Introduction

Abstract The “great age of maritime discovery” reached an end by 1800. However, two new goals inspired further maritime discovery in the early 1800s: the exploration of the Arctic regions, and the transformation of natural history into a diverse set of scientific disciplines and practices. The voyage of the Russian ship Rurik (1815–1818) embodied these two goals, and its cast of personnel pursued their own agendas despite the specific expedition mission to discover a Northern Passage. Financed by the wealthy Russian Count Rumiantsev, the Rurik was the first expedition following the Napoleonic Wars to explore the Pacific in a comprehensive way. The personnel sought a wide range of knowledge about species and island communities. Much of the knowledge they acquired would derive from their interactions with Indigenous people.