Wrangell has been ruled by Russia, Great Britain and the United States. It was visited in 1799 by "The Dragon", a ship out of Boston, Massachusetts. They traded with the Stikine Tlingit peoples. It was occupied in 1834 by the Russians. It is named after Ferdinand Wrangel, a German explorer in Russian service. From 1867 to 1877 it was a U.S. military post. Later it was a stopping point for hunters, explorers and miners using the Stikine river route to the Yukon.