Ivan Antonovich Kupreyanov (russian: Ива́н Анто́нович Купрея́нов; 1794 – 20 April 1857),Pierce, Richard A. ''Russian America: A Biographical Dictionary.'' Kingston, Canada: The Limestone Press. 1990, pp. 227-229. also spelled in English as Kupreanof, was the head of the

Russian-American Company The Russian-American Company Under the High Patronage of His Imperial Majesty (russian: Под высочайшим Его Императорского Величества покровительством Российская-Американс� ...

Russian America Russian America (russian: Русская Америка, Russkaya Amerika) was the name for the Russian Empire's colonial possessions in North America from 1799 to 1867. It consisted mostly of present-day Alaska in the United States, but a ...

from 1835 to 1840. Kupreyanov entered the

Sea Cadet Corps Sea cadets are members of a sea cadet corps, a formal uniformed youth organisation for young people with an interest in waterborne activities and or the national navy. The organisation may be sponsored in whole or in part by the navy or a naval s ...

while being only 10, in 1809. Ivan_Antonovich_Kupriyanov_(by_Franz_Krüger)

Kupreyanov served on the '' Mirny'' under captain

Mikhail Lazarev Admiral Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev (russian: Михаил Петрович Лазарев, 3 November 1788 – 11 April 1851) was a Russian Naval fleet, fleet commander and an explorer. Education and early career Lazarev was born in Vladimir, R ...

during a

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circ ...

led by

Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen (russian: Фадде́й Фадде́евич Беллинсга́узен, translit=Faddéy Faddéevich Bellinsgáuzen; – ) was a Russian naval officer, cartographer and explorer, who ultimately ...

. Besides the discovery of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

, island chains in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and Southern Oceans. He participated in an additional circumnavigation by Lazarev that lasted through 1822 to 1824. With the rank of

Captain lieutenant Captain lieutenant or captain-lieutenant is a military rank, used in a number of navies worldwide and formerly in the British Army. Northern Europe Denmark, Norway and Finland The same rank is used in the navies of Denmark (), Norway () and Finl ...

Kupreyanov commanded a frigate and fought in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

against the Ottoman Navy during the

Russo-Turkish War (1828–29) The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histor ...

. Kupreyanov and his wife, Yuliya Ivanovna, began a school for native girls in Sitka. It was closed at the end of his administration but was reopened later. He built the famous residence, library and museum in

New Archangel russian: Ситка , native_name_lang = tli , settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough , image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg , image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984 , image_size ...

called Baranof's Castle by early American settlers, who assumed that it had been built by

Alexandr Baranov Alexander Andreyevich Baranov (russian: Алекса́ндр Андре́евич Бара́нов; 1747 – 1819), sometimes spelled Aleksandr or Alexandr and Baranof, was a Russian trader and merchant, who worked for some time in Siberia. He ...

, Kupreyanov's predecessor by eighteen years. The residence was the site of the ceremony in which

control Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controllin ...

of Russian America was transferred from Russia to the United States in 1867. Although the residence fell down in 1897, the hill where it was located is still called Castle Hill. Kupreyanov greeted the British captain

Edward Belcher Admiral Sir Edward Belcher (27 February 1799 – 18 March 1877) was a British naval officer, hydrographer, and explorer. Born in Nova Scotia, he was the great-grandson of Jonathan Belcher, who served as a colonial governor of Massachuse ...

in 1837, who was commanding surveying expedition of two ships, HMS ''Sulphur'' and HMS ''Starling''. Belcher recorded that "his civilities were overpowering." Blecher, Edward
''Narrative of a Voyage round the World performed in H.M.S. Sulphur, 1836-1842.''
Vol. 1. London:

Henry Colburn Henry Colburn (1784 – 16 August 1855) was a British publisher. Life Virtually nothing is known about Henry Colburn's parentage or early life, and there is uncertainty over his year of birth. He was well-educated and fluent in French and h ...

. 1843, p. 94. Departing from New Archangel on 30 September 1840 with his family, Kupreyanov continued his career in the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from a ...

. He was promoted to vice admiral in October 1852.

Legacy

Kupreanof Island Kupreanof Island (russian: Остров Купреянова) is an island in the Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska. The island is long and wide with a total land area is , making it the 13th largest island in the United States and t ...

in the

Alexander Archipelago The Alexander Archipelago (russian: Архипелаг Александра) is a long archipelago (group of islands) in North America lying off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, the tops of submerged coastal m ...

(the

Alaska Panhandle Southeast Alaska, colloquially referred to as the Alaska(n) Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia (and a small part ...

) was named after him, and indirectly the city of

Kupreanof, Alaska Kupreanof ( Lingít: ''Aansadaak’w'') is a city at the eastern shore of Kupreanof Island in the Petersburg Borough, in the U.S. state of Alaska. The population was 21 as of the 2020 census, down from 27 in 2010. It is the smallest incorporate ...

, which is on that island.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kupreyanov, Ivan Governors of the Russian-American Company 19th-century people from the Russian Empire Explorers from the Russian Empire 1800 births 1857 deaths Naval Cadet Corps alumni