Yakutat Bay

Yakutat Bay opens onto the Gulf of Alaska beneath a coast of glaciers and mountains. The Yakutat Tlingit made their homes in this region, fishing its waters and maintaining routes between the coast and the interior. Sea otters attracted maritime traders in the late eighteenth century, bringing foreign vessels into a country whose villages and territories were already governed by established local relationships.

In 1796 Russian traders established a fortified settlement called New Russia near Yakutat as a base for the fur trade. Relations with the Yakutat Tlingit deteriorated over the following years, and in 1805 Tlingit warriors attacked and destroyed the post. The Russians did not rebuild it, and Tlingit resistance kept foreign settlement out of the bay for many years thereafter.