The Aleut tribe were semi-nomadic fishermen & hunters of the Arctic cultural group. The Aleut tribe live in the Aleutian Islands & the western portion of the Alaska Peninsula of northwestern North America. The Aleut people used kayaks for transportation & fishing. Their name is derived from the Aleut word 'allithuh' meaning "coastal people" but they were called Aleut by Russian fur traders. At one time they were referred to as "Eskimo" which was a general used to described the Aleut, Yupik & Inuit people. The people call themselves "Unangan". The Aleutian Islands, with their 57 volcanoes, consist of a chain of 14 large & 55 small islands. The Aleutian Islands of Alaska comprise of 5 groups: the Fox Islands, the Islands of Four Mountains, Andreanof Islands, Rat Islands & the Near Islands. The chief source of food for the Aleut people were whales, sea lions, seals & walruses. Different types of fish, & shellfish were also part of their diet, as were wildfowl & Arctic birds. The Aleut lived in sod-covered houses called barabaras.
The clothes, mitts & boots worn by the Aleut tribe were made from animal skins & furs from sea lion, walrus or sea otter skins. Bird feathers & puffin skins were also used when making clothing. Both men & women wore long tunics often accompanied by loose pants. In the winter the Aleut wore fur-lined, hooded coats called Fur Parkas. The Aleut of Alaska wore fitted clothing in contrast with the loosely hung garments of other regions. For fishing trips in their kayaks the men would wear a light, waterproof coat, generally made from sea otter intestine, called a Kamleika. In the winter they wore soft Mukluk boots made from sealskin. In the summer it was not unusual for the Aleut to go barefoot. The Aleut man shown in the picture is wearing a special fur robe & weaved hat made from from dune wildrye grass that was used during important ceremonies.
The Aleut tribe used a small, narrow boat called a baidarka or a kayak for transportation & fishing trips. The kayak was lightweight, highly manoeuvrable & made using a wooden (driftwood) or whalebone frame covered with sealskin or sea lion skin sewn with sinew. The Aleut developed skills of righting a capsized kayak with, or without, the use of a paddle (called a kayak roll).
Aleut History Timeline
1000 CE: The Aleut are the descendants of the Thule culture, who emerged after crossing from Siberia, & moved eastward across the Arctic
1648: Russian Semeon Dezhnev sails through Bering Strait & lands in the Diomede Islands
1732: Russian explorers M.S. Gvozdev & Ivan Fedorov make the first recorded contact with the Aleuts
1741: Vitus Bering, captain of the Russian ship the St. Peter, sends men ashore on Kayak Island
1766: Catherine the Great sent Russian explorers & settlers to Alaska & claimed Alaska as part of Russia
1770's: Russian fur traders arrived in the Arctic & exploit the Aleut, giving rise to many conflicts
1771: Captain James Cook leaves Great Britain on his third major expedition to the North Pacific & maps much of the southern coast of Alaska in 1778
1784: The Aleut mount a rebellion against Russian fur traders at Amchitka on the Rat Island group
1794: The First Russian Orthodox missionaries arrive at Kodiak from Russia
1836: Smallpox, measles, chicken pox, & whooping-cough epidemics are suffered amongst the Aleuts (1836-1839)
1850: The Great Age of Unangan (Aleut) Literacy begins (1850-1900)
1866: The Aleut population drops by 25% following the epidemics
1867: The Alaska Purchase was made by the United States of America from Russia for $7.2 million
1868: January 4 1868 the Alaska Commercial Company is established
1880: The Indian Affairs Department was established
1886: Native languages are disallowed in Alaska's public schools
