Alexander Andreyevich Baranov, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Alexander Andreyevich Baranov

trader and manager of trading posts in Russian America

Date of Birth: 03-Feb-1746

Place of Birth: Kargopol, Russia

Date of Death: 16-Apr-1819

Profession: businessperson, politician, explorer

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Alexander Andreyevich Baranov (Russian: ??????´??? ?????´???? ????´???) (1747–16 April 1819), sometimes spelled Aleksandr or Alexandr and Baranof, was a Russian trader and merchant, who worked for some time in Siberia.
He was recruited by the Shelikov Company for trading in Russian America, beginning in 1790 with a five-year contract as manager of the outpost.
He continued to serve past the end date of his contract. In 1799 Baranov was promoted, appointed by the recently chartered Russian-American Company as Chief Manager, effectively the first governor of Russian America.
He served until 1818.
This was the early colonial period of expansion of settlements.
He founded Pavlovskaya (Kodiak) and later New Archangel (Sitka), Russian colonies that were bases of the company in present-day Alaska.
In addition, he oversaw the expansion of the lucrative fur trade with Alaska Natives. He continued to support his Russian wife and children, who had moved from Siberia back to live near St.
Petersburg.
In Pavlovskaya, Baranov took an Aleut woman as mistress and had three mixed-race children with her.
After learning that his wife had died in 1807 in Russia, he married his mistress, legitimizing their children.
In 1817 Irina, his oldest daughter born in Alaska, married Semyon Yanovksy, a Russian naval officer.
Late in 1818, Yanovsky was appointed as Chief Manager and successor to Baranov.
That year Baranov departed to sail back to Russia, but he died in April 1819 and was buried at sea.