A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 34,000 (2010 U.S. Census) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| United States (Alaska) | 34,000 |
| Languages | |
| Yupʼik (and dialects: Cupʼik, Cupʼig), English | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (Moravian Protestant, Catholic, Russian Orthodox) and Native | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Siberian Yupik, Sugpiaq/Alutiiq, Naukan, Iñupiat, Inuit, Aleut | |
The Yupʼik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yupʼik, Central Yupʼik, Alaskan Yupʼik (own name Yupʼik sg Yupiik dual Yupiit pl; Russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an Indigenous people of western and southwestern Alaska ranging from southern Norton Sound southwards along the coast of the Bering Sea on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (including living on Nelson and Nunivak Islands) and along the northern coast of Bristol Bay as far east as Nushagak Bay and the northern Alaska Peninsula at Naknek River and Egegik Bay. They are also known as Cupʼik by the Chevak Cupʼik dialect-speaking people of Chevak and Cupʼig for the Nunivak Cupʼig dialect-speaking people of Nunivak Island.
The Yupiit are the most numerous of the various Alaska Native groups and speak the Central Alaskan Yupʼik language, a member of the Eskimo–Aleut family of languages. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the Yupiit population in the United States numbered over 34,000 people, of whom over 22,000 lived in Alaska. The vast majority of these live in the seventy or so communities in the traditional Yupʼik territory of western and southwestern Alaska.[1] About 10,000 speak the language.[2] The Yupʼik had the greatest number of people who identified with one tribal grouping and no other race (29,000).[3] In that census, nearly half of American Indians and Alaska Natives identified as being of mixed race.
Yupʼik, Cupʼik, and Cupʼig speakers can converse without difficulty, and the regional population is often described using the larger term of Yupʼik. They are one of the four Yupik peoples of Alaska and Siberia, closely related to the Sugpiaq ~ Alutiiq (Pacific Yupik) of south-central Alaska, the Siberian Yupik of St. Lawrence Island and Russian Far East, and the Naukan of Russian Far East.
The Yupʼik combine a contemporary and a traditional subsistence lifestyle in a blend unique to the Southwest Alaska. Today, the Yupʼik generally work and live in western style but still hunt and fish in traditional subsistence ways and gather traditional foods. Most Yupʼik people still speak the native language and bilingual education has been in force since the 1970s.
The neighbours of the Yupʼik are the Iñupiaq to the north, Aleutized Alutiiq ~ Sugpiaq to the south, and Alaskan Athabaskans, such as Yupikized Holikachuk and Deg Hitʼan, non-Yupikized Koyukon and Denaʼina, to the east.[4]
Naming
Originally, the singular form Yupʼik was used in the northern area (Norton Sound, Yukon, some Nelson Island) while the form Yupiaq was used in the southern area (Kuskokwim, Canineq , Bristol Bay). Certain places (Chevak, Nunivak, Egegik) have other forms: Cupʼik, Cupʼig, and Tarupiaq.
The form Yupʼik is now used as a common term (though not replacing Cupʼik and Cupʼig).[5] Yupʼik comes from the Yupʼik word yuk, meaning 'person', plus the postbase -pik (or -piaq), meaning 'real' or 'genuine'; thus, Yupʼik literally means 'real person'.[6] The ethnographic literature sometimes refers to the Yupʼik people or their language as Yuk or Yuit. In the Hooper Bay-Chevak and Nunivak dialects of Yupʼik, both the language and the people are given the name Cupʼik.[2]
The use of an apostrophe in the name Yupʼik, compared to Siberian Yupik, exemplifies Central Yupʼik orthography: "The apostrophe represents gemination of the 'p' sound."[7]
| Dialect | Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norton Sound (Unaliq-Pastuliq) | yuk | yuuk | yuut (< yuuget) ~ yugʼet | Yupʼik | Yupiik | Yupiit |
| General Central Yupʼik (Yugtun) | yuk | yuuk | yuut (< yuuget) ~ yugʼet | Yupiaq | Yupiak | Yupiat |
| Chevak (Cugtun) | cuk | cuugek | cuuget | Cupʼik | Cupiik | Cupiit |
| Nunivak (Cugtun) | cug | cuug | cuuget | Cupʼig | Cupiig | Cupiit |
| Egegik | taru ~ taruq | Tarupiaq | Tarupiak | Tarupiat |
The following are names given to them by their neighbors.
- Alutiiq ~ Sugpiaq: Pamanaʼrmiuʼaq (Northern Kodiak), Pamanirmiuq (Southern Kodiak)
- Deg Xinag Athabaskan: Dodz xitʼan , Novogh xitʼan
- Holikachuk Athabaskan: Namagh hitʼan
- Iñupiaq: Uqayuiḷat
- Koyukon Athabaskan: Nobaagha hutʼaankkaa
- Denaʼina Athabaskan: Dutna, Naghelghazhna
- Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskan: sg. Dodina, pl. Dodinayu
History
Origins
The common ancestors of the Yupik and the Aleut (as well as various Paleo-Siberian groups) are believed by archaeologists to have their origin in eastern Siberia. Migrating east, they reached the Bering Sea area about 10,000 years ago.[8][9] Research on blood types and linguistics suggests that the ancestors of American Indians reached North America in waves of migration before the ancestors of the Eskimo and Aleut; there were three major waves of migration from Siberia to the Americas by way of the Bering land bridge.[10] This causeway became exposed between 20,000 and 8,000 years ago during periods of glaciation.
By about 3,000 years ago the progenitors of the Yupiit had settled along the coastal areas of what would become western Alaska, with migrations up the coastal rivers—notably the Yukon and Kuskokwim—around 1400 C.E., eventually reaching as far upriver as Paimiut on the Yukon and Crow Village (Tulukarugmiut) on the Kuskokwim.[6]
Before a Russian colonial presence emerged in the area, the Aleut and Yupik spent most of their time sea-hunting animals such as seals, walruses, and sea lions. They used mainly wood, stone, or bone weapons and had limited experience fishing. Families lived together in large groups during the winter and split up into smaller huts during the summer.[11]
Russian colonization
The Russian colonization of the Americas lasted from 1732 to 1867. The Russian Empire supported ships traveling from Siberia to America for whaling and fishing expeditions. Gradually the crews established hunting and trading posts of the Shelikhov-Golikov Company in the Aleutian Islands and northern Alaska indigenous settlements. (These were the basis for the Russian-American Company). Approximately half of the fur traders were Russians, such as promyshlenniki from various European parts of the Russian Empire or from Siberia.
After the Bering expedition in 1741, Russians raced to explore the Aleutian Islands and gain control of its resources. The Indigenous peoples were forced to pay taxes in the form of beaver and seal fur and opted to do so rather than fight the ever-growing stream of Russian hunters.[12]
Grigory Shelikhov led attacks on Kodiak Island against the indigenous Alutiiq (Sugpiaqs) in 1784, known as the Awa'uq Massacre. According to some estimates, Russian employees of the trading company killed more than 2,000 Alutiiq. The company then took over control of the island. By the late 1790s, its trading posts had become the centers of permanent settlements of Russian America (1799–1867). Until about 1819, Russian settlement and activity were largely confined to the Aleutian Islands, the Pribilof Islands, Kodiak Island, and scattered coastal locations on the mainland.[13] Russian Orthodox missionaries went to these islands, where in 1800 priests conducted services in the local language on Kodiak Island, and by 1824 in the Aleutian Islands. An Orthodox priest translated the Holy Scripture and the liturgy into Tlingit language, which was used by other major people of Alaska Natives.
The Russian period, lasting roughly 120 years, can be divided into three 40-year periods: 1745 to 1785, 1785 to 1825, and 1825 to 1865.[14]
The first phase of the Russian period (1745 to 1785) affected only the Aleut (Unangan) and Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) profoundly. During this period, large sectors of the Bering Sea coast were mapped by the English explorer James Cook, rather than by the Russians. In 1778, Cook discovered and named Bristol Bay and then sailed northward around Cape Newenham into Kuskokwim Bay.[14]
During the second phase of the Russian period (1785 to 1825), the Shelikhov-Golikov Company and later the Russian-American Company was organized and continued in the exploration of the lucrative north Pacific Ocean sea otter trade.[14] During this time, they exchanged massacres for virtual enslavement and exploitation. The major portion of Alaska remained little known, and the Yupʼik of the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta were not strongly affected.[14] The Russo-American Treaty of 1824 was signed in St. Petersburg between representatives of the Russian Empire and the United States on April 17, 1824, and went into effect on January 12, 1825.
During the last phase of the Russian period (1825 to 1865), the Alaska Natives began to suffer the effects of introduced infectious diseases, to which they had no acquired immunity. In addition, their societies were disrupted by increasing reliance on European trade goods from the permanent Russian trading posts. A third influence was the early Russian Orthodox missionaries, who sought to convert the peoples to their form of Christianity.[14] The missionaries learned native languages, and conducted services in those languages from the early decades of the 19th century. The Treaty of Saint Petersburg of 1825 defined the boundaries between Russian America and British Empire claims and possessions in the Pacific Northwest.
United States colonization
The United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867. Originally organized as the Department of Alaska (1867–1884), the area was renamed as the District of Alaska (1884–1912) and the Territory of Alaska (1912–1959) before it was admitted to the Union as the State of Alaska (1959–present).[15]
During the Early American Period (1867–1939), the federal government generally neglected the territory, other than using positions in territorial government for political patronage. There was an effort to exploit the natural resources in the years following the purchase of Alaska. Moravian Protestant (1885) and Jesuit Catholic (1888) missions and schools were established along the Kuskokwim and lower Yukon rivers, respectively. The Qasgiq, ceremonial buildings for Yup'ik men, disappeared due to missionary coercion. During the early American period, native languages were forbidden in mission schools, where only English was permitted.[16]
The economy of the islands also took a hit under American ownership. Hutchinson, Cool & Co., an American trading company, took advantage of its position as the only trader in the area and charged the natives as much as possible for its goods. The combination of high costs and low hunting and fishing productivity persisted until the Russo-Japanese war cut off contact with Russia.[11]
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed into law on December 18, 1971. The ANCSA is central to both Alaska's history and current Alaska Native economies and political structures.[17]
Historiography
Before European contact (until the 1800s), the history of the Yupʼik, like that of other Alaska Natives, was oral tradition. Each society or village had storytellers (qulirarta) who were known for their memories, and those were the people who told the young about the group's history. Their stories (traditional legends qulirat and historical narratives qanemcit) express crucial parts of Alaska's earliest history.
The historiography of the Yupʼik ethnohistory, as a part of Eskimology, is slowly emerging. The first academic studies of the Yupʼik tended to generalize all "Eskimo" cultures as homogeneous and changeless.[18]
While the personal experiences of non-natives who visited the Indigenous people of what is now called Alaska formed the basis of early research, by the mid-20th century archaeological excavations in southwestern Alaska allowed scholars to study the effects of foreign trade goods on 19th-century Eskimo material culture.[18] Also, translations of pertinent journals and documents from Russian explorers and the Russian-American Company added breadth to the primary source base.[18] The first ethnographic information about the Yupʼik of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta was recorded by the Russian explorer Lieutenant Lavrenty Zagoskin, during his explorations for the Russian-American Company in 1842–1844.[19]
The first academic cultural studies of southwestern Alaskan Indigenous people were developed only in the late 1940s. This was due in part to a dearth of English-language documentation, as well as competition in the field of other subject areas.[18] American anthropologist Margaret Lantis (1906–2006) published The Social Culture of the Nunivak Eskimo in 1946; it was the first complete description of any Alaskan indigenous group. She began Alaskan Eskimo Ceremonialism (1947) as a broad study of Alaskan Indigenous people.[18] James W. VanStone (1925–2001), an American cultural anthropologist, and Wendell H. Oswalt were among the earliest scholars to undertake significant archaeological research in the Yupʼik region.[18] VanStone demonstrates the ethnographic approach to cultural history in Eskimos of the Nushagak River: An Ethnographic History (1967).[18] Wendell Oswalt published a comprehensive ethnographic history of the Yukon–Kuskokwim delta region, the longest and most detailed work on Yupʼik history to date in Bashful No Longer: An Alaskan Eskimo ethnohistory, 1778–1988 (1988).[18] Ann Fienup-Riordan (born 1948) began writing extensively about the Yukon-Kuskokwim Indigenous people in the 1980s; she melded Yupʼik voices with traditional anthropology and history in an unprecedented fashion.[18]
The historiography of western Alaska has few Yupʼik scholars contributing writings. Harold Napoleon, an elder of Hooper Bay, presents an interesting premise in his book Yuuyaraq: The Way of the Human Being (1988).[18] A more scholarly, yet similar, treatment of cultural change can be found in Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley's A Yupiaq Worldview: a Pathway to Ecology and Spirit (2001), which focuses on the intersection of Western and Yupʼik values.[18]
Yuuyaraq
Yuuyaraq or Way of life (yuuyaraq sg yuuyarat pl in Yupʼik, cuuyaraq in Cupʼik, cuuyarar in Cupig) is the term for the Yupʼik way of life as a human being. The expression encompasses interactions with others, subsistence or traditional knowledge, environmental or traditional ecological knowledge, and understanding, indigenous psychology, and spiritual balance.[20]
Yuuyaraq defined the correct way of thinking and speaking about all living things, especially the great sea and land mammals on which the Yupʼik relied for food, clothing, shelter, tools, kayaks, and other essentials. These great creatures were sensitive; they were believed able to understand human conversations, and they demanded and received respect. Yuuyaraq prescribed the correct method of hunting and fishing and the correct way of handling all fish and game caught by the hunter in order to honor and appease the spirits and maintain a harmonious relationship with the fish and game. Although unwritten, this way can be compared to Mosaic law because it governed all aspects of a human being's life.[21]
Elders
An Alaska Native elder (tegganeq sg tegganrek dual tegganret pl in Yupʼik, teggneq sg teggnerek ~ teggenrek dual teggneret ~ teggenret pl in Cupʼik, taqnelug in Cupʼig) is a respected elder. The elder is defined as an individual who has lived an extended life, maintains a healthy lifestyle, and has a wealth of cultural information and knowledge. The elder has expertise based upon know-how and provides consultation to the community and family when needed.[22] Traditionally, knowledge was passed down from the elders to the youth through storytelling.[23] A naucaqun is a lesson or reminder by which the younger generation learns from the experience of the elders.[5]
Tegganeq is derived from the Yupʼik word tegge- meaning "to be hard; to be tough".[5] Yupʼik discipline is different from Western discipline. The discipline and authority within Yupʼik child-rearing practices have at their core respect for the children.[22]
More recently, elders have been invited to attend and present at national conferences and workshops.[22] Elders-in-residence is a program that involves elders in teaching and curriculum development in a formal educational setting (oftentimes a university), and is intended to influence the content of courses and the way the material is taught.[24]
Society
Kinship
The Yupʼik kinship is based on what is formally classified in academia as an Eskimo kinship or lineal kinship. This kinship system is bilateral and a basic social unit consisting of from two to four generations, including parents, offspring, and parents' parents. Kinship terminologies in the Yupʼik societies exhibit a Yuman type of social organization with bilateral descent, and Iroquois cousin terminology. Bilateral descent provides each individual with his or her own unique set of relatives or kindred: some consanguineal members from the father's kin group and some from the mother's, with all four grandparents affiliated equally with the individual. Parallel cousins are referenced by the same terms as siblings, and cross cousins are differentiated.[26] Marriages were arranged by parents. Yupʼik societies (regional or socio-territorial groups) were shown to have a band organization characterized by extensive bilaterally structured kinship with multifamily groups aggregating annually.[26]
Community
The Yupʼik created larger settlements in winter to take advantage of group subsistence activities. Villages were organized in certain ways. Cultural rules of kinship served to define relationships among the individuals of the group.[26] Villages ranged in size from just two to more than a dozen sod houses (ena) for women and girls, one (or more in large villages) qasgiq for men and boys, and warehouses.
Leadership
Formerly, social status was attained by successful hunters who could provide food and skins. Successful hunters were recognized as leaders by members of the social group.[27] Although there were no formally recognized leaders, informal leadership was practiced by or in the men who held the title Nukalpiaq ("man in his prime; successful hunter and good provider"). The nukalpiaq, or good provider, was a man of considerable importance in village life. This man was consulted in any affair of importance affecting the village in general, particularly in determining participation in the Kevgiq and Itruka'ar ceremonies.[26] He was said to be a major contributor to those ceremonies and provider to orphans and widows.[26]
The position of the nukalpiaq was not, however, comparable to that of the umialik (whaling captain) of northern and northwestern Alaska Iñupiaq. The captain had the power to collect the surplus of the village and much of the basic production of individual family members and later redistribute it.[28]
Residence
Traditionally, in the winter the Yupʼik lived in semi-permanent subterranean houses, with some for the men and others for the women (with their children). The Yupʼik men lived together in a larger communal house (qasgiq), while women and children lived in smaller, different sod houses (ena). Although the men and women lived separately, they had many interactions. Depending on the village, qasgiq and ena were connected by a tunnel. Both qasgiq and ena also served as schools and workshops for young boys and girls. Among the Akulmiut, the residential pattern of separate houses for women and children and a single residence for men and boys persisted until about 1930.[26]
The women's house or Ena (na sg nek dual net pl in Yupʼik, ena sg enet pl in Cupʼik, ena in Cupʼig) was an individual or semi-communal smaller sod house. They looked similar in construction to the qasgiqs but were only about half the size. Women and children lived in houses that served as residences for two to five women and their children. Raising children was the women's responsibility until young boys left the home to join other males in the qasgiq to learn discipline and how to make a living.[26] The ena also served as a school and workshop for young girls, where they could learn the art and craft of skin sewing, food preparation, and other important survival skills.
Men's house or Qasgiq (is pronounced as "kaz-geek" and often referred to as kashigi, kasgee, kashim, kazhim, or casine in the old literature; qasgi ~ qasgiq sg qasgik dual qasgit pl in Yupʼik, qaygiq sg qaygit pl in Cupʼik, kiiyar in Cupʼig; qasgimi "in the qasgi") is a communal larger sod house. The qasgiq was used and occupied from November through March.[26] The qasgiq housed all adult males in the community and male youth about seven years and older. The women prepared meals in their houses, known as ena. These were taken to the males in the qasgiq by young women and girls.[26]
The qasgiq served as a school and workshop for young boys, where they could learn the art and craft of mask making, tool making, and kayak construction. It was also a place for learning hunting and fishing skills. At times, the men created a firebath, where hot fires and rocks produced heat to aid in body cleansing. Thus, the qasgiq was a residence, bathhouse, and workshop for all but the youngest male community members who still lived with their mothers.[26] Although there were no formally recognized leaders or offices to be held, men and boys were assigned specific places within the qasgiq that distinguished the rank of males by age and residence.[26] The qasgiq was a ceremonial and spiritual center for the community.
In primary villages, all ceremonies (and Yupʼik dancing) and gatherings (within and between villages among the socio-territorial and neighboring groups) took place in the qasgiq.[26] During the early 20th century, Christian church services were held in the qasgiq before churches were constructed.[26] Virtually all official business, within the group, between groups and villages, and between villagers and non-Yupʼik (such as early missionaries) was conducted in the qasgiq.[26]
The Yupʼik Eskimo did not live in igloos or snow houses. But, the northern and northwestern Alaskan Iñupiaq built snow houses for temporary shelter during their winter hunting trips. The word iglu means "house" in Iñupiaq. This word is the Iñupiaq cognate of the Yupʼik word ngel'u ("beaver lodge, beaver house"), which it resembled in shape.[5]
Regional groups
Among the Yupʼik of southwestern Alaska, societies (regional or socio-territorial groups), like those of the Iñupiat of northwestern Alaska, were differentiated by territory, speech patterns, clothing details, annual cycles, and ceremonial life.[26]
Prior to and during the mid-19th century, the time of Russian exploration and presence in the area, the Yupiit were organized into at least twelve, and perhaps as many as twenty, territorially distinct regional or socio-territorial groups (their native names will generally be found ending in -miut postbase which signifies "inhabitants of ..." tied together by kinship[29][30]—hence the Yupʼik word tungelquqellriit, meaning "those who share ancestors (are related)".[30] These groups included:
- Unalirmiut (Unaligmiut), inhabiting the Norton Sound area.[31][32][33] The name derives from the Yupʼik word Unaliq, denoting a Yupʼik from the Norton Sound area, especially the north shore villages of Elim and Golovin and the south shore villages of Unalakleet and St. Michael. Unalirmiut were speakers of the Norton Sound Unaliq subdialect of Yupʼik.[34]
- Pastulirmiut, inhabiting the mouth of the Yukon River.[31] The name derives from Pastuliq, the name of an abandoned village of southern Norton Sound near the present-day village of Kotlik at one of the mouths of the Yukon River. The village name comes from the root paste- meaning to become set in a position (for instance, a tree bent by the wind).[34] Pastulirmiut were speakers of the Norton Sound Kotlik subdialect of Yupʼik, and are also called pisalriit (sing. pisalria) denoting their use of this subdialect in which s is used in many words where other speakers of Yupʼik use y.[34]
- Kuigpagmiut (Ikogmiut), inhabiting the Lower Yukon River.[31][33] The name derives from Kuigpak, meaning "big river", the Yupʼik name for the Yukon River.[34]
- Marayarmiut (Mararmiut, Maarmiut, Magemiut), inhabiting the Scammon Bay area.[31][32][33] The name derives from Marayaaq, the Yupʼik name for Scammon Bay, which in turn derives from maraq, meaning "marshy, muddy lowland". Mararmiut, deriving from the same word, denotes flatland dwellers in general living between the mouth of the Yukon and Nelson Island.[34]
- Askinarmiut, inhabiting the area of the present-day villages of Hooper Bay and Chevak.[31] Askinarmiut is an old name for the village of Hooper Bay. (DCED).
- Qaluyaarmiut (Kaialigamiut, Kayaligmiut), inhabiting Nelson Island.[31][32][33] The name derives from Qaluyaaq, the Yupʼik name for Nelson Island, which derives in turn from qalu, meaning "dipnet".[34] In the Qaluuyaaq, there are three villages. Those villages are Toksook bay, Nightmute, and Tununak.
- Akulmiut, inhabiting the tundra or "Big Lake" area north of the Kuskokwim River.[31][32] The name denotes people living on the tundra—as opposed to those living along the coastline or major rivers—such as in the present-day villages of Nunapitchuk, Kasigluk, or Atmautluak.[26] The name derives from akula meaning "midsection", "area between", or "tundra".[34]
- Caninermiut, inhabiting the lower Bering Sea coast on either side of Kuskokwim Bay, including the area north of the bay where the modern-day villages of Chefornak, Kipnuk, Kongiganak, Kwigillingok are located and south of the bay where the villages of and Eek and Quinhagak are located (Goodnews Bay?).[31][32][33] The name derives from canineq, meaning "lower coast", which derives in turn from the root cani, "area beside".[34]
- Nunivaarmiut (Nuniwarmiut, Nuniwagamiut), inhabiting Nunivak Island.[31][32] The name derives from Nunivaaq, the name for the island in the General Central dialect of Yupʼik.[34] In the Nunivak dialect of Yupʼik (that is, in Cupʼig), the island's name is Nuniwar and the people are called Nuniwarmiut.[35]
- Kusquqvagmiut (Kuskowagamiut), inhabiting the Lower and middle Kuskokwim River.[31][32][33][36] The name derives from Kusquqvak, the Yupʼik name for the Kuskokwim River, possibly meaning "a big thing (river) with a small flow".[34] The Kusquqvagmiut can be further divided into two groups:
- Unegkumiut, inhabiting the Lower Kuskokwim below Bethel to its mouth in Kuskowkim Bay.[33][37] The word derives from unegkut, meaning "those downriver";[34] hence, "downriver people".
- Kiatagmiut, inhabiting inland regions in the upper drainages of the Kuskowkim, Nushagak, Wood, and Kvichak river drainages.[31][32][33][36] The word derives probably from kiani, meaning "inside" or "upriver";[34] hence, "upriver people". The Kiatagmiut lived inland along the Kuskokwim River drainage from the present location of Bethel to present-day Crow Village and the vicinity of the 19th-century Russian outpost Kolmakovskii Redoubt. By the mid-19th century, many Kiatagmiut had migrated to the drainage of the Nushagak River.[38]
- Tuyuryarmiut (Togiagamiut), inhabiting the Togiak River area.[32][33][36] The word derives from Tuyuryaq, the Yupʼik name for the village of Togiak.[34]
- Aglurmiut (Aglegmiut), inhabiting the Bristol Bay area along the Lower Nushagak River and the northern Alaska Peninsula.[31][32][33][36] The word derives from agluq, meaning "ridgepole" or "center beam of a structure".[34]
While Yupiit were nomadic, the abundant fish and game of the Y-K Delta and Bering Sea coastal areas permitted for a more settled life than for many of the more northerly Iñupiaq people. Under normal conditions, there was little need for interregional travel, as each regional group had access to enough resources within its own territory to be completely self-sufficient. However, fluctuations in animal populations or weather conditions sometimes necessitated travel and trade between regions.[29]
Economy
Hunting-gathering
The homeland of Yupʼik is the Dfc climate type subarctic tundra ecosystem. The land is generally flat tundra and wetlands. The area covers about 100,000 square miles which are roughly about 1/3 of Alaska.[39] Their lands are located in five of the 32 ecoregions of Alaska:[40]
Before European contact, the Yupʼik, like other neighboring Indigenous groups, were semi-nomadic hunter-fisher-gatherers who moved seasonally throughout the year within a reasonably well-defined territory to harvest sea and land mammals, fish, bird, berry and other renewable resources. The economy of Yupʼik is a mixed cash-subsistence system, like other modern foraging economies in Alaska. The primary use of wild resources is domestic. Commercial fishing in Alaska and trapping patterns are controlled primarily by external factors.
On the coast, in the past as in the present, to discuss hunting was to begin to define a man. In Yupʼik, the word anqun (man) comes from the root angu- (to catch after chasing; to catch something for food) and means, literally, a device for chasing.[14]
Northwest Alaska is one of the richest Pacific salmon areas in the world, with the world's largest commercial Alaska salmon fishery in Bristol Bay.
