At one point, Alaska was once owned by Russia and the USSR. The name Stika is from the Russian language.

Facts

History

Stika means city-borough, and it is located in the southeast portion of Alaska.

1799 was the year Russian explorers came to Old Sitka and settled there. There were a few battles, but the Russians won, and Stika was named the capital of Russia America.

A Lutheran congregation built the Stika Lutheran Church because many of the people who worked for the Russian-American Company were Swedes, Finns, and other nationalities.

Russia sold the area to the United States in 1867, and thus, other religions began to come to the area.

Since this was the capital of the Russian-America, this was a good place to have the transfer from Russia to the United States on Oct. 18, 1867.

Russia needed money after the Britain, France, and Ottoman Empires in the 1856 war ended in Russia losing Crimean.

They didn’t want the British Canadians to conquer the area.

The area known as Alaska was sold for 2 cents an acre, which came out to $7.2 million. That was some good old chuck of change at the time. The secretary of State at the time, William Seward, wanted to purchase Alaska for some time as a chance to reach the Pacific Ocean.

The U.S. Government and the District of Alaska both used Sitka as their capital. Later, the capital was moved to Juneau.

During World War II, there was a Navy base for seaplanes. It was deactivated in June 1944.

Climate

Well, yes, it does rain in this area of Alaska. In an average year, it gets about 131.74 inches, and Snowfall is only 33 inches. I thought that would be a lot different. However, Sitka is different from the rest of the state.

It was raining on September 18, 2024, about 40 to 50 degrees.

Located

Protected Areas

Yes, Alaska has a lot of areas that are protected, and they are the following:

• Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
• Saint Lazria Wilderness
• Sitka National Historical Park
• Tongass National Forest
• South Baranof Wilderness
• West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness

Notable People

Yes, some notable people come from Sitka.

• Augusta Cohen Coontz
  • 1867-1940, American First Lady of Guam
• Dale DeArmond (1914-2006)
  • Printmaker book illustrator
• Annie Furuhjelm (1859-1937)
  • Finnish Journalist, Legislator
• Sheldon Jackson (1834-1919)
  • Presbyterian missionary in Alaska in the state)
• Richard Nelson (1941-2019)
  • Cultural anthropologist, writer, activist
• Teri Rofkar, (1956-2016)
  • Tlingit weaver
• John Straley born (1953)
  • Award-winning author
• Mary Bong (188-1958)
  • One of the first Chinese immigrants to live in Sitka.

So much more

There is so much more for the city of Sitka. You can visit the city’s website (above) to learn more. Also, I took information for this blog from

Sitka, Alaska. (2024, July 26). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitka,_Alaska

My Thoughts

Sitka is a nice small town. I had never been there before, so it was nice just to see what the former Russian territory capital looked like. They do have a lot of history there. The city was different than the rest of the ports we went to. They don’t get a lot of snow, and it is more coastal, with lots of rain.

Would I go back? Yeah, there was a lot more to explore.