Foreign Competition

As Russians spread a network of trading posts along Alaska's coast, other European countries also started exploring Alaska's waters. During this age of exploration, it was common for European nations to make a formal "act of possession" when they found lands that no other country had already claimed. According to beliefs held at this time, if explorers found lands where only non-Christians lived, they could claim the lands for their countries by "right of discovery." 

These explorers did not ask native peoples if they could claim their land. They would use force and violence to make good their claims if necessary. They justified this by believing they benefited natives by bringing Christianity and new European technologies and ideas. However, more often than not, profit from trade and access to new resources and markets were the real reasons behind exploration and colonization.

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