The Yupik peoples are a group of Indigenous or Aboriginal peoples of western, southwestern, and south-central Alaska and the Russian Far East.

The Yupik include the Sugpiaq (Alutiiq) of the Alaskan Peninsula and coastal and island areas of south-central Alaska; the Yup'ik (Central Alaskan Yup'ik) of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, the Kuskokwim River, 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 in Alaska; and the Siberian Yupik, including the Naukan, Chaplino, and Sirenik of the Russian Far East and St. Lawrence Island in western Alaska.

The Yupik share cultural and linguistic ties with the Inuit and Iñupiat.

The Yupik peoples are believed to have originated in eastern Siberia, arriving in the Bering Sea about 10,000 years ago. Research into blood types and DNA suggests that the ancestors of other Indigenous peoples of the Americas reached North America before the ancestors of the Inuit and Aleut. It appears that there have been several waves of migrations from Siberia to the Americas over the Bering land bridge.

Around 3,000 years ago, the ancestors of the Yupik had settled along the coastal areas of what would become western Alaska, with migrations up the coastal rivers around 1400 AD. The Siberian Yupik might indicate a return migration of Inuit and Yupik individuals from Alaska to Siberia.

The Yupik people have adapted to the sub-arctic tundra environment, having inhabited these regions for centuries. Their traditional territories span large areas of Alaska and parts of Siberia.

Historically, the Yupik peoples have relied on hunting, fishing, and gathering for sustenance. Fish and berries are staples in the traditional Yupik diet. Salmon species, such as sockeye or red salmon, chum or dog salmon, chinook or king salmon, coho or silver salmon, and pink or humpback salmon, are primarily staples for the Yup'ik peoples. Berries include Alaska wild berries, such as blueberries, red berries, and aggregate fruits.

Traditional food preparation includes fermentation and cooking, both raw and cooked. Foods might be cooked through baking, roasting, barbecuing, frying, smoking, and steaming, and preservation methods include drying, sometimes supplemented by freezing. Dried fish is often served with seal oil.

Of course, the Yupik people in coastal settlements relied more on sea mammals, various fish species, shellfish, crabs, and seaweed, while those living inland had a greater focus on Pacific salmon, freshwater fish, moose, caribou, and migratory waterfowl, as well as gathering bird's eggs, berries, greens, and roots.

Traditionally, Yupik families lived at a fish camp during the spring and summer, then joined others at village sites for the winter, while fall was spent preparing for the winter season. It is common for contemporary Yupik people to harvest traditional subsistence resources, particularly Pacific salmon and seals.

Traditional Yupik homes were built with wood and sealskin. Homes were round, with wooden frames, and covered in sealskin. Construction generally took place in the fall or at other times when the ground was not frozen, as the wooden frames were fastened into the ground.

Interestingly, traditional Yupik homes were segregated by gender, often connected by a tunnel.

Five Yupik languages are still spoken among Yupik people. The most common Native language in Alaska is Yup'ik, which is the second most spoken Indigenous language in the United States, after Navajo. Like the Alaskan Iñupiat, the Alaskan and Siberian Yupik adopted the style of writing developed by Moravian Church missionaries in Greenland during the 1760s. During the late 19th century, Moravian missionaries used Yupik in church services and translated the scriptures into the traditional language.

Russian explorers erroneously identified the Yupik people as Aleut, or Alutiiq, as it is written in Yupik, and this term has remained in use, as well as Sugpiaq, both of which refer to the Yupik or south-central Alaska and Kodiak. This may account for some of the confusion between the related Yupik, Sugpiaq, and Inuit people.

Today, a blend of religions are practiced in various Yupik communities. These include versions of traditional Shamanistic religions, as well as Eastern Orthodox and Moravian Christianity.

Early Christian missionaries introduced new religious practices, while cultural assimilation programs affected Yupik traditions and customs, particularly during the period of Russian colonization.

Today, Yupik peoples continue to inhabit much of their traditional homelands, with Yupik communities scattered across western and southwestern Alaska, while the Siberian Yupik are found on Chukotka and on St. Lawrence Island.

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