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Russia Engages the World, 1453-1825
1453 Through the Reign of Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584) The Time of Troubles to the First Romanovs (1598-1682) Peter the Great and His Legacy (1682-1762) The Age of Catherine the Great (1762-1801) The Reign of Emperor Alexander I (1801-1825)

                                     

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Russia's Globalization:
A Key

Events marked Russia Symbol are specific to Muscovy/Russia's internal development.
Those marked World Symbol are important world historical or cultural events.
Engagement Symbol indicates specific points of sociocultural or military engagement between Muscovy/Russia and foreign powers or individuals.


Russia Symbol   A Global Empire’s Attention and Favor
    A Global Empire’s Attention and Favor
NYPL, Spencer Collection
Engagement Symbol   Russian Merchant to the Americas
    Russian Merchant to the Americas
NYPL, Slavic and Baltic Division

Russia Symbol   Catherine in Her Later Years
    Catherine in Her Later Years
NYPL, Slavic and Baltic Division
Engagement Symbol   The Romanov’s Heirs Saluted by Venice
    The Romanov’s Heirs Saluted by Venice
NYPL, Spencer Collection
Engagement Symbol   The Costume of Russia’s Many Peoples, on Paper
    The Costume of Russia’s Many Peoples, on Paper
NYPL, Spencer Collection
Engagement Symbol   Mughal Splendors
    Mughal Splendors
NYPL, General Research Division
Photographic Services & Permissions
Engagement Symbol  Russian Merchant to the Americas


Grigorii Ivanovich Shelekhov (1748–1795)
Rossiiskago kuptsa Grigor’ia Shelekhova stranstvovanie v 1783 godu iz Okhotska po Vostochnomu Okeanu k Amerikanskim beregam [An Account of the Journeys of the Russian Merchant Grigorii Shelekhov in 1783 from Okhotsk on the Eastern Pacific Ocean to the Shores of America]
St. Petersburg: V.S., 1791–92
NYPL, Slavic and Baltic Division

Grigorii Shelekhov, a merchant based in Okhotsk in Siberia, traveled in 1783 to Kodiak Island off the southern coast of Alaska, where he established the first permanent Russian settlement in the New World as a base for his fur-trading enterprise. His official report gives a vivid if highly embellished account of his exploits. The frontispiece engraving glorifies his accomplishment in the contemporary idiom of classical allegory. The verse in the caption is an adaptation of lines published in 1761 by the polymath Mikhail Lomonosov (1711–1765) prophesying the appearance of “Russian Christopher Columbuses” such as Shelekhov.