SITKA

city, historically the most notable Alaskan settlement, on the west coast of Baranof Island in the Alexander Archipelago, southeastern Alaska, U.S. Old Sitka, or Fort St. Michael, was established in July 1799 by Aleksandr Baranov (Baranof), the first Russian governor of Alaska. The fort was destroyed by the Tlingit Indians in 1802. The present city was founded as Novo Arkhangelsk (New Archangel) in 1804, when Baranov moved the headquarters of the Russian-American Company (a Russian trading company) there from Kodiak. After 1867 the settlement was commonly known as Sitka (probably derived from a Tlingit Indian word meaning by the sea). The formal transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States took place there on Oct. 18, 1867, and Sitka was the territorial capital until replaced by Juneau in 1900. Sitka's principal economic activities are fishing, canning, lumbering, and tourism. St. Michael's Cathedral (Russian Orthodox, 1848) was rebuilt after destruction by fire in 1966. Sheldon Jackson College, founded there in 1878, has a museum housing native and Russian mementos. Nearby is Sitka National Historical Park. Mount Edgecumbe (3,271 feet ), on Kruzof Island, is a conspicuous landmark in Sitka's island-studded, mountain-locked harbour. Inc. 1920. Pop. (1990) 8,588.