Kodiak Historical Society Collection: William Crawford Erskine Collection Description: A group of folks posing on the deck of the Star of Alaska

Three groups of Alaska Natives occupied Alaska when the first Europeans came.  In the far west, along the Aleutian Island chain and the southern-most portion of the Alaska Peninsula, lived the Aleuts.  Most of the approximately 15,000 Aleuts at the time of first contact with Europeans depended on sea mammals for food and much of their clothing.  Eastern Aleuts relied more on caribou and salmon.

The second group was the Eskimos.  This group included southern populations that inhabited Kodiak and Prince William Sound; the southwestern Yupiit, who resided from Bristol Bay to the Yukon River Delta; and the Inupiat, who lived along the coast and in the Kobuk, Noatak, and Colville basin in an arch from the Seward Peninsula into the Canadian Arctic.  They met their needs through harvest of the wide variety of sea mammals, salmon, caribou, moose, and smaller land furbearers.

The third group of Alaska Natives was a diverse group of Indians.  Athabaskans, commonly in bands of 15 to 75 people, inhabited the vast interior of Alaska.  Their domain included all but the lowest portion of the Yukon River basin, as well as the upper portion of the Kuskokwim River, and all of Susitna and Copper River drainages.  Most Athabaskans depended on salmon that ascended these streams and on a nomadic search for caribou and moose.  Tlingit and Haida occupied Alaska’s resource-rich southeast panhandle.  Their primary food came from huge salmon runs, though they also took seals, deer, and moose, and collected a variety of berries.  Theirs was the most highly structured society among Alaska Natives, including complex clan and moiety allegiances and stratified classes.

Additional Reading

Steve J. Langdon, The Native People of Alaska (4th edition, 2002)

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