Russian Shadows on the British Northwest Coast of North America, 1810-1890

A Study of Rejection of Defence Responsibilities

By Glynn Barratt
Publisher: UBC Press
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780774843430, 208 pages, November 2011
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774857659, 208 pages, January 1983

Table of contents

Illustrations

Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction

Abbreviations

1. Early Patterns: British Unassertiveness and Sovereignty on the
Northwest Coast

2. The Stikine River Incident

3. The Crimean War and the British Northwest Coast

4. U.S.-Russian Understanding and a New Balance of Power

5. "The War-Clouds Lowering"

6. 1878

7. The Russian Menace and Colonial Defencelessness: The
1880's

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Description

Russia threw her shadow on the Northwest Coast before the British came
to what is now known as British Columbia. Spanish fears of a
'Muscovite' advance on her possessions from Alaskan outposts
were well known in eighteenth-century Europe. This book focuses on the
development of British and Canadian perceptions of Russian naval
strength in the Pacific during the nineteenth century and weighs the
consequences -- psychological, political, and military -- of the
reluctance of both countries to assume coastal defence
responsibilities.

Reviews

His careful translations of personal journals make for fascinating reading in addition to their worth to ethnographers.

- Louise McReynolds