Alexandr Andreevich Baranov (Александр Андреевич Баранов in Russian), sometimes spelled Aleksander or Alexander and Baranof, was born in 1746 in Kargopol, in the Arkhangelsk province of Russia.

Alexandr ran away from home at the age of fifteen. He became a successful merchant in Irkutsk, Siberia. He was lured to Russian America, now Alaska, by the growing fur trade there. He became a successful trader there and established and managed trading posts in the Kodiak Island region.

From 1799 to 1818, he became chief manager for the influential Russian-American Company. He managed all of the company's interests in Alaska, including the Aleutian and Kuril Islands. Activity in the region flourished as trading in sea otters and seals boomed. Baranov convinced native Alaskan hunters to expand their range to include the coasts of California. Baranov also advocated more educational opportunities for native Alaskans. Under his leadership, schools were created and frontier communities became less isolated.

During Baranov's rule, Russian Orthodox missionaries operated in Russian America. Many of them denounced the cruelty and exploitation of the native people by the Russian fur traders. Baranov had a stormy relationship with the missionaries, who often proselytized and helped the natives secretly.

Near the end of his life, Baranov embarked on a journey to return to Russia. He sailed to Russia by heading south and then sailing around the Cape of Good Hope. Baranov became very ill on the journey and died in the settlement of Batavia, in Java, in 1819.