Our Story

Storytelling has always been a vital part of our Alaska Native culture and helps us pass ancient knowledge, wisdom and values from our Elders’ generation through us to the next generation. Our culture has been changing rapidly in the past century, with the advent of multi-national Native corporations, new technologies, reliable travel and high-speed communications, etc. But it is important to remember that TDX is rooted in our ancient culture and is owned exclusively by Aleut shareholders.

The details of TDX branding, from colors inspired by our island home to watermarks inspired by Aleut art, reflect our tradition of storytelling with the goal of representing our unique identity: a modern corporation doing business around the world powered by people who never forget who we are or where we come from.

Our People

The Aleut people have been living in Alaska for an estimated 10,000 years. Though you can certainly find individuals with Aleut heritage living and working anywhere in the world, as you can people of any ethnicity, the traditional Aleut homeland is the Aleutian Islands region of Southwest Alaska, which covers approximately 100,000 square miles, or slightly more than the states of Virginia, Kentucky and Maryland combined.

We refer to ourselves as “Unangax̂” in our language. The origin of the word “Aleut” is unclear, but we know it was bestowed upon us by the first European visitors, Russian fur traders, in the 1700s. The name stuck, and now most everyone, including us, uses the name “Aleut.” (Note that the Aleut and Alutiiq are two different, though related, Alaska Native peoples.)

Being an island people, Aleuts depended on the sea for sustenance and became masters of hunting and fishing from small boats, often far from land. (The next time you go kayaking, give a quick nod to our ancestors.) TDX is the village corporation owned by residents of one island, St. Paul Island, which was not inhabited until the fur traders forced Aleut men from other Aleutian Islands to go there and hunt seals. Eventually, the Aleut hunters brought their families and established a permanent community.

Our Culture

There are many different Alaska Native cultures, just as there are different Native American cultures, different European cultures, different Asian cultures, etc. And, in a state more than twice the size of Texas, it is easy to understand that the Aleut people are both similar to and distinct from other Alaska Natives. For instance, whereas the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska, home to the largest forest in North America, are experts in using and carving wood, the Aleut live in a region of treeless, windswept islands extending 1,100 miles and surrounded by cold, rough sea. Naturally, we became experts in fishing, boating, hunting sea mammals, etc.

But there is one common cultural attribute that unites all Alaska Native peoples: our emphasis on traditional values that have been handed down from generation to generation. TDX, owned by Aleut people, is guided by our ancient values in everything we do, from relationships with our employees to relationships with our clients. These values include such timeless ideas and universal virtues as: Honor our Elders, Protect our environment, Believe in each other, Remember that life is a gift, Respect God, Be honest, Work hard.

We believe operating a business with these values in mind creates a better company.

Our Land

TDX was incorporated as part of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, created by Congress and signed into law by President Nixon in 1971 as a way to partition and assign modern ownership of Alaska’s lands that had been occupied by Native people for an estimated 10,000 years.

TDX was created to serve and be owned by residents of the Village of St. Paul; so in a literal sense, our land is fairly limited in scope. But it is the physical entity by which our Native corporation is legally defined, and that corporation has enabled the residents of our small, isolated community to venture far from home to operate and/or purchase companies that conduct business around the world.

That said, it is important to understand that the value of our land goes well beyond its legal value to our corporation. As mentioned, our people have lived in this region for many generations, far longer than America has been a nation and, as such, our land bears immense importance to our people. Protecting our land – and the waters surrounding it – is one of the very highest priorities of TDX.