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Pribilof Islands
The islands were first visited by Europeans
in 1786 by Gavriil Pribylov, who discovered the fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus)
rookeries for which they became famous, and thus became Russian territory. The
islands passed to the United States in 1867 with the Alaska Purchase. From 1870
to 1890, the U.S. government leased them to the Alaska Commercial Company. From
1890 through 1910, the North American Commercial Company held the monopoly on
seal-hunting there, but the industry shrank considerably owing to seal-hunting
on the open sea.
The North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 was signed by Canada, Japan,
Russia, and the United States to restrict hunting in the area. Under the Fur
Seal Act[3] of 1966, hunting of the seals was forbidden in the Pribilofs, with
the exception of subsistence hunting by native Aleuts.
A well-documented, but not particularly well known, example of Russian and
American control of the lives of Unangax is that which occurred in the Pribilof
Islands. Of the fur-bearing animals that Russians sought, none brought them more
wealth than did the northern fur seal. With hairs packed at an astonishing
300,000 per square inch, fur seal skins have long been valued for their warmth
and softness. Fur seals lead a pelagic (open ocean) life for much of the year,
spent mostly in the North Pacific Ocean waters as far south as California. They
come ashore from spring to fall to rest, give birth, and mate only in the
Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea. For thousands of years, Unangax must
certainly have understood this annual migration, as each spring fur seals swam
northward through the island passes of the eastern Aleutians, returning
southward in the fall along with their new pups. The abundant fur seal bones in
precontact archaeological sites make it clear that Unangax frequently hunted
these animals when they migrated past the archipelago.
When Russians arrived in the eastern Unangax region in the second half of the
eighteenth century, they soon learned of the fur seals’ migratory movements past
the islands. For some years, Russian skippers searched the Bering Sea north of
the Aleutian Islands for the animals’ breeding grounds, efforts that came to
fruition in 1786 and 1787, when they located St. George and St. Paul, the two
main islands of the Pribilof Islands group. At that time, an estimated five
million fur seals came to the Pribilofs each summer.
Almost immediately, Russians compelled Unangax from villages in the Aleutian
Islands to travel seasonally to the Pribilof Islands to harvest fur seals. By
the early 1800s, seasonal work camps transformed into permanent, year-round
Unangax villages on both St. George and St. Paul. To a greater extent than
elsewhere in the region (or anywhere in Alaska), the lives of the Unangax of St.
Paul and St. George were dictated by the profit motives of those who controlled
the fur seal harvest. During the American period, the federal government
regulated most aspects of Unangax lives: marriages, movement to and from the
islands, employment, and administration of justice. Unangax became wards of the
government, as they remained until well after World War II.
Commercial fur seal harvesting, first for Russians and later for Americans (as
an enterprise run by the federal government) served as the economic backbone of
the islands until it ended in 1984. Since that year, fur seals may be harvested
only by Unangax for their own food. Other economic endeavors, including halibut
fishing and tourism, have been developed to replace the commercial fur seal
harvest. Today, St. Paul is one of the largest Unangax communities in the
region.
In a region devoid of large trees, it
is not surprising that Unangax̂ built dwellings in large part of the
earth itself. Houses were constructed in a semisubterranean fashion,
literally, half underground. Excavations several feet deep and sometimes
lined with rocks on the walls were roofed over with beams made from
driftwood and long whale bones, such as those from the lower jaws, or
mandibles. Over this framework, smaller pieces of wood and bone, grass,
and, finally, a layer of living sod completed the structure, so that
from the outside a house appeared like a small grassy hill. Side windows
and doors were absent; instead, entry and exit were made through an
opening in the roof, from which a notched log ladder descended to the
central floor area. Large houses could have had multiple openings in
their roofs to provide additional light and air circulation.
Inside these precontact Unangax̂
houses, families had their personal use areas around the immediate
inside of the walls. These were separated from each other with woven
grass mats. The central floor area was a communal activity area; in some
houses, small sub-floor pits were dug for storage of food and other
materials.
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