Alutiiq History

The indigenous people at different times described as Aleut and Chugach Eskimo are now identified as Alutiiq. Their territory was the Chugach Mountain arc between the Copper River and the Kenai Peninsula. At one time the Alutiiq of Prince William Sound were divided into 8 tribes, all sharing the same language and maritime culture: the Nuchek, Shallow Water, Sheep Bay, Gravina Bay, Tatitlek, Kiniklik, Chenega and Montague Island tribes. Principal settlements were: Nuchek on Hinchinbrook Island, Shepherd Point in Cordova Bay, Palugvik on Hawkins Islands, Sheep Bay, Gravina Bay, Tyayuluk, Montague and Knight Islands, Kiniklik, Tatitlek, Chenega and Middleton Island as part of their hunting territory. There was also a time that they claimed the Controller Bay area, including Kayak and Wingham Islands.

Their neighbors were the Eyak (to the east), the Sugpiaq Alutiiq settlements of Qutueck of Seward, Nanwalek (formerly English Bay) and Port Graham of Cook Inlet (to the west.) They warred into Koniag and Tlingit territories.

The distances of the greater Alutiiq region (extending to Kodiak Island) produced differing dialects from the same language base. Presently the Alutiiq of Kodiak have best documented and preserved their dialects. The Chugach region produced Sugt’stun language material, and Nanwalek has a thriving immersion school teaching their dialect. The Prince William Sound Alutiiq dialect has approximately 30 speakers, with varying degrees of fluency, spread throughout the Sound. Plans are to further document, teach, and use this dialect. It can regularly be heard in songs for Russian Orthodox Christmas and in the songs of the Native Village of Eyak, Tatitlek, and Seward dance groups.