The Aleut are people who live in harmony with their extreme
environment and the turbulent ocean. They subsisted on seals,
sea otters, birds, sea urchins, shellfish and a variety of
plants and berries. The Aleuts lived in harmony with nature and
treated the animals they took with respect. Nothing was ever
thrown away, as this would demonstrate disrespect of the animal
by the hunter and potentially cause bad luck in future hunts.
The Aleut culture flourished until the arrival of Russian
explorers in 1741. Having noted the abundance of sea otters and
fur seals (and their pelts), the Russians recognized their
monetary value and promptly enslaved the Aleut to hunt these
animals for their pelts. Both the sea mammals and the Aleuts
were dangerously close to extinction on the Aleutians by the end
of the 18th century. In 1786, the Russian explorer Gerassim
Pribilof discovered the Pribilof Islands, approximately 200
miles north of the Aleutian chain. As a result of the abundant
sea mammal population on the islands, the