Russian explorers settled Old Sitka in 1799, naming it Fort of Archangel Michael. In June 1802, Tlingit warriors destroyed the original settlement, killing many of the Russians. The Russians got it back following the Battle of Sitka in October 1804, and established the rebuilt town as New Archangel which they designated the capital of Russian America.
The original Cathedral of Saint Michael the Archangel was built in
Sitka in 1848 and became the seat of the Russian Orthodox bishop of Kamchatka, Alaska,
and the Kurile and Aleutian Islands.
Full disclosure: This cathedral (shown in the painting above) is
located in the downtown business district of Sitka, nowhere near the cruise
ship terminal.
Russia was going through economic and political turmoil after it
lost the Crimean War to Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire in 1856, and
decided it wanted to sell Alaska before British Canadians tried to conquer the
territory. Sitka was the site of the transfer ceremony for the Alaska purchase
by the United States on October 18, 1867. The purchase price (at 2 cents per
acre) was $7.2 million.
