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18-534: The Awa'uq Massacre or Refuge Rock Massacre , Wounded Knee of Alaska was a 1784 massacre of native Alutiiq people on Refuge Rock ( Awa'uq in Alutiiq language ) by Russian fur trader Grigory Shelikhov . The Russians slaughtered 500 (or 2000) men, women and children on Refuge Rock. This massacre was an isolated incident, and the Alutiiq were completely subjugated by Russian traders thereafter. A community nonprofit,

36-500: A baidarka is its forked bow (bifurcated bow). Very lightweight and maneuverable, it was made out of seal skin sewed only by Aleut women, over a frame made strictly of drift wood (since no trees grow in the Aleutian Islands ), bone, and sinew. It was treated as a living being by Aleut men, and it was taboo for women to handle them once completed. The men designed the baidarka frames to be light, fast, and flexible, tying together

54-633: Is the Russian name used for Aleutian style sea kayak . The word was coined by early Russian settlers in Alaska , who created it by adding the diminutive suffix "-ka" to the name of another, larger boat that the Aleuts called the baidara . Before the arrival of the Russians , the one-hole baidarkas (kayaks) were found in abundance, along with some two-hole boats. The Russians later came to hunt fur-bearing animals, and

72-535: The Kodiak Archipelago . The Russian promyshlennikis attacked the people on the island by shooting guns and cannons, slaughtering an estimated 200 to 500 men, women and children on Refuge Rock. Some sources state the number killed was as many as 2,000, or 3,000 persons. Following the attack of Awa'uq, Shelikhov claimed to have captured over 1,000 people, detaining some 400 as hostages, including children. The Russians suffered no casualties. This massacre

90-725: The Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Awa%27uq Massacre none Grigory Shelikhov The Awa'uq Massacre or Refuge Rock Massacre , or, more recently, as the Wounded Knee of Alaska , was an attack and massacre of Koniag Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) people in August 1784 at Refuge Rock near Kodiak Island by Russian fur trader Grigory Shelekhov and 130 armed Russian men and cannoneers of his Shelikhov-Golikov Company . Since 1775 Shelekhov had been trading with Alaska Natives in

108-458: The Kuril and Aleutian islands of present-day Alaska . In April 1784 he returned to found a settlement on Kodiak Island and the coast of the mainland. The people occupying the area initially resisted, and fled to the secluded stack island Refuge Rock ( Awa'uq in Alutiiq language , approximate meaning 'where one becomes numb' ) of Partition Cove on Sitkalidak Island . It was across Old Harbor in

126-591: The Old Harbor Alliance, was formed by the Alutiiq Tribe of Old Harbor, the city of Old Harbor and the Old Harbor Native Corporation. In 2017, they acquired a free-ranging herd of plains bison and released them on the island. 57°07′37″N 153°10′46″W  /  57.1269444°N 153.1794444°W  / 57.1269444; -153.1794444 This article about a location in

144-497: The Russian influence on the design of the kayaks was significant, resulting in three-hole kayaks. These were probably configured with the stern man paddling and guiding the craft, while the bow man was responsible for using the atlatl (throwing board) in the hunt, with the hunt boss in the middle directing the hunt. Some characteristics of these early kayaks are described in the words of Ivan Veniaminov ( Innocent of Alaska ) writing from

162-425: The frame and coated polyester fabric for the skin. Another well known baidarka revivalist is ethnographer David Zimmerly, who has documented the history of baidarka and the people who used them. In 1983 Zimmerly published two articles in "Small Boat Journal" that showed how to build a baidarka. Modern baidarkas are fast collapsible rowing boats, based on aluminum alloy frame with skin made of PVC fabric . Often

180-464: The geography and climate of the Aleutian Islands, trees and wood were in scarce supply, and the people historically relied primarily on driftwood to create the framework of their kayaks , which they covered in sea mammals skins. They developed two types of boats: a hunting kayak with a covered deck, and an open vessel for transportation and capable of carrying goods. The word bidarka or baidarka

198-429: The island of Atka in 1840: "...The baidarki of the present-day Aleuts are no longer as perfect as those of the former Aleut riders. At that time, in the hands of excellent riders, they were so speedy that birds could not outrun them. They were so narrow and sharp-keeled that they could not stand upright in the water without a rider, and so light that a seven-year-old child could easily carry them." A prominent feature of

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216-443: The location of a refuge island just offshore of Unalaska Island . More than five decades after the massacre, Arsenti Aminak, an old Sugpiaq man who had survived the massacre, reported his account of these events to Henrik Johan Holmberg (sometimes known as Heinrich Johann) (1818–1864), a Finnish naturalist and ethnographer . Holmberg was collecting data for the Russian governor of Alaska. Aminak said: The Russians went to

234-549: The settlement and carried out a terrible blood bath. Only a few [people] were able to flee to Angyahtalek in baidarkas ; 300 Koniags were shot by the Russians. This happened in April. When our people revisited the place in the summer the stench of the corpses lying on the shore polluted the air so badly that none could stay there, and since then the island has been uninhabited. After this every chief had to surrender his children as hostages; I

252-529: The use of baidarka. Drawings of the Iqyax - Baidarka are available here. In modern times, George Dyson is often credited with the revival of the baidarka, through his company Dyson, Baidarka & Company. Dyson and his boats were the subject of Kenneth Brower 's book The Starship and the Canoe , and Dyson himself wrote the book Baidarka in 1986. Dyson's Baidarkas are made from modern materials such as aluminium for

270-462: The wooden parts with intricate and spiritual knots braided from tough animal sinew. Unungan women prepared sea lion skins which they sewed onto the frames with bone needles, using a waterproof stitch. While out at sea, men carried with them emergency repair kits. For the Unungan, the sea kayaks lived as spiritual beings and were essential for their survival. From early ages, Unungan boys were trained in

288-481: Was an isolated incident, but the violence and taking of hostages resulted in the Alutiiq becoming completely subjugated by Russian traders thereafter. Qaspeq (literally: " kuspuk "), was an Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) who had been taken as a child as a hostage from Kodiak; he was raised in servitude by the Russians in the Aleutians. Having learned Russian, he became an interpreter for them with the Alutiiq. Qaspeq had once betrayed

306-640: Was banned by Catherine the Great . Baidarka The baidarka or Aleutian kayak ( Aleut : iqyax) is a watercraft consisting of soft skin (artificial or natural) over a flexible space frame. Without primarily vertical flex, it is not an iqyax . Its initial design was created by the Aleut people (Unangan/Unangas), the Indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands . Aleut are surrounded by treacherous waters and have required water transportation and hunting vessels. Due to

324-601: Was saved only by my father's begging and many sea otter pelts. The years 1784–1818 were called the "darkest period of Sugpiaq history," as the Russians treated the people badly. They also suffered high mortality from infectious diseases unwittingly introduced by the Russians. In 1818 there was a change in the management of what was then known as the Russian-American Company , referring to Russians operating in North America. In 1827 collection of yasak (ясак) tax

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