The name "Baranof" was given to the island in 1805 by Imperial Russian Navy captain U. F. Lisianski in honor of Alexander Andreyevich Baranov.

Steller, the prominent species of sea lions in the area, use the southern tip of Baranof Island as a breeding ground.

At the start of colonization of Baranof Island and other Russian-Alaskan territories, sea otter pelts were demanded from indigenous tribes as tribute for the new Russian settlers.

[9] The United States government was eager to expand and create a rapport with Russia, so Alaska was purchased at an approximate cost of two cents per acre, or $7.2 million exactly.

In February 1924 the Alaska Territorial Game Commission hired Charlie Raatakainen to transplant mainland goats from near Juneau to Bear Mountain.

[12] The 1939 Slattery Report on Alaskan development identified the island as one of the areas where new settlements would be established through immigration.

The only part of Baranof that is not in Sitka is a tiny sliver of land (9.75 km2) at the extreme southeast corner, which is in the Petersburg Borough, and includes the town of Port Alexander.

Goddard, a now-abandoned settlement about 16 miles (26 kilometres) south of Sitka, features a few private homes and hot springs with two public bathhouses.

[13] The Tlingit people fished, hunted, trapped, and traded goods with neighboring Indigenous groups.

[13] The native's success did not last long after this rebellion, and the Russians with Aluet allies took back the fort and the land that the Tlingits then occupied in a six-day-long effort.

By this time, the Russian-American Company was in need of the Tlingit hunting abilities, and invited the native group back to their original land on Baranof Island with the agreement of no more raids into Russian territory.

[5] Fishing, seafood processing, and tourism are important industries on the island, which is also famous for brown bears and Sitka deer.

Louis L'Amour's novel Sitka describes the conflict between the Russian fur trading empire and yankee settlers.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a 2007 alternate-history novel by Michael Chabon about a Jewish Yiddish-speaking territory in Sitka, including most of Baranof Island.

Local author John Straley has written a number of mystery novels set on and around Baranof Island.