1 2 SIBKIUA. 



ScJoiK'Os al tlic (Ir^siio of lli<; l-liiiiufss CallicriiK! II, lni tlio iiiuiiy-^iil(;il invchtitfaliuii ol tliL- 

 liflli! known part's of lluj Enipin.*, tlio oxpi-ilitions into Sihoiia, accomplislieii in 1770 to 1774 

 liy till! Acaili!ini(;ians Pallas and Lopokliin, take ulniost llio lirst |)laco on account of their 

 scientific vaiiii'. 



Tlio allcntion ol ilio Empress was also (lir(M;lcil to llio exlrcnie east willi its Helirint.' >■ .i .u,m 

 iiorlli-woslcrn corner of Aniorica. Tlio cxpoilition litted ont by the (jovcninienl in 1768 to 170!> 

 under Caplaiii Kriiiil>iM and fdi'iilciiaiil Li'Vasliov, visited tin.- Alleutiaii islanils and gained 

 A I as k a. In llH'j the trader riihylov discovered the island, called by his name, and it has since 

 hecomo the contro of the sealin.ir and whalini: ti-ad(^ in Belirin^' Sea, From 1790 to 1794 Captain 

 r.illiiiL'sainl Lieutenant Sarychev's exprdiiiim i|iii.kly regulated tlie devclopini,' and too rapa- 

 cious lisiiiiiii: of the l]ellrin^' Sea. In 17!)2 a private company, consistinfi: of Doliar<jv, Sholokhov 

 and Golikov founded the Russian seltlemeul in Paul liarbour upon Kadiak island, ami in 

 1796 Novoarkhangelsk, on the island of Sitkha, upon wliich Russian authority was lirmly estab- 

 lished by Raranov, only in 1799. Similar permanent settlements arose also upon several of 

 the Alleiitiau and Commandor islands and even ii|»on the peninsula of Alaska, then con.^istimr 

 of the Alleutians. 



Ill 1799 a great company was organized in St. Petersburg iiiuler the name of the Ru>- 

 siau American Company with the object of working the Russian possessions upon the Amer- 

 ican Continent, as also the shores and islands of Behriug Sea and of the Sea of Okhotsk. 

 The company was granted very ample privileges, to secure which the Government recognized 

 it as necessary to conclude a couventiou with the United States in 1820, and with Great 

 Britain in 1825. The term of the privileges was originally fixed for twenty years but it was 

 subsequently several times renewed, so that the Russs-Ameiican Company continued lo 

 exist till 1867 and was compelled to lliiuidate lis allairs only in consequence of the surrender 

 of the Russian American possessions with the Pribylov's islands to the Government of the 

 Uuitetl States. The Emperor, as is said in the treaty concluded on this subject on the 

 3rd of May, 1867, wishing to cement the good understanding existing with the Government 

 td" the United States, surrendered to the latter the whole territory with the sovereign rights 

 thereto, then held by His Majesty on the American Continent, as also the adjacent islands. 



Simiiltaneoiisly therewith arose the question of the inconveniences of joint dominion 

 (jver Sakhalin with .Japan, and wishing to put an end In misunderstandings which arose in 

 reference to this subject, it was recognized as advantageous to enter in 1875 into an agree- 

 ment with Japan. The result of this agreement was the conclusion of the treaty with 

 Japan of the 25th of April, 1875, upon the mutual surrender on the part of Russia of the 

 group of the Kuril islands and on the part of Japan of the island of Sakhalin or Krafts. 

 From this time the whole island of Sakhalin came under the sway of the Russian sceptre. 



With the nineteenth century, when a complete administration and civil government was 

 formed in Siberia, it became extremely diflicnlt to wander freely over the country or to con- 

 ceal oneself. The passport system and the prohibition of founding settlements or villages, without 

 authorization lettered the emigrational movements, keeping them within narrower limits. 

 P)Ul on the niher hand, when the Government opened an issue to colonization it poured in like 

 a wide torrent. 



