Grigory Shelikhov
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Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov (Shelekhov) (Григорий Иванович Шелихов (Шелехов) in Russian; English spelling varies from Shelekov to Shelikof) (1747, Rylsk – July 20(N.S. July 31), 1795) was a Russian seafarer and merchant.
Shelikhov organized commercial trips of the merchant ships to the Kuril Islands and the Aleutian Islands starting from 1775. In 1783–1786, he led the expedition to the shores of Russian America, during which they founded first Russian settlements in North America (which Shelikhov supervised starting from 1790). Shelikhov was one of the founders of the Russian-American Company, which was officially registered in 1799.
A gulf in the Sea of Okhotsk, a strait between Alaska and Kodiak Island, and a town in Irkutsk Oblast in Russia bear Shelikhov's name. There is a statue of Shelikhov in his native Rylsk.
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