Today, for many, all information about Russian America is limited to memories of the sale of Alaska to the Americans. However, Russian America is primarily a time of geographical discoveries, these are islands of Russian life thousands of kilometers away from the metropolis, it is the Russian-American Trading Company (RAC), but the main thing is the people who tried to breathe life into the most distant edge of the empire. One of these people, who stood at the origins of the creation of the Russian-American Company, was the politician, diplomat and traveler Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov.
At the same time, for a wide layman, he became famous not for his activities, but for an episode from his personal life, which became an excellent way for implementation in culture. It was Nikolai Rezanov who was played by the famous actor Nikolai Karachentsov in the rock opera "Juno and Avos", in the Soviet Union it was also shown as a television movie. This production was based on the poem by Andrei Andreevich Voznesensky of the same name, and the music for the rock opera was written by the composer Alexei Lvovich Rybnikov. In addition, Nikolai Rezanov became the hero of many literary works: from children's books to numerous historical novels.
The life of Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov, who was born on March 28 (April 8 in a new style) in 1764, contained a lot of events: participation in the first Russian round-the-world trip with Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky, founding a Russian-American trading company together with merchant and traveler Grigory Shelikhov, work first the official Russian ambassador to Japan and the compilation of one of the first Russian-Japanese dictionaries, the story of the courts "Juno" and "Avos" now known to many Russians, as well as a love story under the hot California sun, which ended tragically and left a noticeable mark on Russian culture. It is no coincidence that Russian writers are still turning to the image of Nikolai Rezanov. For example, he became the hero of the 2014 historical novel Steps Beyond the Horizon dilogy by Maxim Aleksashin.
Nikolay Petrovich Rezanov
It was difficult to imagine that Rezanov's biography would be of interest to authors today, at the very beginning of his life. He was born in the capital of the empire - St. Petersburg, but in the family of an impoverished nobleman. In fiction, Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov is often called a count, but in reality he was never a count. His father was a collegiate advisor who, shortly after the birth of his son, was offered a post literally on the other end of the empire - in Irkutsk, where he became chairman of the civil chamber of the provincial court. Nikolai Rezanov, distinguished by very noticeable linguistic abilities, received an excellent education at home. We can say that the foundation of his future career was laid already in childhood. In the future, the future diplomat and traveler was well versed in history and politics, spoke five foreign languages.
He began to build a career at the age of 14, after he entered the army. The initial stage of his life was directly connected with the Russian army. Initially, he served in the artillery, but quickly enough he was transferred to the Izmailovsky Life Guards Regiment (in seniority, the third infantry regiment in the Russian Imperial Guard). He retired with the rank of captain, after which he worked exclusively in the civil service. At the same time, there were ups and downs in his life - from working as a simple assessor in the Pskov chamber of the civil court with a salary of 300 rubles a year to serving at the court of Empress Catherine II - the ruler of the office of a prominent statesman Gabriel Derzhavin, who was on friendly terms with Rezanov's father.
Irkutsk became a turning point for Nikolai Rezanov, as well as for his father, where he went on an inspection trip in 1794. In the then capital of Siberia, he was supposed to inspect the work and activities of the Northeast Campaign, which was founded by the major Russian merchant, traveler and industrialist Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov. Already in Irkutsk, Nikolai Rezanov falls in love with Shelikhov's 15-year-old daughter, Anna. He marries her on January 24, 1795. The marriage can be considered successful for both families, Anna Grigorievna receives a title of nobility, and Rezanov receives an impressive dowry. A year later, Nikolai Shelekhov, who was at the origin of the creation of the Russian-American company, dies, after which Nikolai Rezanov becomes a co-owner of his capital. Formed and approved by Emperor Paul I in 1799, the Russian-American company only approved and consolidated the existing state of affairs and the infrastructure of the trade and fishing monopoly of Russian merchants, primarily relatives of Shelikhov and his son-in-law Rezanov, already operating in Alaska.
The RAC, which was finally formed by 1799, was to become a tool of Russia for the colonization and development of the New World, as America was called in those years. The peculiar uniqueness of the Russian-American company was given by the fact that it combined the functions of state administration in the entrusted territories with traditional trade and commercial functions. In fact, the Russian state temporarily delegated a significant amount of its own powers to the trading company. At the same time, in many respects, the founders of the RAC were guided by the experience of the world-famous British East India Company and the French monopoly trade associations of that time, while there was also a primordial Russian experience in it. The first domestic monopoly trade organizations began to appear in the Russian Empire in the middle of the 18th century.
In October 1802, Rezanov suffered a heavy loss, his wife Anna Grigorievna died. This blow knocked down the official and he seriously hoped to leave the service forever in order to focus on raising children - a son and a daughter. However, Emperor Alexander I refused to accept the resignation of Nikolai Rezanov, moreover, he received another appointment. This time, his task was to establish trade relations with Japan, which at that time remained one of the most closed countries in the world. Nikolai Rezanov could not refuse this appointment, so he became the first official Russian ambassador to Japan.
Rezanov was supposed to go to the country of the Rising Sun as part of the first Russian round-the-world expedition on the ships "Nadezhda" and "Neva". A month before the departure of the ships from St. Petersburg, Nikolai Rezanov receives the title of chamberlain of the court of His Majesty. It is worth noting that the sailing did not go smoothly. First of all, for the reason that Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern and the newly-made chamberlain could not find a common language and come to the one who is more important in this expedition. The future admiral quite reasonably did not want to recognize the powers of the chamberlain, who was at sea for the first time in his life. Indicative is the fact that during the expedition they communicated with each other only by notes, despite the fact that both lived on the ship in the same cabin.
In Japan, where Nikolai Rezanov stayed with the embassy for six months, he failed to achieve an audience and favor with the emperor. Japan avoided relations with other states, so the “Nadezhda”, which arrived in Nagasaki on September 27, 1804, could not even enter the harbor; the ship was forced to anchor in the bay. The delegation that went ashore waited six months for an audience with the Japanese emperor. The Russians were accommodated in a separate house and treated emphatically politely, fulfilled the guests' requests, while they could not leave the residence. When, six months later, the answer came that the emperor was refusing to receive the ambassador, the mission was, in fact, over. At the same time, the Japanese emperor also returned gifts: furs, European porcelain and silk fabrics that were transferred to him. Despite the fact that it was not possible to achieve success, in Japan Nikolai Rezanov did not waste time and managed to learn the Japanese language, and also prepared the first Russian-Japanese dictionary, in which he included five thousand words, he also prepared a textbook containing the alphabet, the main grammatical rules and examples of the most basic Japanese phrases. The chamberlain hoped to transfer all the works prepared in Japan to Irkutsk, the navigation school located in the city.
After returning from Japan to Petropavlovsk, Nikolai Rezanov was waiting for a new appointment from the emperor, now he was ordered to inspect the American colonies of the empire. As a result, on August 26, 1805, the diplomat set foot on the land of Alaska. Already on the spot in Novo-Arkhangelsk, he was convinced that the local population was experiencing serious problems with the supply of food, which was delivered across the entire territory of Siberia to Okhotsk, and then went by sea. It often turned out that the journey, which took several months, led to spoilage of the food delivered to Alaska.
Seeing the plight of the city, Nikolai Rezanov developed a rather vigorous activity. One of his steps was the acquisition of the Juno brig with his own funds along with a cargo of food from one of the American merchants. True, the acquired reserves were not enough for Novo-Arkhangelsk, they were enough for several months. Therefore, the next step of Rezanov was the decision to establish trade relations with the Spaniards, whose possessions were located much further south in California. The second ship, which was named Avos, was laid down specially for these purposes. The ships, ready by March 1806, departed for the Spanish colony.
Map of Russian America for 1860, Eskimos and Aleuts are marked in yellow, Indians - in gray
It is worth noting that by that time Russia was already at war with Napoleonic France, and Spain was an ally of France. Despite this, Rezanov, using his eloquence, diplomatic skills and charm for two weeks, literally charmed all the leaders of the Spanish colony, first of all, José Ariliaga, the Governor of Upper California and José Dario Arguello, the commandant of the San Francisco fortress. The ships sailed back loaded with stocks of wheat, legumes and barley, and hundreds of poods of lard and butter were also loaded on them.
It was in California that the story happened that romanticized the image of Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov. Here he fell in love with the daughter of the commandant of the San Francisco Fortress, 15-year-old Maria Concepison or Conchita, as she was called in the family. The chamberlain proposed to her just a few weeks after they met and the girl agreed. Today, researchers are wondering what was really more in this decision of the 42-year-old chamberlain - calculation or love. The marriage could have important consequences for the work of the RAC and all Russian colonies in America, but for Conchita herself, who did not particularly like California (all the advantages of these places were blocked for her by boredom and idleness), it was a chance to leave. For a girl who had been brought up in Paris for several years, there was nothing to do here, and the idea of becoming the wife of a Russian courtier and moving to Petersburg seemed very tempting.
In any case, it can be stated that Rezanov and Conchita were persistent in their intention and managed to convince her parents, who did not particularly welcome this marriage, but nevertheless surrendered. In the same place, in California, they got engaged, after which Nikolai Rezanov went to Russia to obtain permission for marriage. It is now possible to go to the registry office and sign literally in a day, but then, in order to marry a girl of the Catholic faith, the chamberlain had to obtain the personal permission of the Russian emperor and the pope. He promised his parents and bride that he would settle all the formalities and come back in two years, and Conchita vowed that she would wait for him.
Monument to Nikolai Rezanov, erected in 2007 in Krasnoyarsk
Before returning to St. Petersburg, Rezanov left an important instruction to Alexander Andreevich Baranov, who at that time was the Chief ruler of the Russian colonies in America. Nikolai Rezanov's idea was to build an agricultural settlement located in Northern California, according to his plan, it was supposed to supply the settlements located in Alaska with food. Such a settlement was actually built in 1812, it became the Ross fortress, which existed as a Russian possession until 1841.
The life of Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov was tragically cut short on the way from Russian America to St. Petersburg. Back in September 1806, he reached Okhotsk, but even then the autumn thaw began, which seriously impeded his journey. Several times he had to literally spend the night in the snow, and he also fell through the ice when crossing rivers. All this led to the fact that the 43-year-old diplomat had a serious cold, he spent 12 days in fever and unconsciousness, but as soon as he felt better, he set off again. However, Rezanov did not calculate his strength, he was very weak and on the way lost consciousness, falling from a horse and hitting his head hard, eventually he was taken to Krasnoyarsk, where he died on March 1, 1807, and he was buried here not far from the Resurrection Cathedral … His failed Spanish bride found out about the death of her lover only a year later. She survived Nikolai Rezanov by 46 years and died on December 23, 1853, never leaving California. After that, she did not try to get married, and at the end of her life she went to a monastery altogether. This story ends on a tragic note, but it was this drama that became the factor that largely contributed to the preservation of the name of Nikolai Rezanov for the Russians, who are accustomed to seeing this man primarily as a romantic hero of the rock opera Juno and Avos.
