Sitka (; ) 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 and total area (including water) of , Sitka is the largest city by total area in the U.S.
History
As part of Russia, it was known as New Arkhangelsk ().
The current name, Sitka (derived from ', a contraction of the Tlingit '), means "People on the Edge of Shee", with Shee being the Tlingit name for Baranof Island (the Tlingit name for the island is ' but is often contracted to '). 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.
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.
Territorial Alaska
thumb|Group of Distinguished Chiefs in Sitka (1868)
thumb|Looking past downtown Sitka, up [[Indian River (Alaska)|Indian River valley, in an 1886 postcard. Probably taken from Castle Hill.]]
thumb|Sitka in 1901
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.
Alaska Native Brotherhood, Alaska Native Sisterhood
The Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded in Sitka in 1912 to address racism against Alaska Native people in Alaska. In 1941, construction began on Fort Ray, an army garrison to protect the naval air station. 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 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 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 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 on July 30, 1976, and July 31, 2020. The lowest temperature ever recorded was on February 16–17, 1948.
Geology
thumb|upright|New Archangel and Sitka, 1805
Mount Edgecumbe, a "historically active" stratovolcano, is located on southern Kruzof Island, approximately west of Sitka and can be seen from the city on a clear day.
On April 22, 2022, the Alaska Volcano Observatory reported that:
Adjacent boroughs and census areas
- Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska – north, northeast
- Prince of Wales–Hyder Census Area, Alaska – southeast
National protected areas
- Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (part of Gulf of Alaska unit)
- Saint Lazaria Wilderness (formerly Saint Lazaria National Wildlife Refuge)
- Sitka National Historical Park
- Tongass National Forest (part)
- South Baranof Wilderness
- West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness (part)