SUMMARY:

What happened after the Russian Empire sold its colony of Alaska to the United States in 1867? Taking this question as a starting point, the article deals with the entangled histories of resource exploitation and contested power on the North Pacific periphery of the Russian Empire. The author argues that after 1867 a new order emerged on Kamchatka and the Commander Islands, which can be described as “fragmented sovereignty.” It was centered around one of the most valuable maritime resources of the region, fur seals. The Alaska Commercial Company played a central role in this story because it not only controlled the global fur seal trade but also became a key political actor on Russia’s North Pacific coast. By examining the conflicts over fur seals and the Russian presence on the remote periphery, the article contributes to the debate on the practices and limits of imperial rule in a transnational perspective.