merchant Konstantin Alekseevich
Samoilov, who was remaining behind, ordered that during Samoilov’s tour of
native settlements and hunters’ artels, “through various and reliable interpreters,
any extortion made by both sides, the management and the employees, be impar-
tially investigated.” Shelikhov felt that special care should be shown to the Fox-
Island Aleuts and the interpreters brought by them from Unalaska. As he wrote to
Samoilov: “All Fox-Island Aleuts… should have excellently good upkeep, always
shoes and clothing, like the Russians, not decrepit, and the interpreters and good
men should be especially well dressed, and feed themselves and their wives with
pleasing food.” Samoilov was also to pay attention to the training of new groups
of translators from neighboring peoples – the Kenai people (Tanaina Indians)
and Chugach Eskimos. For this, Shelikhov thought it necessary “Also to bring in
from the Kenai and Chugach clans young and good boys and girls to prepare in
advance for taking them away for learning, and there to teach them Russian lit-
eracy and conversation for translating. And [we?] must especially try to obtain
translators from the indigenous inhabitants of the coast from Alaska to Califor-
nia at about 50º north latitude, as the Russians do not yet have any, but they will
be needed” (RO 1948: 187, 191, 195). Thus, according to Shelikhov’s plans, native
interpreters were to be an indispensable feature of broad Russian expansion in
America.

3. Tribute – the usual payment of furs, which the natives of Siberia, and initially Russian Amer-
ica as well, paid to the imperial treasury.
486 Andrei V. Grinëv

As the area of Russian colonization in the New World expanded, in accor-

dance with Shelikhov’s intentions, not only were Aleuts and Kodiak people drawn
into service as interpreters for the Russians but also representatives of other
indigenous peoples: Chugach Eskimos, Tanaina Indians (Kenai people), Tlingit
(Kolyuzhi or Koloshi), and others. Quite notable in this regard was the fate of a
young Indian, evidently from the Tsimshian tribe, by the name of Nakhuseinatsk,
who as a youth was taken captive by the Tlingit Indians and was turned over by
them to the Russians in Yakutat Bay, where the latter visited on the galliot Tri
Svyatitelya [The Three Prelates] during the expedition of Gerasim Grigor’evich
Izmailov and Dmitrii Ivanovich Bocharov in 1788. On board the Russian ship,
Nakhuseinatsk was used as a pilot and interpreter since he knew the coast and
the Tlingit language (Shelikhov 1971: 104). In 1790 he was baptized on Kodiak
Island by the priest of the Billings expedition, V. Sivtsov, and was given the name
Vasilii Sivtsov. Taken into the crew of the expedition as an interpreter, the young
Indian voluntarily entered into government maritime service and on 5 July 1792
was enlisted as Seaman 2nd Class in the crew of the sloop Slava Rossii [Glory of
Russia]. After completing the practical part of the expedition, its leader, Captain
of the 1st Rank Billings, on 6 September 1793, petitioned the Admiralty College
to award a medal to Seaman Sivtsov, who had taken up permanent residence in
Irkutsk (RE 1989: 310, 333, 363; Sarychev 1952; 152). Unfortunately, the subsequent
fate of this indigenous of the New World is at present unknown to us.
In connection with the appearance of foreign ships on the shores of Russian
America, the Siberian authorities developed regulations for meeting them in
accordance with the decree of the Irkutsk Governor-General Ivan Alfer’evich Pil’
of 23 January 1790. According to the decree, indigenous toyons were ordered to
maintain the greatest care during contacts with foreigners; they were prohibited
from releasing their kinsmen to them and giving them interpreters (RE 1989:
291). Thereby the Russian administration, proceeding from economic and politi-
cal considerations, tried to isolate the local residents from foreign influence, and
by denying them translator-interpreters force foreign competitors to keep their
contact with the natives of Russian America to a minimum.
During this period some of the native interpreters used their knowledge
of the Russian language to provide the Russian authorities with information
about abuses toward the indigenous residents of Russian America by hunters and
sailors. The baptized Unalaska Aleut Ivan Chuloshnikov (Saguakkh), who before
this had served as interpreter for Russian hunters, complained in 1789 to mem-
bers of the government expedition of Billings and Sarychev about the harassment
and oppression of the Aleuts by peredovshchiki and sailors of the various mer-
chant companies – Afanasii Ocheredin, Dmitrii Polutov, among others (RP 1988:
368–369). Another Unalaska Aleut who was a baptized interpreter and simultane-
 Native interpreters in Russian America 487

ously the toyon of the village of Illyulyuk, Elisei Pupyshev (who in 1791 served as
translator for Captain Sarychev), later accompanied Hieromonk Makarii, a mem-
ber of the Kodiak Spiritual Mission, and two other Aleuts on a trip to St. Peters-
burg, where in the summer of 1798 they presented complaints to Emperor Paul I
about the violence and lawlessness of the Russian hunters toward the native pop-
ulation of the Russian colonies. Pupyshev, however, did not meet the emperor
since he died in Moscow on the way to St. Petersburg. The audience with the
monarch was attended by his kinsmen – the baptized interpreters Nikifor Svin’in
(Changisunakhu) and Nikolai Lukanin (Sukanikatnakhu or Sukanikatkhan), as
well as Hieromonk Makarii. The tsar, however, would not consider the complaints
and sent them back to America. Both Aleut interpreters died in Irkutsk on the way
to their homeland in March of 1800 (IRA 1997: 270–272; Korsun 2006: 561–562,
567–568).
At this time the individual activity of the various merchant companies in
America came to an end when, in 1799, they were all combined into a single
monopoly, the Russian-American Company (RAC), to whom the imperial gov-
ernment entrusted management of its possessions in the New World. The year the
RAC was created coincided with the founding of a new Russian colony in Alaska –
Fort Mikhailovskii (Novoarkhangel’sk) on the island of Sitka (present-day Bara-
nof Island) in the very center of the lands of the numerous and bellicose Tlingit
Indians. In their negotiations with the Tlingits, the Russians used both baptized
Kodiak Eskimos who knew the Tlingit language (for example, Ivan Nechaev or
Semyon Kurbatov) and Tlingit Indians themselves, in particular Indian women.
One of them, named Anyushka Sitkhinskaya, served the Russians as an inter-
preter as early as 1796, after having been saved during the wreck of the galliot
Tri Ierarkha [The Three Hierarchs] under the command of Vasilii Grigor’evich
Medvednikov during a voyage from Yakutat Bay to Kodiak Island (Kashevarov
1986: 97). She subsequently lived in Fort Mikhailovskii, the construction of which
was being led by Aleksandr Andreevich Baranov, who would soon become the
governor of Russian America. It was probably Anyushka who was sent by Baranov
on Easter of 1800 to the Indian chiefs with the invitation to come to festivities at
the fort, but she was robbed, beaten, and ejected from the Tlingit settlement by
the Indians from other localities who had come to the island of Sitka to fish, trade,
and engage in friendly interactions with fellow tribesmen. Baranov decided to
prevent such provocations so as not to exacerbate the conflict. With two falconets
and a total of 22 Russians, he boldly went to the Tlingit settlement, which had
about 300 well-armed warriors. “We marched among everyone to the dwelling
of the guilty, whom, we were told, were prepared to stand in resistance,” wrote
Baranov, “but, following only two volleys, we found only a few old men, the oth-
ers having fled” (Tikhmenev 1863, Append. p. 147). The volleys were shot only for
488 Andrei V. Grinëv

intimidation, and no one was hurt. Baranov gathered the chiefs and forced the
guilty to “apologize,” followed by a mutual gift exchange and assurances of friend-
ship. This action greatly boosted the authority of the governor among the Indi-
ans. On 19 April 1800, before his departure, Baranov gave Medvednikov, who had
been appointed as head of Fort Mikhailovskii, special “instructions” in which he
ordered that contacts be carried out with the Tlingit with the greatest of care and
to maintain peaceful relations with them. In the winter of 1801–02, the interpreter
Anyushka repeatedly warned Medvednikov about preparations for an attack by
her kinsmen, but he paid no attention to her. As a result of an unexpected attack in
June of 1802, Fort Mikhailovskii was captured and burned by the Tlingit, and all
its defenders, including Medvednikov, perished (K istorii RAK 1957: 121; Grinëv
2005b: 116–132). Anyushka most probably survived these dramatic events since
the Indian warriors did not usually kill women, preferring to take them captive.
Two years later, in 1804, Baranov again established a foothold on Baranof Island,
expelling the Tlingit from their fort to the eastern part of the island and founding
at the site of the old Indian settlement a new fort – Novo-Arkhangel’sk – which
would become the capital of Russian America in 1808.
In addition to working on the front line of the colonial “frontier,” indigenous
interpreters continued to be widely used in those regions where over the past few
decades Russian colonization had been consolidated. At this time several inter-
preters from the “depths” of the Russian colonial territory not only spoke the
Russian language but were also literate, for example, the Kodiak Eskimos Roman
Belorukov and Paramon Chumovitskii, as well as the Aleut toyon and part-time
interpreter Ivan Gavrilovich Pan’kov (Pankov). In 1805, the latter was awarded,
in honor of the coronation of Alexander I, a silver medal for service to the RAC,
which was presented by the unofficial head of the company, Chamberlain Niko-
lai Petrovich Rezanov, during his inspection tour of the Russian colonies. Pan’kov
had an illustrious career and received various awards. In 1809 he presented 50 sea
otter hides to the royal treasury, for which he was awarded a saber by the Irkutsk
governor, Nikolai Ivanovich Treskin, although he received it only in 1818. Then,
in 1832, Pan’kov was assigned as head “itinerant toyon” in the Unalaska Depart-
ment, and in April of 1840 he became chief toyon of the “Eastern Region” (east-
ern part) of the Unalaska Department, where in 1842 the leadership of the RAC
awarded him a silver watch, specially ordered in England, for his work in improv-
ing the lives of his kinsmen. He actively aided the eminent missionary Innoken-
tii Veniaminov in translating sacred texts into the Aleut language and in creating
the Aleut writing system. Other interpreters also took part in this project – Daniil
Kuzyakin and Semyon Pan’kov (Pankov) (Kliment 2009: 116–117).
Such awards were given to other interpreters who zealously served the RAC
in the different parts of Russia’s vast colonial possessions. After the founding of
 Native interpreters in Russian America 489

a new Russian colony in California – Fort Ross – in 1812, native hunters from
Alaska were transferred there. Of course, there were interpreters among them,
who were necessary to enable communication between their kinsmen and the
stewards of the RAC. One of them was the toyon of the Chiniak settlement on
Kodiak, Yakov Shelikhov, who diligently served as an interpreter at Fort Ross,
for which in the summer of 1818 Captain-Lieutenant Ludwig von Hagemeister
awarded him a silver medal on a St. Vladimir ribbon bearing the inscription
“Soyuznye Rossii” [Allied Russia]. In the same year a salary of 50 rubles in ban-
knotes per year was allocated to another interpreter who served at Fort Ross,4
the Eskimo Aleksei Chunakchuzhi, who also knew the Spanish language. Conse-
quently, he worked as a translator in contacts with the local Spanish (NARS, Roll
26:99; Roll 34:197–198).
Captain-Lieutenant von Hagemeister, who replaced the elderly Baranov in
January of 1818 as governor of Russian America, was by May facing hostility
from the Tlingit who lived in the vicinity of Novo-Arkhangel’sk; two Russian
hunters were killed by the Indians not far from the walls of the city. In negoti-
ations with their restless neighbors, the Russians needed permanent translators,
so Hagemeister allocated a salary of 60 rubles in banknotes per year and a
small ration from the RAC to the Tlingit woman Domna, who had worked
as an interpreter in Novo-Arkhangel’sk in the 1810s. Another baptized Indian
woman was also brought into the negotiations with the Tlingit – the wife of
hunter Eremei Sokolov – Praskov’ya, whom Hagemeister also appointed as inter-
preter of the “Kolosh language” with a salary of 100 rubles in banknotes per
year. In addition, the baptized Tlingit woman Mariya Kabachakova (also referred
to as Koloshenka Mar’ya, or interpreter Mar’ya), wife of Matvei Kabachakov,
an employee of the RAC, worked periodically (up to the middle of the 1850s)
as an interpreter (NARS, Roll 26:39, 87; Roll 58:314 ob.–315; Roll 62:130 ob.).
However, women were not highly esteemed among the Tlingit, and so former
Tlingit amanaty, Kalistrat Gedeonov (Nikostrat L’kaina) and Niktopoleon
Gedeonov (Tygike), who had finished their schooling on Kodiak and been
baptized there by Hieromonk Gedeon, – and enscripted into service for the RAC
as official “Kolosh interpreters” in 1821. The starting salary of the former was 200
rubles in banknotes per year, which in 1822 was increased to 250 rubles; it was
then raised to 350 rubles, and in 1831 the governor of Russian America, Baron
Ferdinand von Wrangell, allocated an additional 100 more rubles. At this point,
Kalistrat Gedeonov was being paid more than the ordinary Russian employee
(whose average salary was 350 rubles in banknotes per year). His successful

4. In the early 1800s rubles were of two kinds: silver and banknotes. One silver ruble = 2.67
banknote rubles.
490 Andrei V. Grinëv

service, however, was interrupted by his unexpected death in 1832 (evidently from
a heart attack or stroke) on board the brig Polifem [Polyphemus] in Yakutat Bay
while he was accompanying an RAC hunting party in the region (NARS, Roll
27:222; Roll 31:486 ob.; Roll 33:47; Roll 53:61; Roll 56:138–138 ob.; Grinëv 2009:
120–121; 158, 204, 501).
Things turned out better for another Kolosh interpreter, Niktopoleon
Gedeonov, who in the Russian colonies was known simply as “Interpreter
Gedeon.” He often acted not only as a translator but also as a steward for the
RAC in purchasing valuable furs from his fellow tribesmen. On 19 October 1848,
the emperor awarded Gedeon a silver medal, bearing the inscription “Za userdie”
[For Diligence], on a St. Ann’s ribbon for his long-term service, as well as for sav-
ing slaves belonging to the Tlingit who had been condemned to death; he received
the medal in December of 1849 (NARS, Roll 53:61; Roll 55:334). In March of 1852
he succeeded in warning the Russians about impending violence between hos-
tile Indian clans outside the walls of Novo-Archangel’sk. However, the governor
at that time, Captain of the 2nd Rank Nikolai Iakovlevich Rozenberg, did not pay
sufficient attention to the words of the old Indian interpreter. As a result, the Rus-
sians were indirectly involved in the intra-tribal conflict, which had very nega-
tive consequences for the colonies (NARS, Roll 58:311–313; IRA 1999: 328–332).
Rozenberg tried to place the responsibility for this on the Kolosh interpreters,
who, in his words, reported the evil intentions of their fellow tribesmen too late
(just an hour before the massacre). Of course, in a dispatch addressed to the board
of directors of the RAC, Rozenberg admitted that he did not interrupt his Sun-
day dinner to take immediate action to prevent the bloodshed that soon followed
(NARS, Roll 58:310–310 ob.). Contributing to this was Rozenberg’s conviction
that all the plans of the Indians would have been relayed to the colonial leadership
in advance by Tlingit women and the Kolosh interpreters. “Heretofore,” he wrote
to St. Petersburg in June of 1852, “between the Russians in America there was the
conviction that no secret could be kept long among the Kolosh and that by means
of their women or our interpreters it would be very soon found out and there-
fore their secret intentions against the Russians could always be learned before-
hand and thus counteracted” (NARS, Roll 58:313–313 ob.). Due to such illusions,
new hostility in Russian-Tlingit relations characterized Rozenberg’s tenure begin-
ning in the 1850s. The escalation of tension finally ended with an attack on Novo-
Arkhangel’sk by the Indians in March of 1855, which resulted in a large number
of casualties, especially among the Tlingit (IRA 1999: 328–337). It was also in that
year that the old interpreter Gedeonov died, having remained in service to the
RAC to his last day.
In addition to the two Gedeonovs, the interpreter Dmitrii Stepanovich Lar-
ionov was brought into negotiations with the Tlingit as a translator. He was a
 Native interpreters in Russian America 491

Creole, that is, a Mestizo. His father, commander of the Russian fort in Yakutat
Bay, had perished in 1805 during an attack by the local Indians. Dmitrii himself
had lived for a long time among the Tlingit Indians, but in 1819 he ran off to
Novo-Arkhangel’sk (RAK 2005: 102–103; Grinëv 2005b: 323). Initially he went
as a sailor on RAC ships. However, he then began to work as an interpreter
since he knew the Tlingit language very well. For some time he performed the
duty of “junior Kolosh interpreter” in the Novo-Arkhangel’sk port, and then in
the 1830s he was transferred to the Dionisievskii Redoubt at the mouth of the
Stikine River, where for diligent service he was awarded 50 rubles in banknotes by
the colonial leadership (NARS, Roll 41:124). After the Dionisievskii Redoubt was
leased to the English of the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1840, Larionov returned
to Novo-Arkhangel’sk, where he lived to the end of his life; he died in 1846.
He was replaced in May of 1847 by Pavel Kuch-ke-ke, a baptized Tlingit Indian
from the local community of Sitka, who was hired as a “junior Kolosh inter-
preter.” In the summer of that year Kuch-ke-ke was sent with the expedition led
by Ensign Nikolai Khristoforovich Benzeman to map the shores of Baranof Island
(NARS, Roll 53:82 ob.–83; 116 ob.–118). Kuch-ke-ke served as junior interpreter
in Novo-Arkhangel’sk until the beginning of 1850, after which he was temporar-
ily dismissed since, according to the colonial leadership, he was of “indifferent
abilities.” Nevertheless, in June 1862 he accompanied the party of the engineer-
technologist Petr Petrovich Andreev during his expedition to the upper reaches
of the Stikine River, serving as interpreter. The expedition had been dispatched
by the colonial leadership to search for gold (Grinëv 2009: 285, 292–293; Andreev
1887: 682–692).
In order to train loyal and competent translators from the Tlingit language,
the Russian administration toward the end of the 1840s sent several young Indians
for instruction in the Russian language, at RAC expense, to the port of Ayan on
the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, where the company office was located. Among
them were Vasilii Tklekh and Gavrila Ka-te-gan (nephew of the interpreter
Gedeon), who were sent to Ayan on the RAC ship Sitkha [Sitka] in 1847 and
returned to Novo-Arkhangel’sk in 1849. In 1850, the latter was enscripted into RAC
service as a junior Kolosh interpreter (after Gedeon) with a salary of 180 rubles
in banknotes per year, replacing the dismissed Pavel Kuch-ke-ke (NARS, Roll
56:254 ob.; Roll 62:130 ob.). Ka-te-gan was in RAC service at least until 1859. A
year before this, another young Tlingit, Sakhlya, was sent to Ayan, and in 1860
two Indians were sent – Kachaty and Tsukhane (NARS, Roll 62:126 ob.–127; Roll
63:48). However, the chief interpreter for negotiations with the Tlingit during this
period was the Russian-Tlingit Creole Ivan Vasil’evich Zhukov. In 1836, he was
left for several months among the Tlingit of the Stikine community (under the
protection of loyal chiefs) for training in their language (NARS, Roll 38:37 ob.).
492 Andrei V. Grinëv

In the 1840s he fulfilled the duty of “Kolosh interpreter in the spiritual depart-
ment” in Novo-Arkhangel’sk, where he taught the Russian language to Tlingit
children and taught the students of the local Sitka Spiritual Seminary in the Tlin-
git language. Zhukov translated several sacred Biblical texts into the Tlingit lan-
guage, for which he received praise and a monetary award from Bishop Innokentii
(Veniaminov) in 1849–1850 (Kliment 2009: 155). However, in 1850 he compro-
mised himself in the eyes of the leadership by “immoral behavior,” and so was dis-
missed from service and sent from Novo-Arkhangel’sk to Kodiak Island in order
that he “not damage the business of turning the Kolosh,” that is, the Tlingit, to the
Orthodox faith (NARS, Roll 56:5–5 ob.). Zhukov was resettled on Afognak Island
“under supervision” in the family of a Creole village elder, Khristofor Makarovich
Seleznev. Zhukov seduced Seleznev’s daughter Marfa and ran off with her, but was
caught and severely punished by flogging. In 1853 he was again returned to Novo-
Arkhangel’sk, where he continued in service at the church consistory as inter-
preter. Then, in May 1863, Zhukov set off on the steam corvette Rynda (under
Captain-Lieutenant Vladimir Grigor’evich Basargin) as an interpreter for nego-
tiations with the Tlingit in connection with the search for gold deposits on the
Stikine River. He would serve as interpreter for the RAC in the port of Novo-
Arkhangel’sk until the concession of Alaska to the United States in 1867 (NARS,
Roll 52:293–293 ob.; Grinëv 2009: 176–177, 217, 218, 532, 580).
Zhukov, and before him Dmitrii Larionov, were by no means the only Creoles
whom the RAC used as interpreters. The company resorted to this practice rather
widely beginning in the 1820s. This was due to the fact that Creoles often knew the
language of their native mothers, were without exception baptized, were almost
all literate, were already in the service of the RAC, and were loyal to the com-
pany. Thus, for example, at the beginning of the 1820s the Creole Ivan Salomatov
worked as an interpreter at Nikolaevskii Redoubt on the Kenai Peninsula with a
salary of 120 rubles in banknotes per year.
Other Creoles often temporarily fulfilled the duties of interpreter (usually
as their second job). Those included the well-known traveler and RAC steward
Afanasii Il’ich Klimovskii. He visited California with a hunting expedition, where
he was seized by a Spanish patrol on 25 September 1815 and not freed until 1817
by Lieutenant Iakov Anikievich Podushkin, who arrived in California on the RAC
ship Otkrytie [Discovery]. In 1818, Klimovskii participated in the expedition of
P. G. Korsakovskii in the basin of the Nushagak River. Then Klimovskii him-
self, now as the head of a small expedition, explored the Copper River valley and
apparently reached its headwaters in 1819. In 1821 he was transferred to Novo-
Arkhangel’sk and, since he possessed a good command of the Eskimo language,
he was assigned as interpreter to the expedition of Captain-Lieutenant Mikhail
Nikolaevich Vasil’ev on the naval sloop Otkrytie, which explored the shores of
 Native interpreters in Russian America 493

Alaska and Chukotka in the region of the Bering Strait (NARS, Roll 27:222). Later
Klimovskii would serve as a steward for the RAC, and for a short time in 1824
he would serve as head of Konstantinovskii Redoubt on Nuchek (Hinchinbrook)
Island in Prince William Sound (Grinëv 2009: 234).
Knowledge of the Eskimo language undoubtedly contributed in a similar way
to the career of the Creole Semyon Ivanovich Lukin, who, like Klimovskii, took
part in the expedition of Petr Grigor’evich Korsakovskii to the Nushagak River
basin in 1818. He later participated in the expeditions of Ensign of the Naval Nav-
igators’ Corp Ivan Filippovich Vasil’ev to the Nushagak and Kuskokwim river
basins in 1829–1830 (Fedorova 1979: 185 –188, 194, 205). Beginning in 1819, Lukin
served as interpreter at the Novo-Aleksandrovskii Redoubt. He actively helped his
leader, Fyodor Lavrent’evich Kolmakov, during trade expeditions in 1832–1833 and
1833–1834 in the interior regions of Alaska. In 1834, Lukin became baidarshchik
(leader) of the Khulitnakskaya Odinochka (a small unfortified trading post),
based at the entrance of the Khulitnak (Holitna) River, which flowed into the
Kuskokwim. Then, in 1836–1855, he served as baidarshchik at Kolmakovskii
Redoubt on the Kuskokwim River and did much to establish friendly relations
with the local people and to bring about their mutual reconciliation. At the same
time, he directed a school at the redoubt for children of employees of the RAC
and local natives and founded an Orthodox chapel there (ARGO, D. 61:24 ob.–25;
RAK 2005:292–294, 300, 308, 346; Zagoskin 1956: 46–47, 258, 278, 281–282). Two
of Lukin’s sons – Ivan and Konstantin – also worked for some time as inter-
preters. The latter served in the RAC in 1845 as a translator and assistant to
Yakov Ivanovich Netsvetov, the priest of the Russian Orthodox Mission in the
village of Ikogmiut on the Yukon River, and in 1848 was appointed deacon. His
brother Ivan, like their father, was famous for undertaking trading trips into the
far interior regions of Alaska. He knew not only the language of the coastal Eski-
mos but also two Indian languages – Ingalik and Tanana. In 1855 Ivan Lukin was
appointed head of the Kolmakovskii Redoubt after the death of his father, but
at the beginning of 1860 he was removed due to dereliction of duty and trans-
ferred to Mikhailovskii Redoubt in Norton Sound. In 1865 he was assigned as
translator and guide on an American expedition organized by the Western Union
International Telegraph Company, which allocated enormous resources for the
construction of a telegraph line from the United States through Canada, Alaska,
and Siberia to Russia and Western Europe. (In 1867, following the successful lay-
ing of the Transatlantic telegraph cable, all work ceased) (Grinëv 2009: 314–315;
Adams 1982: 33–35, 51–52, 60–67, 80–83).
Several interpreters had previously taken part in the famous expedition of
Lieutenant Lavrentii Alekseevich Zagoskin to the interior regions of Alaska in
1842–1844. Among them were the Creole Grigorii Stepanovich Kurochkin and
494 Andrei V. Grinëv

two interpreters of mixed Eskimo-Indian origin born in California – Nikifor

Kuz’mich Talizhuk and Pavel Matveevich Aklyayuk (Aglyayuk) (see Zagoskin
1956: 25, 51, 81, 113, 121, 133–134, 137, 153). The last served the RAC for several years
at Mikhailovskii Redoubt on the shore of Norton Sound as well as at the Nulato
Odinochka on the Yukon River. Aklyayuk subsequently took part in the search
for the missing Arctic expedition of Captain John Franklin on board the British
frigate the Herald. He was taken from Mikhailovskii Redoubt in 1848 as a trans-
lator of the Eskimo language and then taken by the English to Petropavlovsk-
Kamchatski, where Aklyayuk remained for the winter. He communicated with
British sailors in broken Spanish language, which he had evidently learned in Cal-
ifornia. Then, in 1849, he was again taken on a British frigate, which wintered in
Hawaii, and then, with the British, again took part in the search for the Franklin
expedition in the region of Bering Strait, after which Aklyayuk was returned by
the English mariners to Mikhailovskii Redoubt. At the end of 1850 he accom-
panied the English lieutenant John Bernard from the British sloop the Enter-
prise on a voyage to the Nulato trading post on the Yukon, serving as interpreter
Bernard was sent to investigate rumors among the local Indians about white peo-
ple who had allegedly appeared on the upper reaches of the river. But this mis-
sion was unsuccessful: Aklyayuk and Bernard were mortally wounded during an
attack on Nulato by Koyukon Indians on 4 February 1851 (NARS, Roll 57:423
ob., 469 ob.–471; Grinëv 2009: 18–19; Dall 1898: 51–52). At the same time, the
wife and three children of the other interpreter, Nikifor Talizhuk, were killed.
Like Aklyayuk, Talizhuk also served at the beginning of the 1850s as a transla-
tor on English ships searching for the missing expedition of Captain Franklin in
the region of Bering Strait. During the tragic events at Nulato, Talizhuk was on
the Kaviak Peninsula accompanying Lieutenant Edward Pim, who, like Bernard,
was trying to verify rumors about white people who might have been members
of Captain Franklin’s crew. Later, during the second half of the 1850s–1860s, Tal-
izhuk continued to work as an interpreter at Mikhailovskii Redoubt since he knew
not only the Eskimo language but also the language of the Yukon Indians. In
1865–1866 Talizhuk worked as a translator for the American research party led by
William H. Ennis, which had been assigned by the Western Union International
Telegraph Company to study the mainland region east of Norton Sound (NARS,
Roll 58:257, 393 ob.; Roll 64:22; Grinëv 2009: 520–521; Dall 1898: 29, 51).
In addition to the best known Creoles and indigenous people who at different
times worked as interpreters in the service of the RAC, there are several others
about whom extremely little information has been preserved – such as, Petr Brus-
enin, Aleksei Kolmakov, Yakov Orlov, Ivan Kozhevnikov, and Nikolai Mikhailov.
Together with these Creoles, the RAC administration continued, as before, to
recruit representatives of the native peoples of America to serve as interpreters,
 Native interpreters in Russian America 495

such as the Unalaska Aleut Daniil Kuzyakin, the Kodiak Eskimo Sergei Akhai,
and Il’ya Otle (Atle). Otle worked for the RAC as an interpreter at Nikolaevskii
Redoubt and, in 1821, after long and faithful service, was awarded a salary of 120
rubles in banknotes and a bonus of goods valued at 50 rubles (NARS, Roll 27:231).
In the 1830s, by order of the head of the redoubt, Otle was annually sent in winter
to trade RAC goods with the Tanana and Ahtna Indians on the Susitna River.
The English in neighboring Canada also occasionally used local natives as
interpreters. One of the best known was Hanego (Hanigo) Joe – a Tlingit Indian
from the community of Henya, who as a boy was taken by American mariners
to Boston, where he received a primary education. After this, he returned to his
homeland and periodically throughout the 1830s–1840s served as a pilot and a
translator for British traders from the Hudson’s Bay Company (Simpson 1848: 213).
The career of some indigenous interpreters in the service of the RAC could
be the subject of an adventure novel, as, for example, that of the baptized Eskimo
from the Ugashik settlement on Kodiak Island, Semyon Kurbatov. At the begin-
ning of the nineteenth century, he worked as an interpreter from the Tlingit lan-
guage) in the hunting baidarka flotilla led by Ivan Aleksandrovich Kuskov during
a trip in the straits of the Alexander Archipelago in May-June 1802. For diligent
service to the RAC, Kurbatov was awarded a silver medal. In 1814–1815, he par-
ticipated in a trading-hunting expedition to California on the brig the Il’mena
together with a party of Kodiak Eskimos. There, in September of 1815, members
of the expedition, together with the American skipper and Kurbatov, were seized
by a Spanish patrol. Kurbatov spent several years in California where he adopted
Catholicism and worked as a doctor and healer at the mission of Santa Barbara.
However, in 1820, he reported to RAC agent Kiril Timofeevich Khlebnikov that
he would like to return to his homeland. His wish was fulfilled; he returned to
service in the RAC in the 1820s. He was taken to Novo-Arkhangel’sk, where he
worked as a translator from the Tlingit language, after which he moved to the
Kodiak Department of the colonies, where in 1829 he married a local Eskimo,
Luker’ya. In 1836, the governor of Russian America, Captain of the 1st Rank Ivan
Antonovich Kupreianov, awarded Kurbatov a silver medal bearing the inscription
“Soyuznye Rossii” [Allied Russias] for his many years of diligent service (K istorii
RAK 1957:108, 113; NARS, Roll 26:150–151; Roll 38:299, 304).
As discussed above, it was primarlity men who served as interpreters among
the Russians since it often involved participating in difficult and dangerous trips.
Concerning women interpreters, the best known of them were the Tlingit who
lived in Novo-Arkhangel’sk. Most interpreters (indigenous and Creoles) executed
their duties temporarily or as a second job and only relatively few were perma-
nently in the service of the RAC, receiving a regular salary for their work. Native
interpreters shared with the Russians all the burdens of settling the new lands, at
496 Andrei V. Grinëv

times perishing during shipwrecks and attacks by local people, and suffering from
illness and disease. They served as intermediaries between the new arrivals and
the indigenous, settling conflicts and warning the Russians about dangers; they
were often the first to acquaint their relatives with the achievements of European
civilization. There is no doubt that many Russian words entered the languages of
the native residents of Alaska precisely through the mediation of interpreters –
both native and Creole. In addition, interpreters took part in the translation of
sacred texts into the languages of the indigenous inhabitants of Russian Amer-
ica, contributing in this way to the formation of a literate culture among the
native population of the colonies. For their work and loyalty to the Russians, some
interpreters were awarded by representatives of the imperial authorities and colo-
nial leadership with medals and other valuable gifts, in addition to salaries and
bonuses. Several native interpreters were elevated in social status following their
service as translators – becoming toyons or occupying lower administrative posts
in the RAC system. In these ways, indigenous interpreters made a notable contri-
bution to the history of Russian colonization of the New World.

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Address for correspondence

Andrei V. Grinëv
Ul. Shkol'naya, 11-54
197183 St. Petersburg
Russia
agrinev1960@mail.ru
 Native interpreters in Russian America 499

Biographical notes

Richard L. Bland Ph.D., formerly an archaeologist for the National Park Service in Alaska, Her-
itage Research Associates in Eugene, and the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cul-
tural History, now translates books and articles into English. He has published more than 200
translations.

Andrei V. Grinëv is a Doctor of Historical Sciences and professor in the Department of Social
Sciences at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in St. Petersburg, Russia. He
has published over 200 published books and articles in five countries.