34 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY. 



THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY. 



Its political ami Haviiiof- tlius i:)resented a brief sketch of the 



commercial iuipor- ~ 



^i^^ce. pohtical condition of affairs in the early part of 



this century in the territory surrounding Bering 

 Sea and on the Northwest Coast of America, it is 

 proper, before entering upon a consideration of 

 the events of international importance which 

 follow, to refer to the organization and early 

 history of the Russian American Company, an 

 association which for a period of over sixty 

 years carried on trade and administered public 

 affiiirs throughout a great part of these regions. 

 In the extent and variety of its operations it oc- 

 cupies a position similar to that held by the East 

 India and the Hudson's Bay Companies ; and its 

 history is also the history of that portion of the 

 globe to which the attention of the Tribunal of 

 Arbitration is directed. 

 Tho oi;tgio\vtii The Russian American Comi3?iny was the 



ot tradiuy associ- ^ '' 



^*''^"^' outgrowth of the numerous trading associations,^ 



which, soon after the discoveries of 1741, began 

 to develop the lucrative fur trade in the Aleutian 

 Islands and Bering Sea. The rivalry and com- 

 petition which grew up between them proved in 

 many ways disastrous^ and resulted eventually 



' For a detailed account of same, see Berg, p. 1 ei seq. 

 ^TJlvljmciuof, vol. I, p. 61. 



