Alyutor Range

The uplands of the Central Alyutor country form part of the broader homeland of the Alyutors on the Kamchatka and Chukchi peninsulas. This is difficult Far Eastern terrain, and the Alyutor way of life joined reindeer breeding with fishing, trapping and hunting. Their mobility followed animals and seasonal foods rather than a single fixed field. Settlements were placed along rivers on elevated ground where residents could watch the surrounding country and keep nearby routes and herds in view.

Before the nineteenth century, octagonal earth houses with vertical walls sheltered groups of three to five families. Such arrangements made the high country a working landscape of movement, camps and food gathering. Russian Cossacks imposed taxes on the Alyutors in 1697, and armed resistance followed over the next few years. Attacks by Chukchis also removed reindeer herds, creating further pressure.

Late eighteenth-century isolation helped the people avoid the worst effects of smallpox while preserving many traditional practices. The Alyutor language belongs to the Chukotko-Kamchatkan family. Most Alyutors at that time live in Koryak Okrug, though fewer than ten percent still speak the language.