Russian traders were the first to open the Yukon Valley to exploration and trade. For 125 years, they operated trading posts along the lower Yukon River in present-day Alaska, and competed with the Hudson's Bay Company by establishing trade relationships with the First Nations in what is today the Yukon.
The presence of Russians on the American continent began with the voyage of Vitus Bering on the St. Peter in 1741. Russian traders were drawn to this vast new land by news of the huge sea otter colonies that Bering's sailors had discovered. In 1799 the Russian American Company was established by royal charter from the Empress Catherine.
