Native Populations

This constant demand for the labor of Native men, often in very dangerous conditions, led to a devastating decline in the Native population. Every year, hundreds of  Aleut and Alutiiq men were forced to go on sea otter hunts, often as far away as California. These men had to travel and hunt by kayak, sometimes through violent storms. During the Baranov Era, hundreds of Native men would drown at sea. In one incident in 1799, over 140 men on a hunting trip died from eating poisonous shellfish. In 1800, another 60 drowned in a storm off the coast of Kodiak. In 1805, 200 Natives were killed in a storm while traveling from Sitka to Kodiak.

In addition, as Baranov expanded into Southcentral and Southeast Alaska, Aleut and Alutiiq Natives made up the bulk of his fighting force. They also suffered the bulk of the losses. In battles with the Tlingit, hundreds of Aleut or Alutiiq were killed fighting for the Russians. Natives who refused to work would be brutally punished.

The taking of men from villages also affected those left behind, primarily women, children, the elderly, and the sick. Because they were away, the husbands and fathers could not hunt food for their families. In 1805, Native women and children starved on Kodiak Island while their husbands and fathers were at Sitka building the new settlement and hunting sea otters. The Russians also caused hardships by moving Natives from smaller villages into a few larger villages to make disciplining and supplying them easier. 

Another killer was the new diseases brought to Alaska. The Natives had no natural immunity to diseases they contracted from Russians and other Euro-Americans. This meant their bodies could not fight the diseases, and they often died. In one disease outbreak on the Aleutian Islands in 1807, 400 Natives died.

All these different factors combined to decimate Native communities. It is estimated that the Aleut and Alutiiq populations fell by 50-70% over the Baranov era.

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