08.06 Russia�s Obscure Bond With Native Americans Honored in California

WASHINGTON, June 7 (By Maria Young for RIA Novosti) � A 19th-century Russian trading outpost in California that was once the locus of a rare friendship between Russian settlers and the indigenous Kashia tribe will host a tribute this weekend to a little known piece of Russian-American history that lives on in both countries today.

In stark contrast to tales of violence and bloodshed that went on for centuries between Native Americans and European colonial settlers in North America, the relationship between the Kashia and Russian traders in what is today the western United States is a cause of celebration even 200 years later, organizers say.

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