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The Sugpiaq (Alutiiq) are an Alaska Native people who have inhabited the coast of south-central Alaska for over 7,500 years.

Their traditional homelands included Prince William Sound, the outer Kenai Peninsula, the Kodiak Archipelago, and the Alaska Peninsula

The Sugpiaq people shared cultural practices with other coastal people, such as the Unangax̂ (Aleut), the Yup'ik Eskimos, the Eyak, Ahtna, Dena'ina, Tlingit, and Haida people, and may have had a common ancestry with those of the Aleutian Chain of Islands.

The Sugpiaq people have also been known as the Alutiq, Pacific Eskimo, and Pacific Yupik. Alutiiq is derived from the terms Russian fur traders and settlers applied to the native people of the region and does not necessarily suggest a common ancestry with the Aleuts. Sugpiaq (singular), Sugpiak (dual), and Sugpiat (plural) are terms that the people themselves use to describe their people, along with Sugstun, Sugcestun, Suqt'stun, or Sugtestun to refer to the language.

As coastal people, the Sugpiaq lived a coastal lifestyle that consisted largely of ocean resources supplemented by land resources, affected significantly by the seasons.

Spring was the most difficult season. During the spring season, they would collect shellfish or hunt octopuses along the shore, picking greens during low tide. Later in the season, fish and sea mammals would move nearer to shore to feed, allowing them to hook cod and halibut, collect herring eggs, and harvest seals.

In the summer, they would turn to the open ocean, continuing to fish for halibut and code, along with hunting seals, sea lions, and humpback whales. Trees and shrubs, such as cedar, birch, and spruce, were used for their medicinal and nutritional value. They would also trade with Alaska Natives on the mainland for antlers, ivory, caribou pelts, and glassy stones unavailable on Kodiak.

Fall was the time to prepare for winter. They picked berries, harvested salmon, and hunted bears and ducks, preserving much of these for the winter season. This was accomplished by drying, smoking, storing in oil, or freezing foods.

Winters were spent mostly indoors, with occasional breaks in the harsh conditions to allow for trapping fox or ermine, hunting ducks, or fishing through lake or river ice.

Before Russian fur traders made contact with the Sugpiaq people, they lived in semi-subterranean homes known as ciqiluaq, although today they live in coastal fishing communities in more modern accommodations, and work in various aspects of the modern economy, although subsistence fishing and hunting is still a significant part of their culture.

An important event in the history of the Sugpiaq people occurred in August of 1784 at Refuge Rock near Kodiak Island. Known as the Awa'uq Massacre, the Refuge Rock Massacre, or the Wounded Knee of Alaska, this involved the massacre of Koniag Sugpiaq people by Russian fur traders led by Grigory Shelekhov.

Shelekhov had been trading with Alaska Natives in the Kuril and Aleutian islands. In April of 1784, he founded a settlement on Kodiak Island and the coast of the mainland. The Sugpiaq people there fled to the secluded stack island known as Refuge Rock of Partition Cove on Sitkalidak Island, across Old Harbor in the Kodiak Archipelago. There, they were attacked by Shelekhov and 130 Russian men and cannoneers of his Shelikhov-Golikov Company, who slaughtered hundreds of men, women, and children, with some reports as high as 3,000, capturing more than a thousand others, while the Russians suffered no casualties.

The period between 1784 and 1818 were a dark period in Sugpiaq history, as the Russians treated them badly. Although the massacre was an isolated incident, the Sugpiaq people suffered other incidents of mistreatment, and many died from infectious diseases. In 1818, there was a change in the management of what was by then known as the Russian-American Company, and conditions improved.

Sugpiaq people on the Kenai Peninsula are known as Kangiyarmiut, while Sugpiaq people on Prince William Sound are called the Ungalarmiut. Other Sugpiaq people are known as the Chugach, the Chugach Sugpiaq, or the Sugachigmiut, who are found in the region of the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound on the southern coast of Alaska. They speak the Chugach dialect of the Alutiq language. Chugach villages include Chenaga Bay, Eyak, Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Tatitlek.

The focus of this part of our web guide is on the Sugpiaq people, and may include websites representing Sugpiaq governments, enterprises, schools, medical facilities, organizations, events, and businesses owned by Sugpiaq individuals.

 

 

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