Fort Ross preserves the former Russian settlement that became the southernmost outpost of Russian colonization in the Americas and the center of the Russian-American Company’s presence on this coast. Founded in 1812 within Kashaya Pomo territory long known as Metini, it stood at a Native site occupied well before the Russian period. Intended to supply northern settlements with food and support the maritime fur trade, it developed into a multi-ethnic community of Russians, Native Californians, Native Alaskans, Aleuts, Finns, Swedes, and Alaskan Creoles. The colony introduced new building practices and technologies to Alta California, while also participating in fur-driven environmental damage and disease spread. Active until 1842, it remains significant for its layered history of encounter, exchange, and conflict.