The history of the Alutiiq people of coastal Southcentral Alaska changed forever when Russian fur traders invaded their land and forced them to hunt sea otters to the brink of extinction. Their situation didn’t improve much with the purchase of Alaska by the United States in the 19th century. The lives of Alutiiq villagers under both Russian and American rule is the subject of a new book by anthropologist Sonja Luerhmann.
Jay Barrett. KMXT – Kodiak
