In Alaska there are about 70,000 native people. Most of these people are Yupik. In Alaska we have more Yupik people then any other Alaskan group. About 20,000 live in Alaska today. Most Yupik people live in the Western Region in small villages along the Bearing Sea.
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A lot of Yupik people still speak the Yupik language. The most common language is called Central Yupik. About 1/3 of the Yupik children learn Central Yupik as their first language. Most of the time they learn music and Eskimo dancing from the elders of the villages. |
A large Yupik village is Unalakleet with about 1,000 people. This village is home to the Bering Strait School District. Many things about the Yupik lifestyle have changed in the last 1,000 years. Today people can communicate with the rest of the world through telephones. Most villages have satellite dishes that bring in television.
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People here live a lot like most people. But the Yupik people also live like their ancestors did. For example they hunt walrus, whales, moose and caribou. They fish salmon and trout, and they gather wild vegetables, berries and eggs. |
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In the early days the Yupik Eskimos used to use sled dogs as a way to get around. They would even use sled dogs to mush mail or supplies from one village to another.
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Photo by Roz Goodman |
