Editing Aleuts (section)

==History==
===After contact with Russia===
[[File:Tikhanov - Aleut in Festival Dress in Alaska (1818).png|thumb|left|''Aleut in Festival Dress in Alaska'', watercolor by [[Mikhail Tikhanov]], 1818]]
After the arrival of [[Russian Orthodox Church|Russian Orthodox]] [[missionary|missionaries]] in the late 18th century, many Aleuts became Christian. Of the numerous Russian Orthodox congregations in Alaska, most are majority Alaska Native or Native Alaskan in ethnicity. One of the earliest Christian martyrs in North America was Saint [[Peter the Aleut]].

Russian traders "took Aleut women and children hostage" to force Aleut men to hunt foxes and sea otters so the Russians could have their pelts, and often additionally enslaved Aleut men.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chandonnet |first=Ann |title=Alaska's Native Peoples |publisher=Arctic Circle Enterprises |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-933837-14-7 |location=Anchorage |page=23}}</ref>
[[File:Aleouty.jpg|thumb|Aleuts. Ethnographic description of the peoples of the [[Russian Empire]] by Gustav-Fyodor Khristianovich Pauli (1862)]]

====Recorded uprising against the Russians====
{{unreferenced section|date=April 2016}}
In the 18th century, Russia ''[[promyshlenniki]]'' traders established settlements on the islands. There was high demand for the furs that the Aleuts provided from hunting. In May 1784, local Aleuts revolted on Amchitka against the Russian traders. (The Russians had a small trading post there.) According to the Aleuts, in an account recorded by Japanese castaways and published in 2004, otters were decreasing year by year. The Russians paid the Aleuts less and less in goods in return for the furs they made. The Japanese learned that the Aleuts felt the situation was at crisis. The leading Aleuts negotiated with the Russians, saying they had failed to deliver enough supplies in return for furs. Nezimov, leader of the Russians, ordered two of his men, Stephanov ({{Lang|ja|ステッパノ}} {{Transliteration|ja|Suteppano}}) and Kazhimov ({{Lang|ja|カジモフ}} {{Transliteration|ja|Kazimofu}}) to kill his mistress Oniishin ({{Lang|ja|オニイシン}} {{Transliteration|ja|Oniishin}}), who was the Aleut chief's daughter, because he doubted that Oniishin had tried to dissuade her father and other leaders from pushing for more goods.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}

After the four leaders had been killed, the Aleuts began to move from Amchitka to neighboring islands. Nezimov, leader of the Russian group, was jailed after the whole incident was reported to Russian officials.<ref name="kodayu">Yamashita, Tsuneo. ''Daikokuya Kodayu''(Japanese), 2004. Iwanami, Japan {{ISBN|4-00-430879-8}}</ref> (According to {{nihongo|[[Hokusa bunryaku]]|[[:ja:北槎聞略|北槎聞略]]|lead=yes}}, written by [[Katsuragawa Hoshū]] after interviewing [[Daikokuya Kōdayū]].)

===Aleut genocide against the Nicoleño Tribe in California===
According to Russian American Company (RAC) records which were translated and published in the ''Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology'', a 200-ton otter hunting ship named ''[[Il’mena]]'' with a mixed-nationality crew, including a majority Aleut contingent, was involved in conflict resulting in a massacre of the indigenous natives of [[San Nicolas Island]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/islandofthebluedolphins/upload/JCGBA_34-1_Morris-etal_final.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.nps.gov/subjects/islandofthebluedolphins/upload/JCGBA_34-1_Morris-etal_final.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Murder, Massacre, and Mayhem on the California Coast, 1814 –1815: Newly Translated Russian American Company Documents Reveal Company Concern Over Violent Clashes|year=2014|author= Morris, Susan L.Farris, Glenn J.Schwartz, Steven J.Wender, Irina Vladi L.Dralyuk, Boris|journal=Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology | volume =34|issue= 1 | pages= 81–100}}</ref>

In 1814, to obtain more of the commercially valuable [[otter]] pelts, a Russian company brought a party of conscripted Aleut hunters to the coastal island of San Nicolas, near the Alta California-Baja California border. The locally resident [[Nicoleño|Nicoleño nation]] sought a payment from the Aleut hunters for the large number of otters being killed in the area. Disagreement arose, turning violent; an Aleut was killed, and in retaliation Aleuts killed a number of Nicoleño (the exact amount is unknown).  In 1835, the remaining Nicoleños were removed from the island, except for one woman and possibly her child, who were left behind.   In 1853 that woman, later christened Juana Maria, was found and taken to Santa Barbara.  She may have been the last living Nicoleñan, as what happened to the others after they were brought to the mainland is unknown ([[Juana Maria]], ''the Lone Woman of San Nicolas'').<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/islandofthebluedolphins/upload/JCGBA_34-1_Morris-etal_final.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.nps.gov/subjects/islandofthebluedolphins/upload/JCGBA_34-1_Morris-etal_final.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Murder, Massacre, and Mayhem on the California Coast, 1814 –1815: Newly Translated Russian American Company Documents Reveal Company Concern Over Violent Clashes|year=2014|author= Morris, Susan L.Farris, Glenn J.Schwartz, Steven J.Wender, Irina Vladi L.Dralyuk, Boris|journal=Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology | volume =34|issue= 1 | pages= 81–100}}</ref><ref>https://www.nps.gov/subjects/islandofthebluedolphins/upload/JCGBA_34-1_Morris-etal_final.pdf /, "Life in the Village": Chapter 7, National Park Service, Island of the Blue Dolphins, date written is unknown but the page noted it was last updated February 25, 2020, accessed July 6, 2024</ref>

===Internment during World War II===
In June 1942, during [[World War II]], Japanese forces occupied [[Kiska]] and [[Attu Island|Attu]] Islands in the western Aleutians. They later transported captive Attu Islanders to [[Hokkaido]], where they were held as [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] in harsh conditions. Fearing a Japanese attack on other Aleutian Islands and mainland Alaska, the U.S. government [[Aleutian Islands campaign#Evacuation of the Unangax|evacuated]] hundreds more Aleuts from the western chain and the Pribilofs, placing them in internment camps in southeast Alaska, where many died of [[measles]], [[influenza]] and other infectious diseases which spread quickly in the overcrowded dormitories. In total, about 75 died in American internment and 22<ref>[https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/descendant-of-last-native-leader-of-alaska-island-demands-japanese-reparations-for-1942-invasion/ar-AA1vAJjA?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=46baf9dd3cd64751f1f3f873fb4dd42b&ei=15 Descendant of last native leader of Alaska island demands Japanese reparations for 1942 invasion as a result of Japanese occupation 12-12-2024]</ref>died while prisoners of the Japanese.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Madden, Ryan |title='The Government's Industry': Alaska Natives and Pribilof Sealing during World War II.|journal=Pacific Northwest Quarterly|volume= 91|issue=4 |year=2000|pages=202–209|jstor=40492595}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/aleu/learn/historyculture/unangan-internment.htm|title=Evacuation and Internment, 1942–1945 – Aleutian World War II National Historic Area (U.S. National Park Service)|website=nps.gov|access-date=June 17, 2017|archive-date=October 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006190608/https://www.nps.gov/aleu/learn/historyculture/unangan-internment.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Aleut Restitution Act of 1988]] was an attempt by [[United States Congress|Congress]] to compensate the survivors. On June 17, 2017, the U.S. Government formally apologized for the internment of the Unangan people and their treatment in the camps.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170617174509/http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article156740129.html US apologizes for WWII internment of Alaska's Unangan people]. ''The Associated Press'' via ''Miami Herald''. June 17, 2017</ref>

The [[Aleutian Islands Campaign|World War II campaign]] by the United States to retake Attu and Kiska was a significant component of the operations in the [[American Theater (World War II)|American]] and [[Pacific Ocean theater of World War II|Pacific theaters]].

===Population's decline===
Before their way of life was changed by major influences from the outside world, approximately 25,000 Aleuts were located on the archipelago. Foreign diseases, harsh treatment and disruption of aboriginal society soon reduced the population to less than one-tenth this number. The 1910 Census count showed 1,491 Aleuts. In the 2000 Census, 11,941 people identified as being Aleut; nearly 17,000 said Aleuts were among their ancestors.<ref>{{cite web |title=The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2000 Table 5 |url= https://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/c2kbr01-15.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/c2kbr01-15.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |publisher=census.gov}}</ref>