Qaxun

The Qaxun were Unangan people of the Rat Islands in the western Aleutians, including Kiska and Amchitka. Winds, fog and rough seas shaped the routes between their volcanic shores. Islanders hunted marine mammals and travelled in skin boats adapted to these waters. In the eighteenth century Russian fur traders advanced through the western islands in pursuit of sea otters, imposing new demands on the people whose knowledge and labour made the hunt possible.