ANCHORAGE, ALASKA – Feb. 13, 2018 – Point Hope, a small Iñupiaq village in northwest Alaska, is the oldest continuously inhabited village on the North American continent. The Iñupiat have lived here for more than 10,000 years. It is remote – accessible only by air – with its nearest neighboring village 100 miles away. Its […]
Kaugya’at naut’stagwit.–Fox Farm (place to grow foxes) Kaugya’at naut’starwiat et’llria Long Island-mi.–There used to be a fox farm on Long Island. Fur farming was once one of Alaska’s largest industries. For nearly two centuries, Alaskans raised a variety of small furbearers fox, chinchilla, rabbit, mink, muskrat, and beaver. The industry worked to improve the quality […]
Akilingnaq’sqat–Corporation Akilingnaq’sqat angsinartut akilingnaqlluteng.–Some corporations are big and they are trying to make money. Forty years ago, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act returned forty-four million acres of lands and 962.5 million dollars to Alaska’s Native people. Known by its acronym ANCSA, this historic piece of federal legislation represented a turning point in the social […]
Sugpiat–Real People “Sugpianek” ap’rtaakiikut cuumi, nutaan ap’rtaaraakut Alutiit–They used to call us Sugpiaq before, but now we are called Alutiiqs. Who are Kodiak’s Native people? This a common question. Russian fur traders called them the Aleut, a word derived from a Siberian Native language that means coastal dweller. The Russian’s applied this term to all […]