Russian Exploration in Southwest Alaska: The Travel Journals of Petr Korsakovskiy (1818) and Ivan Ya. Vasilev (1829)

251 Pages·1988·1.34 MB·English

by  James W. Vanstone

Russian Exploration in Southwest Alaska :
The Travel Journals of Petr Korsakovskiy
title: (1818) and Ivan Ya. Vasilev (1829)
Rasmuson Library Historical Translation
Series ; V. 4
Korsakovskiy, Petr.; Vasilev, Ivan Ya.;
author:
VanStone, James W.; Kraus, David H.
publisher: University of Alaska Press
isbn10 | asin: 0912006277
print isbn13: 9780912006277
ebook isbn13: 9780585162973
language: English
Alaska--Discovery and exploration,
Russians--Alaska--History--19th century,
Alaska--Description and travel, Alaska--
subject History--To 1867, Korsakovskiy, Petr--
Journeys--Alaska, Korsakovskiy, Petr--
Diaries, Vasilev, Ivan Ya.,--b. 1797--
Journeys--Alaska, Vasilev
publication date: 1988
lcc: F907.R965 1988eb
ddc: 917.9804/2
Alaska--Discovery and exploration,
Russians--Alaska--History--19th century,
Alaska--Description and travel, Alaska--
subject: History--To 1867, Korsakovskiy, Petr--
Journeys--Alaska, Korsakovskiy, Petr--
Diaries, Vasilev, Ivan Ya.,--b. 1797--
Journeys--Alaska, Vasilev
Page i
Russian Exploration in Southwest Alaska: The
Travel Journals of Petr Korsakovskiy (1818) and
Ivan Ya. Vasilev (1829)
Page ii
The Rasmuson Library
Historical Translation Series
Volume IV
Marvin W. Falk, Editor
Additional titles published by the Elmer E. Rasmuson Translation
Program:
BERING'S VOYAGES: THE REPORTS FROM RUSSIA by Gerhard
Friedrich Müller. Translated, with commentary by Carol Urness. The
Rasmuson Library Historical Translation Series, Volume III.
Published by the University of Alaska Press: Fairbanks, Alaska, 1986.
TLINGIT INDIANS OF ALASKA by Archimandite Anatolii
Kamenskii. Translated, with an Introduction and Supplementary
Material by Sergei Kan. The Rasmuson Library Historical Translation
Series, Volume II. Published by the University of Alaska Press:
Fairbanks, Alaska, 1985.
HOLMBERG'S ETHNOGRAPHIC SKETCHES by Heinrich Johan
Holmberg. Edited by Marvin W. Falk. Translated from the original
German of 1855-1863 by Fritz Jaensch. The Rasmuson Library
Historical Translation Series, Volume I. Published by the University
of Alaska Press: Fairbanks, Alaska, 1985.
NOTES ON THE ISLANDS OF THE UNALASHKA DISTRICT by
Ivan Veniaminov. Translated from the original Russian edition of
1840 by Lydia T. Black and R.H. Geoghegan. Edited with an
introduction by Richard A. Pierce. Published jointly by the Elmer E.
Rasmuson Library Translation Program and The Limestone Press,
1984. Available from the Limestone Press, P.O. Box 1604, Kingston,
Ontario, Canada K7L 5C8.

Page iii
Russian Exploration in Southwest Alaska: The
Travel Journals of Petr Korsakovskiy (1818) and
Ivan Ya. Vasilev (1829)
Edited with an Introduction by
James W. VanStone
Curator, North American Archaeology and Ethnology
Department of Anthropology
Field Museum of Natural History
Translated by David H. Kraus Slavic and East European Division
Library of Congress
The University of Alaska Press
Fairbanks
Page iv
International Standard Series Number: 0890-7935
International Standard Book Number: 0-912006-27-7
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 88-051165
The University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks, 99775-1580
English Translation © 1988 by The University of Alaska Press
All rights reserved. Published 1988
Printed in the United States of America
Page v
Contents
Preface 1
Introduction 5
Korsakovskiy's Travel Journal 17
Notes for Korsakovskiy's Journal 65
Chistyakov's Instructions to Vasilev 71
Notes for the Instructions 87
Vasilev's Travel Journal 89
Notes for Vasilev's Journal 101
References 111
Glossary 117
Index 119
Page vii
List of Maps
Southwest Alaska 16
Fig. 1. Northern Kodiak Island 17
Fig. 2. Lower Shelikof Strait and adjacent areas 19
Fig. 3. The Ugashik River drainage and Becharof Lake 26
Fig. 4. Kvichak Bay and the adjacent Alaska Peninsula 27
Fig. 5. Nushagak Bay and adjacent areas 33
Fig. 6. The Togiak River and adjacent areas 36
Fig. 7. Hagemeister Island and adjacent areas 37
Fig. 8. Iliamna Lake and adjacent areas 54
Fig. 9. Lake Clark and the upper Mulchatna River drainage 55
Map compiled by Ivan Ya. Vasilev during his explorations 76
in 1829 (redrawn from Fedorova 1979)
Fig. 10. The northeastern Alaska Peninsula 89
Fig. 11. The middle Nushagak River drainage and Wood 92
River Lakes
Fig. 12. The upper Nushagak River drainage and Tikchik 93
Lakes
Page 1
Preface
The present study is one of a series of publications dealing with the
culture of the Yupik-speaking Eskimos living in the Nushagak River
region of southwest Alaska during the early historic period. My
interest in the area began in the early 1960's with an examination of
historical materials, published and unpublished, relating to culture
change during the 19th and early 20th centuries. This research
resulted in the compilation of an ethnohistorical bibliography on the
region (VanStone 1968a) primarily for my own use but also for the
use of others who might be interested in this and adjacent areas. Field
work, which took place between 1964 and 1970, included
archaeological surveys and excavations as well as the collection of
ethnographic data from residents in the present-day settlements along
the river. Reports resulting from this work include a monograph on the
ethnohistory of the region (VanStone 1967); ethnoarchaeological
studies of the Eskimo villages of Tikchik (VanStone 1968b),
Akulivikchuk (VanStone 1970), and the village and trading post at
Nushagak (VanStone 1972); and a report on Nushagak region
settlement patterns (VanStone 1971).
During the years of research on the ethnohistory of the Nushagak
region, it was obvious that among the most significant resources were
those relating to the first Russian explorations of the region by Petr
Korsakovskiy in 1818 and 1819 and Ivan Yakovlevich Vasilev in 1829
and 1830. Unfortunately, however, information concerning these
important expeditions was available only through secondary sources,
notably excellent research by the Soviet ethnographer Svetlana
Fedorova (1973a,b). Recently copies of the travel journals of these
two explorers have become available in this country and edited
translations are presented in this study. They fill an important gap in