Probably, there is no such person who would not know about the former Russian lands in America and did not hear anything about the sale of our Alaska to the United States. However, few people know about the unique financial system that formed in these territories at the time when they belonged to the Russian Empire. Let's say right away that if someone, dear reader, handed you a small piece of leather with worn out inscriptions and said that it was money, then it would be difficult to imagine your reaction. But the fact is that this is exactly how the unique “Russian leather money” that circulated in Alaska in the 19th century looked like. As you know, Russian expeditions to the shores of Alaska began in the era of Peter the Great, but the main contribution to the exploration of this region was made by the expedition of Vitus Bering in the 1740s. In the second half of the 18th century, the active development of Russian lands "on the other side of the sea" began, but at the same time expeditions of the British, French and Americans appeared in the waters of the northeastern Pacific Ocean, who were also interested in the natural resources of these territories.
Petersburg immediately assessed the threat to the interests of Russia from the traditional colonial powers and began in every possible way to promote the development by the Russians not only of Chukotka, but also of Alaska and the western coast of North America. At this time, several Russian merchant companies appeared in these territories, primarily engaged in the extraction of valuable furs - "soft junk", "furs". In 1784, the first Russian permanent settlement was formed on Kodiak Island, and by the end of the 18th century, "Russian America" (as these lands began to be called) already had several similar strongholds. Finally, in 1799, on the initiative of the local merchants and with the active support of the central authorities, a Russian-American trade campaign was created, the purpose of which was to develop the natural resources of these distant territories. The city of Novo-Arkhangelsk became the capital of Russian America, which quickly turned into a powerful center of Russian transoceanic trade (yes, as we can see, not only the Anglo-Saxons, the Dutch and the French founded New York, New Orleans, New Amsterdam, etc.).
Map of Russian possessions in America in the first half of the 19th century.
Moreover, Emperor Paul I, whom Soviet and modern Russian historiography traditionally tries to portray as some kind of madcap, not only personally agreed on the creation of a "company of merchants in the Russian lands of America", but also specifically ordered the Siberian authorities and the Ministry of Finance to provide active assistance to the Russian entrepreneurs in the development of new frontiers of the Russian world. Also, the Russian-American company was taken under the "august patronage" and received a monopoly right to produce fur on its lands in exchange for an obligation to protect Russia's national interests in North America. In addition to the above, Paul I officially designated one of the main goals of the development of overseas territories in the New World as "an obstacle to Britain's aspirations to completely subjugate the North American continent and the preservation of freedom of navigation in the Pacific."As can be seen even from this episode (not taking into account other activities of the son of Catherine the Great), the British ruling circles associated with the trading oligarchy had every reason to create and support a conspiracy directed against this sovereign, who actively defended the national interests of Russia.
One of the factors that greatly delayed the development of Russian America was the issue of finance, especially in terms of direct monetary circulation. It would seem, what could be the problem here? And there really was a problem. Russian metal money first came to Alaska during the era of the expeditions of Bering and his followers, but they were in huge deficit and were mainly used by the local population as jewelry. Therefore, for a long time, the main type of commodity exchange both in Chukotka and Kamchatka, and in Alaska, was barter, that is, a direct exchange of furs for necessary things. In order to somehow solve the problem of the shortage of money supply in Siberia and further to the east, the Russian government opened a separate mint. This is how the first money appeared, minted specifically for the inhabitants of Siberia and Russian America. They were made at the Kolyvan Mint in 1763. Despite the fact that the “Siberian money” was less in weight than the national money, this still did not solve the problem. A truly fantastic, downright surreal (if you look from our time) situation has developed, when monetary circulation did not keep up with the rapid development of the economy of this region so far from Russia.
Flag of the Russian-American Trading Company.
It should also be noted that in Russia itself, for the first time in its history, paper banknotes appeared only after the decree of Empress Catherine II of December 29, 1768, and therefore for a long time a commercial and industrial company tried to use barter settlements even with its employees. In particular, the “share of furs” and its share were taken as a measure of value. However, real money was much more preferable to both employees of fur enterprises and their managers, since When calculating with furs, people collected a large number of valuable furs on their hands. These furs, bypassing the state monopoly, were massively bought up by British, American and Chinese smuggling merchants for "real" money made of precious metals, which led to upsetting the balance of the sales market. Simultaneously with the natural exchange of goods with the local population - both in Eastern Siberia and in Russian America - abuses, erasures and rewriting of accounting and accounting books were constantly occurring. This led to interethnic conflicts and could even provoke armed uprisings.
As a result, in 1803, the Russian-American company sent a request to St. Petersburg with a request to solve the problem of metallic money circulation. Through the active efforts of merchants and financial experts in the capital of the Russian Empire, mutual understanding was achieved between various bureaucratic departments, which resulted in the decision not to send a metal coin to Russian America, but to allow on the spot a special issue of special banknotes made of leather with a stamp-seal. This solution seems to be very reasonable. Firstly, in order to improve monetary circulation across two oceans (recall that then there were neither the Suez nor the Panama Canals), it was necessary to constantly send ships loaded with coins. The chances that they would not die in the storm or fall prey to pirates was extremely small. Secondly, both for Chukotka and Kamchatka, and for Alaska and other lands, the problem of “irrecoverable funds” was very urgent. It consisted in the fact that local residents very often used any Russian money as a source of metal - expensive coins were used to make jewelry or sacrificed to deities, and cheap coins were used to make household items. In addition, English and American merchants carried out a wide trade in alcoholic beverages on the territory of Russian America (which then and in that region were cheaper than Russian ones with better quality, and were quickly and without problems supplied in huge quantities from the plantations of India, the south of the United States and the Caribbean islands). Therefore, metal money delivered with great difficulties from Russia would partly go to pay for alcohol and end up in the hands of foreign merchants without any benefit for Russian interests.
The first small shipments of metal coins overland through Siberia briefly improved the situation, but only confirmed the fears of Russian financiers. To prevent this from happening in the future, local entrepreneurs asked to grant the "Russian Trading Company in America" the right to print their money on pieces of leather. However, the new Russian emperor who came to power after the assassination of Paul I was a staunch Anglophile. Moreover, it was England that became the main ally of Russia in the wars with Napoleon (excluding the short period of 1809-1812), and, accordingly, British trade interests were recognized as inviolable, which for a long time slowed down state support for Russian America.
Sample of Russian America money: ten rubles
The situation changed only after the final victory over Napoleonic France in 1815, when Russia became the dominant military and political power in Europe. The new government, at the direction of Alexander I (as you know, greatly changed its outlook), while remaining an ally of Great Britain, began to consistently defend Russian national interests, including the interests of Russian entrepreneurs in Russian America. As a result, in 1816, overseas Russian territories saw new, their own, banknotes printed on the skin of seals. In total, in the period 1816-1826, several thousand units of banknotes in denominations of 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 ruble were issued for a total amount of 42,135 rubles. New banknotes began to be called "stamps", "ersatz stamps", "leather banknotes" and "Russian-American tickets". This unique measure of financial impact had a very beneficial effect on the overseas lands of the Russian world, allowing to streamline money circulation and further develop the economy on these lands, while preventing the withdrawal of precious metals from the Russian treasury.
However, the harsh climate of Alaska, combined with the difficulties of storing leather banknotes by the population, led to the fact that over 10 years most of the money lost its appearance. Despite the fact that in the "ersatz stamps" leather was used as a carrier material, not paper, they were still badly dilapidated, and the inscriptions indicating the denomination became difficult to read. As a result, it was decided to replace the worn-out banknotes and at the same time to issue a second issue of "leather banknotes". At the same time, it was decided to abandon the 2-ruble and 20-ruble bills, but instead of the latter, a “quarter Russian America” was introduced - a leather banknote in denomination of 25 rubles. Eight years later, in 1834, the third issue of these unique banknotes was made. The peculiarities of this issue was the appearance of special exchange "coins" in denominations of 50, 20 and 10 kopecks, introduced to facilitate calculations (moreover, for the convenience of wearing them, these "coins" had special holes, that is, their design was somewhat similar to the Chinese coins of that time).
Largely due to the introduction of such a system of monetary circulation, the economy of Russian America in the first half of the 19th century was in a flourishing state. New trading outposts were founded, new settlers gradually appeared from Russia (although, all the same, they remained the main deficit on these lands); a correct system of relationships was built with local tribes, and many of the natives adopted Orthodoxy. It should also be said that the board of the Russian-American Trading Company strictly monitored the issue and did not allow inflation. New issues of "leather money" were mainly used to replace dilapidated ones, and their maximum number never exceeded the face value of 40,000 rubles (as of January 1, 1864 - 39,627 rubles). An important fact should be noted: when issuing "leather rubles", Russian managers correctly estimated the approximately necessary amount, which, on the one hand, will revive the economy, simplifying calculations, and on the other hand, it will be fully provided with "soft gold" - furs and other assets, thanks to which new money will not be depreciated.
However, neither Great Britain, which traditionally considered the North American continent to be its own, nor the rapidly growing economically and geographically United States, were satisfied with the powerful presence of Russia (as well as Spain) in the New World. The gradual weakening of the dominant military-political influence of Russia in Europe and the ever-increasing growth of its industrial and economic backwardness most sharply manifested itself in the Crimean War of 1853-1856. Despite the fact that troubling attacks by the British fleet on Russian ports were repulsed almost everywhere, the question arose before the Russian government: how to support and develop Russian America, and is it worth doing at all? In St. Petersburg, it became clear that in the event of a new war with Britain or the United States, the Russian colonial territories would be in great danger, and in order to keep them, it was necessary to send a large military contingent to these distant lands, as well as create a separate squadron to ensure freedom of navigation. This required new additional and constant expenditures for the deficit Russian budget, despite the fact that Russia itself needed investments to continue the reforms of the army, to create a new military industry and the development of domestic industry as a whole.
Added to this was such a fact as a decrease in the income of merchant communities in Russian America. The fact is that the main and almost the only trade in these lands was hunting for fur animals. No one was involved in the development of other natural resources of Alaska, and, in general, there was no one to do it. As already noted, the main problem of the overseas possessions of Russia was the almost complete absence of Russian colonists and the extreme smallness of the local population. The flow of Russian settlers to the New World was tragically small; those who wanted and could travel far, mostly settled on the vast undeveloped lands of Siberia, and literally a few crossed the ocean. Serfdom, which prohibited freedom of personal movement for the absolute majority of Russian people, also had a huge negative impact. Therefore, on a huge territory with an area of 1.518,000 square kilometers, only 2,512 Russians and less than 60,000 natives lived. And when, during the first 50 years of the 19th century, the number of fur-bearing animals was greatly reduced due to continuous and uncontrolled hunting, this predetermined a sharp decline in the income of shareholders of the Russian-American trading company.
Sample of Russian American money: ten kopecks.
It should be noted that along with other problems in Russian America there was a process of strong bureaucratization of the administrative apparatus of management. So, if until the 1820s it consisted mainly of proactive and enterprising Russian merchants and was under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance, then in the 1830s - 1840s. the dominant position in it was gradually taken by naval officers, and the Russian-American company came under the control of the Naval Ministry. Now, after 150 years, it can be objectively argued that this was a wrong step by the Russian government, although it was not so obvious then. Moreover, at the beginning of the process of bureaucratization of Russian America, a progressive impulse was preserved, sincenaval officers of Russia stood out for their initiative, education and management skills. However, in the 1850s - 1860s, the top management apparatus of Russian America finally turned into a bureaucratic, essentially state, structure, in which posts were held under patronage, and the income of employees did not depend on the quality of management, tk. they were transferred to salaries. Of course, it may have been easier for St. Petersburg, but the Russian-American company lost its creative impulse in its development because of this approach, since smart and proactive people turned out to be inconvenient for the bureaucratic system. And, most importantly, with a change in external economic conditions (a decrease in the populations of fur and sea animals), the inert bureaucratic structure could not and did not even want to rebuild, eventually finding itself among the main initiators of the transition of overseas territories to American citizenship. That is, as usual, the fish rotted off the head.
The Russian government, among which began talking about the sale of Alaska and other overseas territories in the early 1850s (i.e., almost 20 years before the conclusion of the famous historical deal), began to lean towards the decision to cede Russian America to Washington. The first step in this direction was taken during the Crimean War, when the overseas territories (in order to avoid their capture by Great Britain) were transferred for three years to the temporary US administration (without the transfer of ownership and the mandatory return of these territories). The next steps regarding the sale of Russian America were taken by the Russian authorities immediately after the end of the Crimean War. In fact, an agreement between St. Petersburg and Washington on this important geopolitical step was reached by 1861, but the process was hampered by the Civil War that broke out in the United States, which was not up to the acquisition of new territories. And only two years after its completion, in 1867, the "illiquid asset", according to St. Petersburg, was successfully sold. Along with the transfer of these territories to the jurisdiction of the United States, the history of such a unique phenomenon as the leather money of Russian America ended.
