Oral Histories

This Atlas focuses on sharing the knowledge, wisdom, and culture of one of the Indigenous Nations of Siberia, Russian Federation, the Evenki, who live in Iyengra, Russia, and the surrounding taiga.

Explore Yup'ik environmental knowledge of their land, named places, maps, language and values.

Since 2000, the Calista Elders Council (CEC) staff has worked with elders from Bering Sea coastal communities to document Yup'ik place names. Elders have been eager to teach young people their rich history and named places of their homeland, including camp and settlement sites, rivers, sloughs, rocks, ponds, even sandbars and underwater channels. More than 3,000 names have been identified with Yup'ik views on the importance of place names, the land, values, and language.

Since 2000, Calista Education and Culture (CEC) has worked with elders from the Alaskan communities of Kotlik, Emmonak, Alakanuk, Nunam Iqua, Newtok, Tununak, Toksook Bay, Nightmute, Chefornak, Kwigillingok, and Kongiganak to document Yup'ik place names.

Geographic and environmental information from residents of two Indigenous Chukchi communities in the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, Siberia, Russian Federation, practicing seasonal nomadic reindeer herding and other subsistence activities.

The purpose of The Northern Bering Sea: Our Way of Life is to show extensive areas where Alaska Native hunters and local fishermen harvest ocean resources, and the marine waters important to the resources we rely on. It illustrates that the whole northern Bering Sea is the storehouse that supports our way of life.

The Bering Sea is home to over 70 Indigenous communities of the Iñupiat, Central Yup’ik, Cup’ik, St. Lawrence Island Yupik, Unangan, and Chukchi Peoples. In recent years, the Bering Sea has experienced unprecedented declines in sea ice, threatening community food security, infrastructure, and travel. In winters 2018 and 2019, sea ice coverage was by far the lowest observed in at least the last 160 years.

In this interactive, multi-media CD-ROM, Inuit from two Inuit communities in Nunavut, Canada, share their observations and perspectives on recent environmental changes.