Yupik

At least 4,000 years ago, the Yupik ancestors crossed to Alaska from Siberia. They settled along the Bering Sea coast from the Seward Peninsula to Bristol Bay. The heart of their territory and population center was in the deltas of the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers. According to their legends, the great raven carved these rivers with its talons. Over the last thousand years, Yupik peoples began to move inland, slowly advancing up the rivers and encountering Athabaskans. In some villages, both Athabaskans and Eskimos lived together.  

The tundra-covered coastal and river lowlands of the Y-K Delta were a land of abundant resources. They contained marine mammals in the Bering Sea, large game animals such as moose and caribou, plentiful waterfowl, and, most importantly, large salmon runs. This diverse ecosystem supported a large Yupik population. In fact, the estimated Yupik population of 18,000 was the largest of any Alaska Native group before the Russian discovery of Alaska. The majority of this population lived in the Y-K Delta.