María de la Concepción Marcela Argüello y Moraga, commonly referred to simply as Concepción Argüello, or "Conchita", was an Alta Californian noted for her romance with Nikolai Rezanov, a Russian promoter of the colonization of Alaska and California.
Grave of Concepción Argüello
Image: Кончита
Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov, a Russian nobleman and statesman, promoted the project of Russian colonization of Alaska and California to three successive Emperors of All Russia—Catherine the Great, Paul, and Aleksander I. Aleksander I commissioned Rezanov as Russian ambassador to Japan (1804) with the aim of concluding a commercial treaty. In order to get to his post he was appointed co-commander of the First Russian circumnavigation (1803-1806), led by Adam Johann von Krusenstern. Rezanov left the expedition in 1805 when it returned to Kamchatka after visiting Japan (1804-1805).
Rezanov's portrait from the State Historical Museum
A replica of Russian Block House #1 (one of three watchtowers that guarded the stockade walls at Novo-Arkhangelsk) as constructed by the National Park Service in 1962.
The Ryazanov Monument in Krasnoyarsk
María de la Concepción Marcela Argüello y Moraga 1791-1857
