Overview

An estimated 86,000 Native people inhabit 87 percent of the Alaskan land mass, or 493,461 square miles. Approximately one-fourth of the Alaskan Native or Yupiat (pronounced "yu-pee-at") live in the southwest area of the state. This floodplain of the Yukon and the Kuskokwim Rivers composes the Arctic and Subarctic region. Villages are located along the Bering Sea and Bristol Bay coasts as well as the delta of the two rivers. There are approximately 21,415 Yupiat living in 62 villages, although the majority are concentrated in the villages of Bethel and Dillingham. Approximately 40 to 50 percent of the populace are non-Native in these two villages.

The Native people of Alaska migrated from Asia. Anthropologists theorize that they originated in Mongolia because their physical features resemble those of Mongoloids. According to Yupiat creation mythology, the Yupiat were created by the Raven in the area in which they are presently located.

Approximately 32 percent of Alaska Native...