The National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku) is a research center for ethnology and cultural anthropology.

Economic Systems and Historical Transformation of Indigenous People in the North Pacific Rim

Joint Research Coordinator OHTSUKA Kazuyoshi

Reserch Theme List

Objectives

FY2001
Indigenous people living in the North Pacific Rim attained economic development which revolved around trade in a broad region tying together the two continents of Asia and North America. That stimulus in turn led to reorganization and great refinement in the cultural sphere in terms of crafts technologies. However, as can be seen from the example of how when the Russians expanded eastward in search of sea otter peltry they forced the indigenous Aleut as laborers to catch the animals, peripheral countries very obviously destroyed or changed these economic systems of the indigenous people. This research seeks to elucidate the impact of the outside forces from the standpoint of the indigenous people.