Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov (Shelekhov) (Григорий Иванович Шелихов (Шелехов) in Russian; English spelling varies from Shelekov to Shelikof) (1747–July 20, 1795 (July 31, 1795 N.S.)) was a Russian seafarer and merchant born in Rylsk.
Shelikhov organized commercial trips of the merchant ships to the Kuril Islands and the Aleutian Islands starting from 1775. In 1783–1786, he led an expedition to the shores of Russian America, during which they founded the first permanent Russian settlements in North America. Shelikhov's voyage was done under the auspices of the so-called Shelikhov-Golikov company, the other owner of which was Ivan Larionovich Golikov. This company would later form the basis on which the Russian-American Company was founded 1799.[1]
In 1784, Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov arrived in Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island with two ships, the Three Hierarchs, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom and the St. Simon.[2] The indigenous Koniaga, an Alutiiq nation of Alaska Natives, harassed the Russian party and Shelikhov responded by killing hundreds and taking hostages to enforce the obedience of the rest. Having established his authority on Kodiak Island, Shelikhov founded the first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska on the island's Three Saints Bay (Unalaska had existed long before, but it was never considered the permanent base for Russians until Shelikhov’s time).
In 1790, Shelikhov, back in Russia, hired Alexandr Baranov to manage his fur enterprise in Russian America.
A gulf in the Sea of Okhotsk, a strait between Alaska and Kodiak Island, and a town in Irkutsk Oblast in Russia bear Shelikhov's name. Shelikhov actually travelled via Shelikhov Bay in the Sea of Okhotsk in December 1786-January 1787, after he had been left behind at Bol’shereck in Kamchatka as the winds tore the Three Hierarcs from her anchors and carried her out to sea.[3] There is a statue of Shelikhov in his native Rylsk.
See also
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| Preceded by new post |
Governor of Shelikhov-Golikov Company 1784—1792 |
Succeeded by Alexander Andreyevich Baranov |
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