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FAQs about the Natural History of the Inside Passage
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Tlingit Drum
Source: Carneigie Museum of Natural History
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Alaska’s native people,
who make up approximately 16 percent of Alaska’s
population*, are divided into eleven distinct cultures
that are distinguished by differences in language, culture,
and the geographic region in which they live. These eleven
cultures are often grouped into five indigenous peoples
based on cultural similarities and geographic proximity:
The people of the north coast (Inupiaq and Yupik), the
people of the west coast (Yupik and Cupik), the people
of interior Alaska (Athabascan), the people of the Aleutian
Islands and south coast (Aleut and Alutiiq), and the people
of southeast Alaska (Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian).
The Eyak, Tlingit, Haida,
and Tsimshian traditionally occupied the coastal lands
of southcentral Alaska and Alaskan panhandle. Although
these four groups were neighbors, their spoken languages
were not mutually intelligible. The Eyak lived in southcentral
Alaska; the Tlingit in Southeast Alaska from Icy Bay to
Dixon Inlet. The Haida’s traditional homeland was
the Queen Charlotte Islands and Tsimshian’s homeland
was between the Nass and Skeena Rivers in British Columbia.
The four groups had a complex
social system consisting of moieties, phratries and clans.
The Eyak were organized into two moieties, meaning their
clan system is divided into two reciprocating halves,
Raven and the Eagle. In the Tlingit clan system, one moiety
was known as Raven or Crow, the other moiety as Eagle
or Wolf depending upon the time period. Each moiety contained
many clans. The Haida had two moieties, Eagle and Raven,
and also had many clans under each moiety. The Tsimshian
had phratries (four groups instead of two groups): Killerwhale,
Wolf, Raven and Eagle.
These peoples built their
homes from cedar, hemlock, and spruce planks with cedar
bark or spruce shingles for roofing. Houses were large,
up to 100 feet by 75 feet, and housed 20 to 50 individuals.
Tlingits had totem poles in the front of their houses.
Each local group had at least one permanent winter village
with various seasonal camps close to food resources. The
primary means of transportation was dugout canoe. Subsistence
activities revolved around the sea with salmon being the
predominant source of food with clans owning salmon streams.
Food was harvested seasonally and had to be preserved
(smoked or dried) to feed the clan during the winter.
*In the 2000 U.S. census,
107,682 people reported being of "Alaska Native"
descent, 15.6 percent of the total population. Another
2 percent reported having some Native American ancestry
Additonal Resources:
Alaska
Native Cultural Center
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