“From this point…the river changes its name again”
Lavrentiy Zagoskin’s Contributions to the Study of Alaska Native Place Names
This report explores the writings of Zagoskin, the Russian explorer, to identify Native names for places along the Kuskokwim.
The accounts of Euroamerican explorers are the earliest written sources of Native place names in Alaska. The Zagoskin expedition was part of an effort begun in about 1818 by the Russian government and the Russian-American trading company to increase knowledge about the geography, resource wealth, and inhabitants of the Bering Sea coast and adjacent interior areas of “Russian America” [Alaska]. Because this region had not previously attracted serious attention from any foreign government the lifeways and traditions of its indigenous residents were intact, despite the presence of Euroamerican trade goods.
