Attu

The Attu are the westernmost of the Aleut, or Unangax̂, people, on Attu Island, Atan in their own speech, and other Near Islands at the chain's end, nearest Kamchatka. Archaeological sites suggest a pre-contact population of two to five thousand on Attu alone.

Like other Unangax̂ they were maritime people, hunting sea otters, seals and whales from skin kayaks and fishing stormy Bering and North Pacific waters, their speech forming the distinct Attuan, or Western Aleut, dialect.

Nearest Asia, they were the first Aleuts to meet the Russian fur trade: explorer Aleksei Chirikov sighted and named Attu Island in 1742, and promyshlenniki hunters wintered on Attu for years for sea-otter pelts, clashing repeatedly with islanders. Tribute, violence and introduced disease cut deeply into Attu's population under Russian rule, and the Russian-American Company drew survivors into its hunting and resettlement network.