Draft:Bow and Arrow Wars

Bow and Arrow Wars
Date See Timing and causes section Location Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
Triangle Alliance Scammon Bay Chevak Hooper Bay Nunivagmiut Apanuugpak (Loose alliance) Nelson Island Lower Kuskokwim Yup'ik	Yukon River Yup'ik Pastulirmiut Pilot Station Aglurmiut Denaʼina

The Bow and Arrow Wars or Anguyiim Nalliini (Time of Warring) were a series of conflicts among the Yup'ik people in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta that lasted for several centuries until the consolidation of Russian power in the region in the early 19th century. During these violent conflicts, the various Yup'ik regional polities and social structures formed factions against each other and frequently waged wars that engulfed most of the Alaskan Yup'ik population.

Etymology

(note to self: add why they are called the bow and arrow wars here)

The suffix -miut means "the people of," so each culture ending in -miut had a village associated with their name (for example, the Qissunamiut of Qissunaq village) as well as surrounding camps in the vicinity of the main village. These peoples can be grouped together geographically: the people of modern-day Chevak, despite being two different groups of people, allied and fought together frequently enough that they can be grouped into one polity when describing wars between them and other Yup'ik peoples.

Names of Yup'ik peoples

Modern location	Historic Yup'ik
Pastolik River	Pastulirmiut
Pilot Station	Kuigpagmiut
	Unalirmiut
Chevak	Qavinarmiut
	Qissunamiut
Hooper Bay	Nuvugmiut
	Miluqautmiut
	Nenerrlugarmiut
Scammon Bay	Asqinurmiut
Nunivak Island	Nunivagmiut

Timing and Causes

Relying solely on oral history, it is unknown when the Bow and Arrow Wars begun. However, several theories regarding the timing of the wars have sprung up, many of which cite the beginning of the conflicts with fission shifting populations. Specific hypotheses credit migrations of the Aglurmiut (a war-like people from Norton Sound) sometime in the past five hundred years or the development of the Thule people around 1000.

Another theory dates the wars towards the 18th century, with the arrival of the Russian Empire in Alaska. It credits the wars from European disruption in pre-established networks of trade between the Yup'ik. However, this theory has recently been challenged with archeological finds in the 2010s around the Yukon Delta. Thousands of artifacts as well as human remains credited to intertribal Yup'ik conflict have been uncovered by archeologists, which date as early as the 15th and 16th centuries, well before the Russian discovery of Alaska in the 18th century.

Various Conflicts

Peoples and villages of the Bow and Arrow Wars. The Triangle Alliance is shown in red, with riverine peoples shown to the east and north.

The most likely scenario is that the Bow and Arrow Wars were not one long war with a single cause but rather multiple wars between different tribes, each with their own individual causes. Two major conflicts are generally associated with the southern Norton Sound and Yukon Delta region:

• Hooper Bay - Pastulirmiut War: The people of Hooper Bay fought the Pastulirmiut who lived in the Yukon Delta around Pastol Bay. It is said to have been caused by a series of homicides accredited to a son-in-law of the Pasturlirmiut, who murdered Hooper Bay hunters to steal their catch.
• Pilot Station - Chevak War: The war between the Pilot Station people on the Yukon River versus the Chevak people on the Ninglikfak River was the most recent of the Bow and Arrow wars in the region. Oral traditions accredit the war to springing from a dart incident and subsequent feud: a boy accidently hit another boy in the eye with a dart, and after a series of retaliations from the relatives of the two boys, a feud broke out that engulfed their families and eventually the entirety of their peoples.

The Chevak and Hooper Bay peoples frequently allied, as well as the village of Scammon Bay. Located between the two villages and the riverine tribes to the northeast, the village of Scammon Bay often acted as lookouts for incoming raids from the Yukon River Yup'ik, and rather than planning their own raids, they frequently foiled enemy raids on their allies. These three villages formed an alliance frequently labelled "The Triangle," referring to the shape that grouped together the villages. It is generally believed to be a permanent alliance that did not change much throughout the wars - oral history tells us that enemies and allies did not change much throughout the centuries during these wars.

Other belligerents

Iñupiaq

The non-Yup'ik Iñupiaq people acted as a third party that raided the Yup'ik from the north throughout the Bow and Arrow wars and even into the 20th century. These small raiding parties often targeted the Yup'ik of the Yukon River due to their proximity to Iñupiaq land, even in times of peace.

Apanuugpak alliance

South of the Yukon River delta, the Apanuugpak people also saw the Yukon River Yup'ik as enemies, specifically the Aglurmiut, a warrior tribe that previously pushed the Apanuugpak from the Yukon River region down to Bristol Bay. This movement largely displaced the native Dena'ina people, leading to conflict between the two peoples that continued into the Bow and Arrow Wars.

The Apanuugpak made up the various different groups on Nelson Island and the various villages along the Kuskokwim River. They formed a loose alliance amongst each other - they did not attack one another, but did not coordinate raids or attacks together either.

Nunivagmiut

The people of Nunivak Island (who were relatives of the Triangle peoples) also occasionally fought the Yukon Yup'ik. Between the months of May and October, when the ice in the Etolin Strait would clear for kayaks, the Yukon Yup'ik would travel as far south as Nunivak Island for raiding, though these raids were relatively infrequent compared to their mainland neighbors. The Nunivagmiut maintained ties with the coastal Yup'ik, though they never formed any alliance such as the Triangle Alliance.