Aleut people ˈæli.uːt are the indigenous people

Alaska Natives

Alaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Aleut, Inuit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.-History:In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded...

 of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Kamchatka Krai, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

.
The name "Aleut" comes from the Aleut word

Aleut language

Aleut is a language of the Eskimo–Aleut language family. It is the heritage language of the Aleut people living in the Aleutian Islands, Pribilof Islands, and Commander Islands. As of 2007 there were about 150 speakers of Aleut .- Dialects :Aleut is alone with the Eskimo languages in the...

 allíthuh, meaning "community." A regional self-denomination is , Unangan or Unanga, meaning "original people." The name Aleut was given to the Unangan

Unangan

Unangan is the name that the people of the southwest Alaska Peninsula and the islands now called the Aleutian Islands call themselves.Ivan Veniaminov lived amongst the indigenous people of the Fox Islands from 1824 to 1834, extensively studying the language and the people, and he does not...

 by Russian fur traders in the mid-18th century.
Тhe Aleut people were distributed throughout the Aleutian Islands, the Shumagin Islands

Shumagin Islands

The Shumagin Islands are a group of 20 islands in the Aleutians East Borough south of the mainland of Alaska, USA, at54°54'–55°20' North 159°15'–160°45' West. The largest islands are Unga Island, Popof Island, Korovin Island, and Nagai Island. Other islands include Andronica, Big Koniuji, Little...

, and the far western part of the Alaska Peninsula

Alaska Peninsula

The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea....

, with an estimated population of around 25,000 before contact with Europeans.