The Awa'uq MassacreSven Haakanson, Jr. (2010), "Written Voices Become History". In Being and Becoming Indigenous Archaeologists. George Nicholas (editor). Left Coast press, Inc., 2010Afognak Village Timeline or Refuge Rock Massacre, or more recently known as the Wounded Knee of Alaska,John Enders (1992), "Archaeologist May Have Found Site Of Alaska Massacre", The Seattle Times, Sunday, August 16, 1992 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.

Massacre Since 1775, Shelekhov had been trading with Alaska Natives in 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. According to Shelekhov, the Koniag Alutiiq had driven off previous landing attempts by the Russians in 1761 and 1774, but this time he had 130 armed Russians at his disposal.

The people occupying the area attempted to drive off the Russian landing attempt, and fled to the secluded stack island Refuge Rock (Awa'uq in Alutiiq language, approximate meaning 'where one becomes numb'Finding Refuge, PBS, NETA, first release 3 Oct. 2015.) of Partition Cove on Sitkalidak Island. It was across Old Harbor in the Kodiak Archipelago.Gordon L. Pullar, "Ethnographie historique des villages sugpiat de Kodiak à la fin du XIXe siècle". In Giinaquq = Like a Face : Sugpiaq masks of the Kodiak archipelago (editors: Sven Haakanson Jr. and Amy Steffian), 2009 University of Alaska Press. {En 1784, peu après la prise de contrôle de l'île de Kodiak par les Russes qui avait entraîné le massacre de centaines de Sugpiat à Awa'uq (Refuge Rock), le marchand russe Grigorii Shelikhov prit en otage les enfants de reponsables sugpiaq pour les avoir sous son controle er, ainsi, contrôler tout leur peuple.}

The Russian promyshlenniki attacked the people on the island by shooting guns and cannons, slaughtering an estimated 200 to 500Korry Keeker, What it means to be Alutiiq / State museum exhibit examines Kodiak-area Native culture , Friday, April 25, 2003John Enders (1992), "Archaeologist May Have Found Site Of Alaska Massacre", The Seattle Times, Sunday, August 16, 1992 men, women and children on Refuge Rock. Some sources state the number killed was as many as 2,000,Ben Fitzhugh (2003), The Evolution of Complex Hunter-Gatherers: archaeological evidence from the North Pacific, New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2003 or 3,000 persons. Following the attack of Awa'uq, Shelekhov claimed to have captured over 1,000 people, detaining some 400 as hostages, including children. The Russians suffered no casualties.

This massacre was an isolated incident, but the violence and taking of hostages resulted in the Alutiiq becoming completely subjugated by Russian traders thereafter.Aron L. Crowell (2001), Looking Both Ways, Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq People. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2001 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 the location of a refuge island just offshore of Unalaska Island.Richard A. Knecht, Sven Haakanson, and Shawn Dickson (2002). "Awa'uq: discovery and excavation of an 18th century Alutiiq refuge rock in the Kodiak Archipelago". In To the Aleutians and Beyond:, Bruno Frohlich, Albert S. Harper, and Rolf Gilberg, editors, pp. 177–191. Publications of the National Museum Ethnographical Series, Vol. 20. Department of Ethnography, National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen. the Anthropology of William S. Laughlin.

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.Drabek, Alisha Susana 2012. Liitukut Sugpiat'stun (we are learning how to be real people): Exploring Kodiak Alutiiq literature through core values. PhD dissertation. University of Alaska at Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, December 2012. Holmberg was collecting data for the Russian governor of Alaska.

Aminak said:

Aftermath 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.Lydia T. Black (1992), "The Russian Conquest of Kodiak." In: Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska. Vol. 24, Numbers 1-2. Fall. Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks

+ Native population of Southwestern Alaska,1741 to 1834 (Based on estimates and Russian-American Company censuses) year Aleutian Islands (= Aleut ~ Unangan) Kodiak Island, Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound(= Alutiiq ~ Sugpiaq) Kodiak Island only(= Koniag Alutiiq) Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound only(= Chugach Sugpiaq) 1741 1784 1791 1804 1806 1813 1817 1821 1834

+ Fur harvests of Shelikhov-Golikov and Russian-American Company 1797–1821 Average/yr1797–1821 1821–1842 Average/yr1821–1842 Sea otters 72,894 2,916 25,416 1,210 Beavers 34,546 1,382 162,034 7,716 River otters 14,969 599 29,442 1,402 Fur seals 1,232,374 49,295 458,502 21,833 Foxes 102,134 4,085 90,322 4,301 Sables 17,298 692 15,666 746 Wolverines 1,151 46 1,564 74 Lynx 1,389 56 4,253 203 Minks 4,802 192 15,481 737 Polar foxes 40,596 1,624 69,352 3,302 Wolves 121 5 201 10 Bears 1,602 64 5,355 255 Sea lions 27 1 Ø 0 Walrus tusks (poods = 36 pounds) 1,616 65 6,501 310 Baleen (poods = 36 pounds) 1,173 47 3,455 165

References

External links GOOGLE Maps : Awa’uq or Refuge Rock (the secluded island in Partition Cove)

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