How a Swiss Person Bought a Part of the Russian Empire in California: Revisiting Johann August Sutter’s Purchase of Fort Ross in 1841

Authors

David Aragai

Keywords

Fort Ross State Historic Park, Russian-American Company colonies, Johann August Sutter biography, Native American perspectives Sonoma

Abstract

Today, Fort Ross is a State Historic Park along California’s Highway Number 1. It is about one hundred miles north of San Francisco on the wild, beautiful, and wind torn Sonoma Coast. Founded in 1812, Fort Ross was originally an outpost of the Russian Empire; the southernmost on the American continent and the one farthest away from the imperial capital, St. Petersburg. It was built with the intent to help feed the Alaskan colony, as well as to extract sea otters and other mammals from the surrounding waters due to their valuable fur.

Recommended Citation

Aragai, David (2025) "How a Swiss Person Bought a Part of the Russian Empire in California: Revisiting Johann August Sutter’s Purchase of Fort Ross in 1841," Swiss American Historical Society Review: Vol. 61: No. 2, Article 2.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol61/iss2/2