![[Alaska] Das Russische Amerika. By Schleiben](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/95557.jpg)
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Rare early 19th Century map of "Russian America" and the contiguous regions, published in Leipzig.
Scheiben's atlas was published in at least 15 parts and is extremely rare on the market.
The map shows Alaska toward the end of Russia's active period of colonization. After a period of exploitation by the Shelikhov-Golikov Company, in 1799, Grigory Ivanovice Shelikhov's son-in-law, Nikolay Petrovich Rezanov, acquired a monopoly on the American fur trade from Czar Paul I and formed the Russian-American Company. As part of the deal, the czar expected the company to establish new settlements in Alaska and carry out an expanded colonization program.
By 1804, Alexander Baranov, now manager of the Russian–American Company, had consolidated the company's hold on the American fur trade following his victory over the local Tlingit clan at the Battle of Sitka. Despite these efforts the Russians never fully colonized Alaska. The Russian monopoly on trade was also being weakened by the Hudson's Bay Company, which set up a post on the southern edge of Russian America in 1833.
In 1818 management of the Russian-American Company was turned over to the Imperial Russian Navy and the Ukase of 1821 banned foreigners from participating in the Alaskan economy. It soon entered into the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1825 which allowed British merchants to trade in Alaska. The Convention also settled most of the border between Alaska and British North America.
The Russo-American Treaty of 1824, which banned American merchants above 54° 40' north latitude, was widely ignored and the Russians' hold on Alaska weakened further.
Rarity
The map is rare on the market. This is the first time we have offered this map for sale.
![[ Alaska / Cabo San Lucas / San Blas / Chile ] Views of Headlands and Islands on the Coasts of North West and South America](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/88077.jpg)
