Review Notes for Alaska Native Cultures Unit

The indigenous people of Alaska are divided into NINE primary Alaska Native Cultures by language.

This is an excellent map of the traditional lands of each of the Alaska Native groups. They are the: Aleut, Alutiiq, Athabaskan (or Athabascan), Eyak, Haida, Inupiaq, Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Yup’ik/Cup’ik

The Aleut PeopleThe Aleutian Archipelago is the traditional home of the Aleut People. “Aleut” is the name given to these people by the Russian Explorers. They call(ed) themselves the Unangan which means “original people.”

The Aleuts were the first people the Russian explorers encountered. The brutal Russian fur traders enslaved the Aleuts and separated the men from the woman and children. Because the Aleut people, like most of the indigenous people of Alaska followed traditional roles determined by gender, many women and children died of starvation. Many of the men died as a result of dangerous hunting expeditions. But, most of the Aleuts died of diseases brought by the Russians.

There is at least one record of an Aleut Revolt in 1784 at Amchitka. The Russians had a fur trading post there. The population of otters around Amchitka had been harvested to a critically low level. As a result of poor harvests, the Russian ships were passing Amchitka for other more profitable island. The situation was critical because the Russian ships were no longer supplying the Aleuts on Amchitka adequately. The leader of the Russians grew frustrated with the negotiations and had his Aleut mistress executed. She was a princess with some influence over the Aleut leaders. The Russian leader felt like she hadn’t done

enough to help him out with the Aleuts. The Aleuts attacked the Russian village and a brief skirmish resulted. The Russians quickly took 40 Aleut women and children hostage. They were traded for four Aleut leaders who were put to death.

Another conflict involved the Nikoleno people of California. In 1811 a party of Aleuts from Russian Alaska landed on San Nicolas, an island off the coast of Southern California, in search of sea otter and seal. They fought with the Nicoleño men, probably over hunting rights and women, and many died as a result. The tribe was decimated, and by the 1830s only around twenty remained; some sources put the number at seven, six women and an old man named Black Hawk.

The Aleut and Alutiiq people lived in very similar homes. The house is called a barabara (Russian), ulax (Aleut) and/or ciqlluaq (Alutiiq). Amy and Christine (Per. 3) probably have the best description and pictures.

Baidarka is the Russian word for the Aleut kayak. Iqyax is the Aleut word. Because wood was scarce, the frames of the baidarka were made of driftwood and covered with the skins of sea mammals.

The Aleuts were a matrilineal society and a ranked society with nobles, commoners, and slaves. Traditionally they practiced a form of shamanism, but after Russian contact, many converted to Christianity.

The Alutiiq PeopleThe Alutiiq People traditionally lived in three areas of southwest/south-central Alaska: The Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island, Cook Inlet, and on the Kenai Peninsula.

Show Charlie Gregor’s slides on Alutiiq people and warfare.

The Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian People of Southeast AlaskaThe Eyaks are a small group living primarily in south-central Alaska between the Gulf of Alaska and the Chugach Mountains. There traditional land was small, sandwiched between the larger Alutiiq People to the west, the Athabaskans to the north and the Tlingit People to the east.

The Tlingit People have the largest land holdings in southeast Alaska. Traditionally, they inhabit most of the Alaska “panhandle” between the Gulf of Alaska and the St. Elias and Coastal Mountains.

The Haida People inhabit the southernmost tip of the southeast “panhandle” of Alaska in the Alexander Archipelago.

The Haida People are credited with the creation of the TOTEM POLE. The Haida people of the islands of Haida Gwaii originated carving of the poles, the practice spread outward to the Tsimshian and Tlingit, and then down the coast to the tribes of British Columbia and northern Washington.

The Tsimshian People lived on the upper reaches of the Skeena River near present-day Hazelton BC. After a series of disasters befell the people, a prince led a migration away from the cursed land to the lower Skeena River and on to the coast.

The Tsimshian People are credited with the invention of the Chilkat weaving process

All four of the tribes of southeast Alaska had similar systems of SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Matrilineal Exogamous

Moieties, Phratries and Clans Eyak—Raven and Eagle Tlingit—2 moieties: Raven/Crow and Eagle/Wolf depending on the time period. There are

many clans under each moiety Haida—2 moieties: Eagle and Raven. There are many clans under each moiety. Tlingit Raven = Haida Eagle. The clans that fell under the Tlingit Raven also fell under the

Haida Eagle, like Tlingit Raven/Frog = Haida Eagle/Frog Tsimshian—4 Phratries: Killer Whale (Blackfish), Wolf (one side) Raven, and Eagle (the other

side)

The Inupiaq/Inuit People are what most “outsiders” think of when they hear “Eskimo.” They live in the northernmost region of Alaska. Their traditional lands include the Seward Peninsula, the Nulato Hills and everything from the Brooks Range to the Arctic Ocean.

The igloo—a temporary shelter made of snow blocks

The word, “ulu” translates to “women’s knife.” Although the Inupiaq/Inuit people are credited with its creation, the ulu was also widely used by Aleut and Yup’ik people.

The Inupiaq People are credited with creating snow goggles, the Yup’ik and Athabaskan People also used them.

The Yup’ik/Cup’ik People inhabit the land of western Alaska south of the Seward Peninsula all the way to Bristol Bay and the Aleutian Mountains.

Men and women lived separately. Men lived in the Quasgiq and women in the Ena. When a boy was 5, he would leave his mother in the ena and join his father in the quasgiq.

St. Lawrence Island Yup’ik snow goggles

Central Yup’ik snow goggles

The Athabaskan Indians are indigenous to interior and south-central Alaska. There are 11 different dialects of the Athabaskan language spoken by 11 distinct groups of people.

The Athabaskans were a semi-nomadic people. They moved seasonally between established, traditional hunting grounds.

Athabaskan snow googles

Other Athabaskan technologies