Alutiiq in the context of "Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes"

The Yupik (/ˈjuːpɪk/; Russian: Юпикские народы) are a group of Indigenous or Aboriginal peoples of western, southwestern, and southcentral Alaska and the Russian Far East. They are related to the Inuit and Iñupiat. Yupik peoples include the following:

• Alutiiq, or Sugpiaq, of the Alaska Peninsula and coastal and island areas of southcentral Alaska.
• Yupʼik or Central Alaskan Yupʼik of the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, the Kuskokwim River, and along the northern coast of Bristol Bay as far east as Nushagak Bay and the northern Alaska Peninsula at Naknek River and Egegik Bay in Alaska.
• Siberian Yupik, including Naukan, Chaplino, and—in a linguistic capacity—the Sirenik of the Russian Far East and St. Lawrence Island in western Alaska.

Kodiak (Alutiiq: Sun'aq Russian: Кадьяк) is the main city and one of seven communities on Kodiak Island in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska. All commercial transportation between the island's communities and the outside world goes through this city via ferryboat or airline. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 5,581, down from 6,130 in 2010. It is the tenth-largest city in Alaska.

Inhabited by Alutiiq natives for over 7,000 years, Kodiak was settled in 1792 by subjects of the Russian crown. Originally named Paul's Harbor, it was the capital of Russian Alaska. Russian harvesting of the area's sea otter pelts led to the near extinction of the animal in the following century and led to wars with and enslavement of the natives for over 150 years. The city has experienced two natural disasters in the 20th century: a volcanic ashfall from the 1912 eruption of Novarupta and a tsunami from the 1964 Alaska earthquake.