Rezanov, Nikolai Petrovich

Rezanov, Nikolai Petrovich (nyĭkəlī` pētrô`vîch ryĕzä`nəf), 1764–1807, Russian trader, an official of the Russian American Company. He headed an expedition to Alaska in 1803. There he found (1805) the settlement at Sitka in desperate need of food and decided to go to California to obtain supplies. He reached (1806) what is today San Francisco and succeeded in his mission partly because of a romantic attachment to Doña Concepción, daughter of the commandant, José Darío Argüello. He took the supplies to Sitka but died on his return trip to Russia.

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Rezanov, Nikolai Petrovich 

Born Mar. 28 (Apr. 8), 1764, in St. Petersburg; died Mar. 1 (13), 1807, in Krasnoiarsk. Russian state figure. Honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1803).

Rezanov was one of the founders of the Russian American Company. In 1799 he was appointed correspondent of the company but actually functioned as a governmental inspector in charge of the company’s operations. He later headed the company’s administrative board, which was transferred from Irkutsk to St. Petersburg in 1800. He helped organize I. F. Kruzenshtern’s and Iu. F. Lisianskii’s expedition around the world in 1803. On July 27, 1803, Rezanov departed with the expedition as a plenipotentiary envoy charged with establishing trade relations with Japan. During his journey he kept a diary and compiled A Dictionary of the Japanese Language and A Guide to Knowledge of the Japanese Language. He stayed in Japan from Sept. 26, 1804, to Apr. 6, 1805, but his mission was unsuccessful because of the opposition of the Japanese government. After visiting Russian settlements in America, Rezanov returned to Russia by way of Okhotsk. He died on the way to St. Petersburg.