Matarngasqat; Matarngat; Mataryat–Indians (of the Lower 48) Matarngasqat Camani amlertut.–There are a lot of Indians in the Lower Forty-eight. When Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean in 1492, he mistook the Bahamas for India and called the indigenous people he encountered Indians. The term has since come to mean an indigenous person of North America, […]
Uguaq–Ugak Island PaRaguutakun uguaq kiturtaarpet.–We always pass Ugak island on the boat. Ugak Island lies at the entrance to Ugak Bay, on the far eastern edge of Kodiak Island. Exposed to the open ocean, Ugak Island is small and mountainous. It is just 2.7 by 1.7 miles, and yet rises to over three hundred feet […]
The Alutiiq Museum has received a $25,000 grant from Alaska’s Rasmuson Foundation to support the development of the Alutiiq Ancestors’ Memorial, a new public park in downtown Kodiak. The project is a collaboration between the City of Kodiak and the museum designed to honor Kodiak’s first people and promote awareness of local history. “We are […]
Kulic’kiiq–Snipe Kulic’kiit miktut, kesiin piturnirtut.–Snipes are small but they taste good. The common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) is a shorebird found around Kodiak’s grassy coastal meadows, ponds, and fields during summer. This member of the sandpiper family breeds yearly across northern North America, then heads south to winter in warmer climates. A small bird, snipes have […]