page_title: Nunivak Island
section_title: People
hierarchical_section_title: Nunivak Island / People
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Kinder auf Nunivak, 1930. English: Nunivak children, photograph by Edward S. Curtis, 1930. Galego: nenos Nunivak, fotografía de Edward S. Curtis, 1930.
context_page_description: Nunivak Island is a permafrost-covered volcanic island lying about 30 miles offshore from the delta of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers in the US state of Alaska, at a latitude of about 60° N. The island is 1,631.97 square miles in area, making it the second-largest island in the Bering Sea and eighth-largest island in the United States. It is 76.2 kilometers long and 106 kilometers wide. It has a population of 191 persons as of the 2010 census, down from 210 in 2000. The island's entire population lived in the north coast city of Mekoryuk.
context_section_description: Nunivak has only one permanent settlement, Mekoryuk, on the north shore, with about 200 residents. In the 1880 United States Census, Ivan Petrof recorded 702 residents in nine villages on the island. An epidemic in 1900 decimated the population of the island. Emigration keeps the population small. Noted persons who have visited Nunivak include journalist Jon Lee Anderson, photographer Edward S. Curtis, Anne Makepeace, anthropologist Margaret Lantis, and the artist Muriel Hannah. Noted conservationist and outdoorsman Steven Rinella aired an episode of his television show Meat Eater in 2015 where he experienced a muskox hunt and explored the history and culture of the island and its people. 
  Nearly all the permanent residents of Nunivak are Cup'it Eskimo, whose traditional language is a dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik known as Cup'ig or Nunivak Cup'ig.  Cup'ig is the first language for many older islanders and is enjoying a dedicated revival among younger islanders as well, although nearly all Nuniwarmiut (Nunivak people) speak English. The people of Nunivak Island still depend to a large degree on subsistence hunting, and also commercial fishing and industrial work on the mainland.
caption: Nunivak children, photograph by Edward S. Curtis, 1930
exif: {}