of the indigenous peoples the word alaska means the great land. sven haakanson is steering his boat out of the bay of kodiak island his ancestors have lived here since time immemorial. over the thousands of years they to solve this seascape each time they put out to sea to hunt. but they use narrow canoes with a couple of paddles instead of comfortable motor boats with powerful engines in the past very very difficult to hunt as an individual you need to group in order to. actually capture for example you look at the sea lions over here in order for you to hunt one of those people. on a summer day and seven hundred forty one scores of the natives of the land set out

on a hunting expedition in canaries they spotted odd looking ships on the horizon. those big sail boats belonged to an expedition led by a russian explorers bearing and. kodiak island made its appearance on russian maps the first colonists were guided by those maps when they landed on the island more than forty years later seventeen eighty four the city of kodiak was the capital of russian america for fifteen years. kodiak streets serve as a reminder of that time. many of them still bear the names of russian travelers and merchants. there is this story called who all founded to with this one i cannot tell you the very first russian permanent settlement in the last . and then their. son in law.

who. was representing the government of russia and also. american companies. this pill has the thickest for any animal the most furs per square inch this is the animal itself the sea otter this animal was what caused the fur gold rush to alaska by russia. russian traveler. first came to alaska in two thousand and nine he organized an

expedition to retrace the steps of his fellow countryman. the ghost in was the first ever european to reach alaska's hinterland in this unexplored land and establish contact with the aboriginal people. local people welcomed warmly just as their ancestors welcome his agustin two hundred fifty years ago their homes may have changed a lot but their attitude to russia remains the same. shit over clearly we welcome the east into places that it once said as bases. were russians many of the local people said they had russian and. when the russians came to the lives of the indigenous people changed. many of them

began to work for the russian american company. hunting for sea otters fishing and taking part in the building of new settlements russian priests and monks visited alaska and baptized the locals and people with the dogs fish russian married local girls. russian men had local women and their children were called creole. creoles who were well educated. in the russian capital bullshit as well as in the colonial of ministration in alaska. he. lives a life entirely different from his ancestors to him putting out to sea is more like fun than work. proud of his traditional bathhouse he sees it as a symbol of successive generations and imbedded russian traditions. when the russians came. the thing that is similar are the rocks and the he.

inside and that's something that we've been doing for centuries and it's a tradition where we have a wooden house which is a russian we're just. taking. a bath. sven sees the history of his people as a mission he curious a museum which is one of the principal tourist attractions of. when few tourists visited during local people come here to when the russians actually took over our claimed alaska. spirit. one of the friends together with his family is listening to his story although his name is of russian origin he doesn't know a single word of the language spoken on the other side of the bering strait nor does he know much about where his last name comes from. what my mom told me in

the morning and the russians for sure they were taken people often are drawn through there underneath your honor and they couldn't say our last name so of a russian. spy you don't seem you enough doesn't need to speak russian services in the orthodox church in kodiak city are held in english. father in a county was born in new england a place that is far away from here he has no russian roots nevertheless he decided to serve as an orthodox priest in alaska but it was a long story. it's a story of growing up in a christian church a protestant church but always running

a seeking out for face for experiences of faith and trying to do that in the doxy as a young man and eventually answering the call into the priesthoods. the church where father in the twenty sears stands with the first church in the new world used to be alaska is still predominantly orthodox us state. russians and the priest said then came didn't force us to not speak our language they didn't force us to not follow our traditional ways of living we did you know stop practicing our older religious practices but pretty much everything else did the same thing language but then and during the american period. american archaeologist david mcmahon is exploring the remains of russian legacy on alaska. these are. they would have been used.

for this is one of the most important finds of his career some of the objects were found at the site of the first russian others on the ocean floor. this is. ship's frames this together with. david raised a many remains of the russian ship kodiak from the depths of the ocean. to the russian american company. in eight hundred sixty. eight was very lucrative because the california needed for their drinks so even if. it was still make a good profit the ship was leaving. everyone got off the ship but because of the board the ship stayed afloat for several days before sank. the.

twenty five meters deep to explore the remains of the ship the kodiak was one of a dozen ships keeping the lines of communication with. similar ships regularly sailed the length of the north pacific. as a symbol the russian american company was in dire straits. at the beginning of the eight hundred sixty s. the company reached the edge of bankruptcy that caused a debate on whether alaska could be sold the vast territory was inhabited by eight hundred. number of. russia needed to defend it. those factors led to a serious discussion about a potential sale they were held in an atmosphere of secrecy laws only a handful of officials knew about them the league. america was not particularly

keen on buying the faraway territory a russian envoy to washington eduardo steckel was told to do his best to convince the u.s. government that it would gain more miss benefits by acquiring alaska. steckel had the support of u.s. state secretary william seward who was in favor of a u.s. territorial expansion. finally in one thousand nine hundred eighty seven after lengthy negotiations alaska was sold to the united states for the price of seven point two million dollars. on october the eighteenth eight hundred sixty seven the russian flag was lowered in the former alaskan capitol of sitka. in its stead america's colors were raised. today happy alaska day is one of the major holidays of the forty ninth state. during a bright show of the residents of citgo reenact the procedure of handing over the flag from russians to americans.

in eight hundred sixty seven at the ceremony for placing the russian colony under u.s. control was much more modest. the american government was weary of accusations that they had wasted a lot of money headlines and splashed across the newspapers scoffed at the purchase describing it as nothing more than a box of vice. rumor even handed that of the seven point two million dollars paid some two hundred thousand was given to senators in the form of kickbacks. but opinion. deliberate steps were taken of. swaying some senators. after alaska came under u.s. control the russian american company lost its influence and the. choice either returned to russia or live in the reservation. check. what became of the money.

was shrouded in mystery. the official version. was spent on the construction of railways. however the ship carrying the gold received . in the pacific.

most people in the lower forty eight. part of america. when they're here. i've actually had people.

lived. here. few english words. doesn't speak russian my grandfather passed away a couple of decades ago and my grandmother. passed away soon after that just some distance from here my father and most of my relatives and one day. too. right after the peninsula was sold to the americans the village was built on the sea shore all of the employees of the russian american company who refused to move to russia had been banished here by the u.s. government one of the older buildings is right down below us doesn't have a window in it is built in the old log dovetail design with the dovetail corners there are several other buildings that are throughout here including sheds that were used for fishing the older ones were built as as old as the late eighteenth

hundreds all the residents of ninilchik are related to each other one way or another they entered the houses irene she died in one thousand nine hundred five one of the most successful people born in india is laurent lehman who was a distant relative of gary. four years ago he was the lieutenant governor of alaska because he's only passing through today and has decided to stay with his uncle and aunt their ancestors were russians and they still use russian words in their everyday lexicon. which is married were you have a chip a few hours later he will visit his father at a nursing home in the town of sold. your interview to i tell him i tell my father that every time. oh i love you do that if it. doesn't see that russian heritage simply as

a distant episode in the history of his native state he remembers well that when he was a child far more people spoke russian than english. with my brothers of the russian heritage and we often joked about it when we get within about ten miles of. doing what we call speaking then we start talking like my father telling some of the stories it is still a very. morna rises around lunchtime he visits his father at the local nursing home he says a few phrases in russian. i'm with you it's nicko i. was there come to. nick lehman can't remember names and faces clearly last year he had a stroke. you know here.

that's my son nick lehman's condition sometimes makes him imagine he's not it's old news nursing home but in the old settlement of. where everyone has a boat where christmas is celebrated in early january rather than in december and where people in nearly every home speak russian. you know there's. a group of. nick lehman is one of the few people here who still remember the russian air of the land its former legacy is gradually being forgotten much in the same way as old people's memories fade away i'd like to teach my children about their heritage and we've shared it. especially with our oldest child our son and i think the best way we can do it is to talk about it some of the stories maybe even some of the language i want them to understand are very rich cultural heritage if

it needs to be and it. is one of the most popular teachers at high school. he used to teach english to russian children in the russian town of. course today he teaches russian in alaska none of the children in his class has a slavic name all of them are americans who have decided to learn the language that was once dominant in this part of the world. your wont during briana while all. this july. this thing that. i'm not. here. grigori sees himself as a representative of the new wave of russian settlers of alaska who fears he makes

himself at home the russian legacy is everywhere. because today there are at least about seven hundred. conspicuously russian for example. then the presence of the churches here so you know the words. let's put it like this here in . the presence of the past. is another. after. trying to stick to a lifestyle of siberia rather than america. people first came here in one thousand six to eight years this is the first house they have built he added we take why they feel you're not young enough how do you choose an evil man for some reason

trying to guess why there's no escape for you dressed to kill. is famous. for causing a. particularly fond of her because she is the only always ready to talk to journalists. live in the settlement and they always prefer. the founders of fled the soviet union to america to escape persecution. in alaska. trying to distance themselves from civilization much like they would. have been initially it was a private. that the signs had been removed and now people can visit us they can talk to and meet. today it is even something of a tourist attraction the cafe run by. the most lucrative business and.

this is my passion. for three decades it never occurred to the old believers that someday americans might be among their neighbors they tried to escape visiting other towns but now the american houses stay near the russian once vacuously know matthew has five children he moved. seven years ago after buying one third of the local land and his american dream is slowly becoming a reality the land was. pretty good price the russians. russians the people that are here the orthodox. have a nice set of values. relations with matt but as the years ago by she becomes ever more apprehensive of the prospect of. losing its

status as a russian enclave and turning into just another. children in the still russian national dress but english is now their mother tongue. for growing up in a russian village but. not as much russian i think or the. church. i. played which. the new wave of settlers who moved to alaska during the last decade came from siberia. twentieth century russian destinations changed in comparison with the eighteenth century the majority preferred. city anchorage rather than. out of the cities three hundred thousand strong population five thousand are

migrants from russia. situated. this perfect english hides his true. he was born. children of the russians who came here in one thousand eight hundred. nine hundred ninety s. are about twenty years old just some of this russian generation has grown up in alaska they speak very good english and understand spoken russian. music. there's a place where everybody's going. to be. different places. but the new russian have taken the him like close to the.

russians don't see themselves as masters. they see themselves. once again. will have to go through a strenuous course of training before the expedition they intend to use the same gear that the early russian explore. discover a. we want to know the actual truth and that's what we didn't have a choice of transport. says van haakanson head of the community of indigenous people. takes a dim view of the desire to make more difficult.

to see. as motorboats. thinks giving up the perks of civilization is a foolish thing to do. yet despite embracing the modern era inwardly he still remains committed to the simple principles preached by his ancestors. we were here for thousands of years. but you know we didn't have this system of paper saying that we can claim this land because in our philosophy in our worldview. you can own land the land owns you you know how can you say you own that when you're only here for a little bit and then you go on it's a whole different philosophy of owning it versus living with a. few

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russia's laura house of parliament has given its preliminary approval to the key nuclear deal with america days after it was voted on and approved by the u.s. senate but the debate over conflicting points made by the senators will go on into the new year the treaty could see the nuclear arsenals of the two countries it slashed by about a third it was signed in april by president obama and has been hailed as a major diplomatic victory. of the year with a manual interview with the country's top t.v. executives he addressed a wide range of issues from russia's political system to the production deal with

us it is the third time the president has taken part of the q. and a session. season's greetings for all of you celebrating christmas good days marked all over the world but for many russians orthodox christmas it will only come in about two weeks' time because of a different calendar. now she's one of britain's finest and most beautiful actresses next dame helen mirren joins al going off to talk about her role as tolstoy's wife and her russian heritage don't miss it. for the full story we've got it for. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers.