Getting furs

Unlike the forest fur-bearing animals Russians were used to in Siberia, sea otters lived in the ocean. As a result, the promyshlenniki had great difficulty hunting the animals themselves. They had to rely on the Aleuts and their expertise in hunting sea otters from baidarkas. 

With no competition, Russians could trade for furs at a very low price. Iron, which was unknown to the Aleut, and metal tools, such as knives, axes, saws, needles, and cooking pots, were the primary items they traded for furs.

The promyshlenniki soon made themselves masters of the Aleutian Islands. Often, instead of trading, they forced Aleut hunters to do the work by taking their women and children as hostages. These women were often treated as a personal harem, while the Aleut men gathered pelts. While not all the encounters between the fur traders and the Natives were hostile, many were, and the Russians often brutalized Aleuts, who resisted their demands.