Grigory Shelikhov
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Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov (Shelekhov) (Шелихов (Шелехов), Григорий Иванович in Russian; English spelling varies from Shelekov to Shelikof)(1747 — 7.20(31).1795), 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 the Kodiak Island, and a town in Irkutsk Oblast in Russia bear Shelikhov's name.