Alexander Tarakanov (1763-1818) was a Russian explorer who founded the colony of New Donetsk in present-day California in 1818. Tarakanov departed Russian America (Alaska) with an expedition of around 100 settlers and founded a small trading village along the "Ivanov Trail", a Native American travois route, and his colony soon found itself in a violent rivalry with the Spanish colony of Bosque Miranda in Alta California. The Spanish wrested control of the Ivanov Trail from the Russians before destroying the Russian colony, and Tarakanov and all of his fellow settlers were among the dead.