North Pacific High Sea

South of the Aleutian Islands, a broad expanse of North Pacific water lies open to wind and swell. The Unangan people of the archipelago were accomplished seafarers, hunting marine mammals from skin-covered boats and travelling between the scattered islands. From the middle of the eighteenth century Russian fur hunters pushed eastward through the chain, relying on Unangan skill while imposing demands that brought violence and severe loss of life to island communities.