Promyshlennik

A Promyshlennik is a Russian (chiefly Cossack) free-lance exploiter of natural resources, notably furs. Like the coureurs de bois, promyshlenniki had a sure instinct for rivers, forests and terrain. They travelled in bands, sharing resources and profits. Pathfinders of the Russian empire, they were active in the fur trade on the Northwest Coast from the 18th until the early 19th century. They were forerunners of the Russian American Fur Company (chartered 1799).