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consolidated city-borough in Alaska, United States of America
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Sitka (Tlingit: Sheetʼká; Russian: Ситка) is a unified city-borough in the southeast portion of the U.S. state of Alaska. It was under Russian rule from 1799 to 1867. The city is situated on the west side of Baranof Island and the south half of Chichagof Island in the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific Ocean (part of the Alaska Panhandle). As of the 2020 census, Sitka had a population of 8,458, making it the fifth-most populated city in the state.
With a consolidated land area of 2,870.3 square miles (7,434 square kilometers) and total area (including water) of 4,811.4 sq mi (12,461 km2), Sitka is the largest city by total area in the U.S.
Under Russian rule, it was known as New Arkhangelsk (Russian: Ново-Архангельск, romanized: Novo-Arkhangelsk, lit. 'New Archangel').
The current name, Sitka (derived from Sheetʼká, a contraction of the Tlingit Shee Atʼiká), means "People on the Edge of Shee", with Shee being the Tlingit name for Baranof Island (the Tlingit name for the island is Sheetʼ-ká Xʼáatʼl but is often contracted to Shee).
Russian explorers settled Old Sitka in 1799, naming it the Fort of Archangel Michael (Russian: форт Архангела Михаила, romanized: Fort Arkhangela Mikhaila). The governor of Russian America, Alexander Baranov, arrived under the auspices of the Russian-American Company, a colonial trading company chartered by Russian emperor Paul I. In June 1802, Tlingit warriors destroyed the original settlement, killing many of the Russians, with only a few managing to escape. Baranov was forced to levy 10,000 rubles in ransom to Captain Barber of the British sailing ship Unicorn for the safe return of the surviving settlers.
Baranov returned to Sitka in August 1804 with a large force, including Yuri Lisyansky's Neva. The ship bombarded the Tlingit fortification on the 20th but was not able to cause significant damage. The Russians then launched an attack on the fort and were repelled. Following two days of bombardment, the Tlingit "hung out a white flag" on the 22nd, deserting the fort on the 26th.
Following their victory at the Battle of Sitka in October 1804, the Russians established the settlement called New Archangel, named after Arkhangelsk. As a permanent settlement, New Archangel became the largest city in the region. The Tlingit re-established their fort on the Chatham Strait side of Peril Strait to enforce a trade embargo with the Russian establishment. In 1808, with Baranov still governor, Sitka became the informal capital of Russian America.
Bishop Innocent lived in Sitka after 1840. He was known for his interest in education, and his house, the Russian Bishop's House, parts of which served as a schoolhouse, has since been restored by the National Park Service as part of the Sitka National Historical Park.
The original Cathedral of Saint Michael was built in Sitka in 1848 and became the seat of the Russian Orthodox bishop of Kamchatka, the Kurile and Aleutian Islands, and Alaska. The original church burned to the ground in 1966, losing its handmade bells, the large icon of the Last Supper that decorated the top of the royal doors, and the clock in the bell tower. Also lost was the large library containing books in the Russian, Tlingit, and Aleut languages. Although the church was restored to its original appearance, one exception was its clock face, which is black in photographs taken before 1966, but white in subsequent photos.
Swedes, Finns and other nationalities of Lutherans worked for the Russian-American Company, which led to the creation of a Lutheran congregation. The Sitka Lutheran Church building was built in 1840 and was the first Protestant church on the Pacific coast. After the transition to American control, following the purchase of Alaska from Russia by the United States in 1867, the influence of other Protestant religions increased, and Saint-Peter's-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church was consecrated as "the Cathedral of Alaska" in 1900.
Sitka was the site of the transfer ceremony for the Alaska Purchase on October 18, 1867. Russia was going through economic and political turmoil after it lost the Crimean War to Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire in 1856, and decided it wanted to sell Alaska before British Canadians tried to conquer the territory. Russia offered to sell it to the United States. Secretary of State William Seward had wanted to purchase Alaska for quite some time, as he saw it as an integral part of Manifest Destiny and America's reach to the Pacific Ocean. While the agreement to purchase Alaska was made in April 1867, the actual purchase and transfer of control took place on October 18, 1867. The cost to purchase Alaska was $7.2 million, at 2 cents per acre.
Sitka served as both the U.S. Government Capital of the Department of Alaska (1867–1884) and District of Alaska (1884–1906). The seat of government was relocated north to Juneau in 1906 due to the declining economic importance of Sitka relative to Juneau, which gained population in the Klondike Gold Rush.
The Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded in Sitka in 1912 to address racism against Alaska Native people in Alaska. By 1914, the organization had constructed the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall on Katlian Street, which was named after a Tlingit war chief in the early period of Russian colonization.
In 1937, the United States Navy established the first seaplane base in Alaska on Japonski Island, across the Sitka Channel from the town. In 1941, construction began on Fort Ray, an army garrison to protect the naval air station. Both the navy and army remained in Sitka until the end of WWII, when the army base was put into caretaker status. The naval station in Sitka was deactivated in June 1944. A shore boat system was then established to transfer the approximately 1,000 passengers a day until the O'Connell Bridge was built in 1972.
The Alaska Pulp Corporation was the first Japanese investment in the United States after WWII. In 1959, it began to produce pulp harvested from the Tongass National Forest under a 50-year contract with the US Forest Service. At its peak, the mill employed around 450 people before closing in 1993.
Sitka's Filipino community established itself in Sitka before 1929. It later became institutionalized as the Filipino Community of Sitka in 1981.
Gold mining and fish canning paved the way for the town's initial growth. Today Sitka encompasses portions of Baranof Island and the smaller Japonski Island, which is connected to Baranof Island by the John O'Connell Bridge (which uses the cable-stayed suspension method as its means of support). Japonski Island is home to Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport (IATA: SIT; ICAO: PASI), the Sitka branch campus of the University of Alaska Southeast, Mt. Edgecumbe High School (a state-run boarding school for rural Alaskans), Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium's Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital, U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Sitka, and the port and facilities for the USCGC Kukui.
Sitka has become a destination for visiting cruise ships. In May 2025, a special referendum on restricting cruise ship tourism took place in the town with 3,000 votes cast. The referendum was less than 10 percent from their all-time high for a special election and some 73% of the voters rejected the limits on cruise ships with only 27% voting in favor of the proposed limits.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough is the largest incorporated city by area in the U.S., with a total area of 4,811 square miles (12,460.4 km2), of which 2,870 square miles (7,400 km2) is land and 1,941 square miles (5,030 km2), comprising 40.3%, is water. As a comparison, this is almost four times the size of the state of Rhode Island.
Sitka displaced Juneau, Alaska, as the largest incorporated city by area in the United States upon the 2000 incorporation with 2,874 square miles (7,440 km2) of incorporated area. Juneau's incorporated area is 2,717 square miles (7,040 km2).
Sitka has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) with moderate, but generally cool, temperatures and abundant precipitation. The average annual precipitation is 131.74 inches (3,350 mm); average seasonal snowfall is 33 inches (84 cm), falling on 233 and 19 days, respectively. The mean annual temperature is 45.3 °F (7.4 °C), with monthly means ranging from 36.4 °F (2.4 °C) in January to 57.2 °F (14.0 °C) in August.
The climate is relatively mild when compared to other parts of the state. Only 5.1 days per year see highs at or above 70 °F (21 °C); conversely, there are only 10 days with the high not above freezing. The winters are extremely mild compared to inland areas of similar and much more southerly parallels, due to the intense maritime moderation. The relatively mild nights ensure that four months stay above the 50 °F (10 °C) isotherm that normally separates inland areas from being boreal in nature. Due to the mild winter nights, hardiness zone is high for the latitude (from 6b to 8a).
The highest temperature ever recorded was 88 °F (31.1 °C) on July 30, 1976, and July 31, 2020. The lowest temperature ever recorded was −1 °F (−18.3 °C) on February 16–17, 1948.
See or edit raw graph data.
Mount Edgecumbe, a 3,200-foot (980 m) "historically active" stratovolcano, is located on southern Kruzof Island, approximately 24 km (15 mi) west of Sitka and can be seen from the city on a clear day.
On April 22, 2022, the Alaska Volcano Observatory reported that:
[a] swarm of earthquakes was detected in the vicinity of Mount Edgecumbe volcano beginning on Monday, April 11, 2022. There were hundreds of small quakes in the swarm, though the large majority were too small to locate. Over the past few days, earthquake activity has declined and is currently at background levels.
[...]
The recent swarm inspired an in-depth analysis of the last 7.5 years of ground deformation detectable with radar satellite data. Analysis of these data from recent years reveals a broad area, about 17 km (11 mi) in diameter, of surface uplift centered about 2.5 km (1.6 mi) to the east of Mt Edgecumbe. This uplift began in August 2018 and has been continuing to the present at a rate of up to 8.7 cm/yr (3.4 in/yr) in the center of the deforming area. Deformation has been constant since 2018, and there has not been an increase with the recent earthquake activity. The total deformation since 2018 is about 27 cm (11 in). [...] The coincidence of earthquakes and ground deformation in time and location suggests that these signals are likely due to the movement of magma beneath Mount Edgecumbe, as opposed to tectonic activity. Initial modeling of the deformation signal shows that it is consistent with an intrusion of new material (magma) at about 5 km (3.1 mi) below sea level. The earthquakes are likely caused by stresses in the crust due to this intrusion and the substantial uplift that it is causing.
Intrusions of new magma under volcanoes do not always result in volcanic eruptions. The deformation and earthquake activity at Edgecumbe may cease with no eruption occurring. If the magma rises closer to the surface, this would lead to changes in the deformation pattern and an increase in earthquake activity. Therefore, it is very likely that if an eruption were to occur it would be preceded by additional signals that would allow advance warning.
Sitka first reported on the 1880 census as an unincorporated village. Of 916 residents, there were 540 Tlingit, 219 Creole (Mixed Russian and Native) and 157 Whites reported. It was the largest community in Alaska at that census. In 1890, it fell to second place behind Juneau. It reported 1,190 residents, of whom 861 were Native, 280 were White, 31 were Asian, 17 were Creole and 1 was Other. In 1900, it fell to 4th place behind Nome, Skagway and Juneau. It did not report a racial breakdown.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Sitka, Alaska”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.