Aleut

The people known as the Aleut are the aboriginal inhabitants of the 1,100-mile Aleutian Island chain stretching southwest from mainland Alaska. The earliest of these people, the Paleo-Aleuts, migrated to North America over the Siberian land bridge, most likely between 5,000 and 3,000 B. c.E.

Although first called Aleut by Russian maritime explorers, the tribe refers to themselves as Unangan, or “the people.” Ethnically related to the Inuit (Eskimo), the Aleut maintain their own dialects and culture. Before contact with Russians in 1741, the Aleut lived in scattered villages usually composed of related families. A chief or head man might govern several small villages, but no single leader reigned over all the Aleut. These villages consisted of semisubterranean dwellings and had a CLASS-based social system that included slaves taken in raids against other indigenous bands. Aleut villages were located near freshwater and in positions safe from attacks from neighboring tribes. Village sites near rivers also provided an abundance of salmon.

Local SACHEMS practiced medicine, led spiritual activities, and enforced hunting rites and taboos. The Aleut were adept at harvesting the resources of the sea, and bands survived by hunting sea lions, seals, whales, and fish from bidarkas, the small, highly maneuverable vessels used by Aleut hunters. In some areas men hunted caribou, bears, and birds while also collecting eggs and edible plants. Women wove intricately detailed grass baskets and worked stone and bone for decorative and utilitarian uses. Bidarkas also provided an effective vehicle for intertribal trade between islands.

Russian fur traders who came to the Aleutian Islands in the 1740s in search of sea otter pelts exploited Aleut hunting skills. The Russians often held Aleut women and children hostage to force Aleut men to hunt sea otters. As the sea otter population declined near the Aleut home waters, Russians took Aleut men to new hunting grounds, some as far away as southern Alta California. Beginning in 1761 the Aleut rebelled, killing Russian traders and destroying Russian vessels. The Russians struck back in 1766, crushing the rebellion and instituting a policy of genocide against the Aleut. The Aleut population declined dramatically under Russian rule, from a precontact population of approximately 25,000 to only 2,000 by the end of the 19th century. Today approximately 8,000 Aleut live in Alaska.

See also Alaska, Russia in.

Further reading: William C. Sturtevant, ed., Handbook of North American Indians: Subarctics, vol. 6 (Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982).

—James Jenks