Fur trade Russia exported raw furs, consisting in most cases of the pelts of martens, beavers, wolves, foxes, squirrels and hares. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Russians began to settle in Siberia, a region rich in many mammal fur species, such as Arctic fox, lynx, sable, sea otter and stoat (ermine). In a search for the prized sea otter pelts, first used in China, and later for the northern fur seal, the Russian Empire expanded into North America, notably Alaska. From the 17th through the second half of the 19th century, Russia was the world's largest supplier of fur. The fur
5026 Martes well-defined rotation period of 4.4243 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.69 magnitude (). According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, "Martes" measures 8.967 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.066, which is typical for carbonaceous asteroids. The "Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link", however, assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and consequently calculates a much smaller diameter of 4.93 kilometers, due to the higher albedo. This minor planet was named for the two species of the family Mustelidae, the pine marten and beech marten.