
When did the Russians discover Alaska?

"We saw that it was not an island, but a great land, a coast of yellow sand, yurts along the shore and many people walking on that land...", recalled Ilya Skurikhin, a participant in the 1732 expedition.

On that day, August 21, the Russian ship "Holy Archangel Gabriel" reached an unknown shore. It approached the area of the future Cape Prince of Wales, but due to bad weather the crew was unable to set foot on the shore.
The ship rounded the cape, and local residents sailed up to it in small boats. Through an interpreter, the natives told the Russians about the riches of their land - forests and rivers, wild deer and other animals.
However, the travelers were unable to thoroughly explore the "mainland". Due to the poor condition of the ship, they had to quickly return to Kamchatka.
The expedition became the first step towards the Russian colonization of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands and the creation of the so-called Russian America.