Overview
Author(s) :
Stephanie Lumsden, PhD (Hupa)
Lesson partner: Rebecca Lowry, Humboldt County Office of Education
Grade(s) : 5
Suggested Amount of Time : 50 minutes
Curriculum Themes:
- History
- Cultural Strengths
- Law/Government
- Relationship to Place
Learning Goals
Students will be able to:
Understand the history of the Russian Fur Trade at Fort Ross.
Follow along during class discussion and read a map.
Create a piece of historical fiction.
Lesson Overview
This lesson introduces students to a more complex understanding of invasion and colonial settlement in California and builds on elementary knowledge of U.S. history by including an analysis of Russian settlers at Fort Ross, located in present day Sonoma county California, between 1812-1840. This lesson also engages students’ imagination and encourages curiosity about layered and complex histories with a creative writing activity that asks them to describe this historical era from a unique point of view. This lesson is 50 minutes long.
Essential Questions:
How were Pomo and Miwok people's lives altered by the Russian merchants at Fort Ross?
What is the relationship between the Russian Fur Trade and Fort Ross?
Whose ancestral homeland was Fort Ross built on?
Students will:
Create a short creative writing exercise to help them explore their new knowledge and curiosity about the Russian invasion of northern California.
Apply their new knowledge of Russian exploration, invasion and conquest to identify significant points on a map of the Pacific Northwest.
Develop an understanding of the complex layers of invasion and colonization in California through examining the history of Fort Ross.
The teacher must:
Understand the complexity of California Indian history and the many waves of colonial invasion that disrupted Native life.
Be prepared to actively engage with students’ questions about the complex history of Fort Ross which exemplifies violent invasion as well as cooperation between California Indian peoples, Alaska Natives and Russian settlers.
Teacher Background
For the Kashaya Pomo and Coastal Miwok peoples, Fort Ross is a site of historical and cultural significance. Fort Ross was built in 1812 and remained an active site of Russian fur trading until 1840 when it was sold to the infamous settler John Sutter. Russian exploration and invasion throughout the Pacific Northwest began long before Fort Ross was established. During a time in world history where countries were very anxious about claiming the title as the most powerful empire, Russian Tsar Peter the Great commissioned an expansion of sea exploration to claim the Aleutian Islands and Alaska for Russia. The Russian Fur Trade was economically powerful and was the method that Russia was using to extend its colonial empire. Either through fair trade or coercive force, Russians had many forts along the west coast, with their southernmost fort being Fort Ross, built in 1812. Some living Kashaya Pomo and Coastal Miwok people have oral histories of Russian men who attacked their people and abused the women and children. And others have oral histories of willing intermarriage and communal living. It’s important to point out that Fort Ross was a multiethnic industrial community of Alaska Native, Russian, Kashaya Pomo and Miwok people who lived and worked together until Fort Ross was sold to John Sutter in 1840. The Fur Trade declined due to rampant exploitation of the sea otter and seal populations by Russian merchants and others. For a brief time Fort Ross sold agricultural goods to American settlers but that time was short-lived. Many of the Russians who called Fort Ross home returned to Russia, others went elsewhere in California. The Kashaya and Miwok people whose homelands Fort Ross was built on have remained there. Today, like many forts in California, Fort Ross is a State Historic Park and its few remaining original structures can be visited during park hours.