Culture & History
Home of the Tlingit Indians for millennia, Russian traders recognized Sitka's location and resources and made the city the capital of Russian America. Known as the "Paris of the Pacific," 1840's Sitka was the largest European-style settlement on the West Coast of North America. When the United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million, the Stars and Stripes were first raised on Castle Hill in downtown Sitka.
Sitka was the capital of Russian America from 1799 until 1867 when Alaska was
transferred from Russia to the United States. Long before the settling of San Francisco was , Sitka was the leading economic center of the northern hemisphere with the first boatyard, lighthouse, sawmill, iron, brass and bronze foundries, and flour mill. The area has scenic beauty possessed by few world communities.
The confluence of Tlingit, Russian and American influences in Sitka has created a cultural environment here that consistently surprises and delights residents and visitors alike. On a given day, one could attend a concert by the world-renowned musicians of the Sitka Summer Music Festival; visit the Sheldon Jackson Museum, one of the finest museums of Native artifacts in Alaska; see those artifacts come to life in a Tlingit Native dance performance; see Russian culture preserved in the Russian Bishop's House or the performances of the New Archangel Dancers; or attend an impromptu poetry reading at a local coffee house.
The Island Institute holds a well-known writer's symposium, bringing award winning authors and thinkers to Sitka each year. The late James Michner used Sitka as his base while writing his novel "Alaska."
SITKA, ALASKA'S RUSSIAN & TLINGIT HERITAGE: WATCH THE VIDEO
