jun 1, 1799 - Russian-American Fur Trade

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Between 1743 and 1799 over 100 Russian fur-hunting expeditions sailed into Alaskan waters and returned 187,000 pelts worth 8 million rubles (about 6 million dollars). In 1799, Czar Paul I granted sole rights for trade in America to the Russian American Company, and six years later the company began to trade furs in China. The Hudson's Bay Company, however, tried to gain interest in Alaska, eventually making a deal with Russia to lease part of the Alaskan mainland. By 1857, the Russian American Company had been surpassed in the fur trade by Hudson's Bay Company.

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