The Aleuts have lived on the western tip of the Alaska Peninsula for about eight - thousand years. Eskimos lived on the rest of the peninsula.

The Aleuts used to have the densest populations on the Alaska Peninsula. Before the Russians came and brought diseases , and shot a lot of Aleuts, there were from 12,000 to 25,000 Alaskan Aleuts living on the small part of the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands they had.

The Aleuts were closely related to the Eskimos; their languages and traditions are almost the same. They were probably separated from the Eskimos 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. After moving towards the tip of the Alaska Peninsula, the Aleuts may have been cut off by an Indian group moving into the coastal area.

The earliest Aleut site found were about the 1800 B. C. This is the same age that the Eskimos earliest site of the Old Whaling Culture. The Aleut site was on Unimak Island of the Aleutian Islands. It belonged to the people who, like the Eskimos, hunted sea animals.

The climate of the Aleutian Islands was not as cold as that of the Arctic. However, it was a stormy area with lots of snow, rain, fog, and winds, because of that no trees grew on the islands.

The Aleuts lived in villages along the coast of the Alaska Peninsula. They lived in partly underground houses(so they could escape invaders and the weather ) built of driftwood or whale bone with sod roof. Their houses were called barabaras. Sometimes a whole village would live in one big barabaras. Some houses were as big as 240 feet long by 50 feet wide. A big houses could hold as many as 150 people.

Like the Eskimos, the hunted sea mammals such as: sea lion, seal, walrus, and whales. Kayaks were used in sea mammal hunting. The Aleut had two kinds of skin boats. The smaller one was like the Eskimo kayak. The small boat was used for hunting. The big one was up to 30 feet long and was like the Eskimo umiak. The larger boat was used when the whole family wanted to travel from one place to another.

Kayaks were also used for fishing cod and halibut. The Aleuts fished for salmon, too. Shellfish such as clams and mussels, were gathered by the woman. The women also gathered plants for food.

Because the Aleutian Chain is warmer than the Arctic, more kinds of birds can live there. Birds such as ducks, geese, ptarmigans, and birds' eggs were eaten by the Aleuts. Bird skin, sea-otter, seal and sea lion skins were used for clothing .

The Aleut women were famous for their skill in weaving grass baskets. Some of the finest grass baskets in the world are still made by the Aleut women, today .