Native Peoples Law is the area of law related to those peoples indigenous to the continent at the time of European colonization specifically Native Indians, Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives and other native groups. Attorneys who practice native peoples law handle cases involving disputes related to the limited power of the federal government to regulate tribe property and activity, and cases involving unlawful discrimination against native peoples.
Unalaska is a city in the Aleutians West Census Area of the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. Unalaska is located on Unalaska Island and neighboring Amaknak Island in the Aleutian Islands off of mainland Alaska. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 4,347. Almost all of the community's port facilities are on Amaknak Island, better known as Dutch Harbor or just "Dutch". It includes Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and Fort Mears, U.S. Army, a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Dutch Harbor lies within the city limits of Unalaska and is connected to Unalaska by a bridge. Amaknak Island is home to almost 59 percent of the city's population, although it has less than 3 percent of its land area. The Aleut or Unangan have lived on Unalaska Island for thousands of years. The Russian fur trade reached Unalaska when Stepan Glotov and his crew arrived on August 1, 1759. The Unangan people, who were the first to inhabit the island of Unalaska, named it “Ounalashka” meaning ‘Near the Peninsula’. The name Unalaska is probably an English variation of this name. The regional native corporation has adopted this moniker, and is known as the Ounalashka Corporation. Dutch Harbor was so named by the Russians because they believed that a Dutch vessel was the first European ship to enter the harbor.