Unbelievable Adventures of Native Americans in Russia

By Muravyev Vitaly

I was committed to finding some “artifact” which not only represented Native American culture but also came from or was connected to Russia in some way. Searching for such a thing proved to be difficult. Not surprisingly, there are very little allusions to Native Americans in Russian popular culture. However, I did find some poor advertisements. The majority of them isn’t worth mentioning at all, but one particular caught my eye.

This is a flyer promoting some mortgage bank in Khabarovsk. I can only speculate on the origin of the picture but the man wearing feather headdress and having face painting seems to be Native American. From top to bottom it says: “Mortgage. We know secret paths. We’ll show you the shortest route”.

It is ironic that a mortgage advertisement uses a picture of Native American. Everyone knows what happened to their immovable property; their land was taken away and they were forced to live in reservations. Honestly, I have no idea what the authors of this advertisement were thinking. They, probably, wanted to exploit the notion of natives as “pathfinders” and helpers, but forgot, in their pursuit for originality, that another connotation of “Indian” is lost land or lost property. As a result, we have a very counterproductive advertisement.

Since I couldn’t find any decent example of representation of Indians in Russian popular culture, I decided to look for shared history between Russians and Native Americans. Much to my surprise I discovered that there was a Russian settlement in California called Fort Ross. It still exists as a historical landmark. Fort Ross was established in 1812 in California by Commerce Counselor Ivan Kuskov of the Russian-American Company. “Kuskov spotted just about the ideal place for setting up a fort: a plateau inaccessible both from sea and land, surrounded by abundant timber, sea lions and pastures”. This land belonged to Kashaya-Pomo Indians but “for three pairs of pants, three hoes, three blankets, a pair of axes and several thread beads, the elders gave the Russians a mandate for the right to own the plateau around Fort Ross. Incidentally, the Indians never said the Russians deceived them. The colonists didn’t try to convert the natives to Christianity, respected their customs, defended against other pale-skinned peoples and took Indian women as their wives.” Furthermore, the fort was never attacked and never fought any battle - a remarkable example of peaceful coexistence. “Kind attitude of the colonists saved the Kashaya-Pomo Indians from annihilation”. Russian people have always sympathized with oppressed and persecuted Indians.

The most amazing part of this story is, however, that Kashaya still remember their good neighbors. At the end of July 2012 Fort Ross celebrated its 200th anniversary. Commemorating the anniversary a delegation from California traveled to Russia in September 2012. The Kashaya People were among the delegation members. One of their destinations was Saint Petersburg where they visited the Kunstkamera - the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography where a number of Pomo artifacts, collected by Ilya Voznesenski in 1840 from Fort Ross area, is exhibited. According to a Russian news report their visit to the museum was very emotional because they finally had the opportunity to see some of their long lost artifacts. In the museum the delegation was asked to correctly identify and provide native language names for the objects which had been misnamed for more than 170 years. Apart from the Kunstkamera the delegation visited other points of interest in and around St. Petersburg. They later traveled to Moscow, Vologda and Tot'ma, the birthplace and final resting place of Ivan Kuskov. It is truly amazing that a settlement which lasted only about 30 years and its first curator are still remembered and respected by Koshaya people. These people definitely know how to honor their history and cultural heritage. It seems to me that, in general, it was a very interesting trip and a great cultural exchange which not only raised cultural awareness of the guests and hosts but also brought two completely different cultures closer together.

Russians mostly get their image of Indians from silly posters, tasteless advertisements, or, in best case, from books by Fenimore Cooper and Mayne Reid. And now, contrary to their expectations, they were introduced to modern people interested in both their own and foreign cultures, people who know, remember and love their history. Nothing revealed in these modern men and women their Native American ancestors.

Sources:
Mortgage flyer - http://www.nomos-regiobank.ru/assets/files/press-center/articles/2012/malish_10-09-2012.jpg

News report in Russian language - http://www.5-tv.ru/news/59674/

Independent Coast Observer about the upcoming delegation (July 6, 2012) - http://ico.stparchive.com/Archive/ICO/ICO07062012p04.php

Resolution of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Sonoma - http://sonoma-county.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=3&clip_id=272&meta_id=97520

Sonoma County group in Russia exploring North Coast roots (Sept 6, 2012) - http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120907/ARTICLES/120909712?tc=ar

Russians in the Wild West (Oct 5, 2012) -http://www.russkiymir.ru/russkiymir/en/magazines/archive/2012/10/article0003.html?print=true

Kashaya / Fort Ross Russia Delegation Trip (Jan 11, 2013) - http://www.gualalaarts.org/Events/2013-01-Kashaya-Fort-Ross.html