Native Peoples of Alaska

The Land

• Native Peoples of Alaska

• Alaska Land Mammals
• Alaska Birds
• Close Encounters with Wildlife
• Denali National Park and Preserve
• Geologic History of Denali National Park
• Alaska Geology
• Major Vegetation Types of Alaska
• Trees of Alaska
• National Petroleum Reserve
• Alaska Government
• Legislation that Shaped Alaska's History

There are five distinct groups of Native Alaskan peoples: Aleut Athabascan (Interior Indians); Tlingit and Haida (Coastal Indians); Inupiat (Northern Eskimos); and Yupik (Southern Eskimos). The precise timing of migrations to Alaska is a controversial subject among anthropologists but it is generally accepted that humans migrated from Siberia sometime between 15,000 - 50,000 years ago. During several glaciations sea level dropped as much as 350 feet exposing a vast grassland bridge called Beringia.

One widely accepted theory states that the first wave of Paleo-Indians arrived in Alaska around 15,000 years ago. Most continued south to populate the South, Central, and North American continents. The Interior Athabascan Indians (alternative spellings include Athapascan, Athabaskan, etc.) are the descendants of those who remained behind in Alaska. The ancestors of the Tlingit and Halda arrived between 7,000 -- 9,000 years ago and the ancestors of the Aleut and Eskimo groups between 4,000 –10,000 years ago. This theory is supported by the fact that the Athabascan are more closely related genetically to Continental American Indian groups that they are other Native Alaskan groups. Native Alaskans numbered some 80,000 at the time of contact (meaning when the first non-native explorers made contact with the Indigenous people of Alaska), and had populated the land to the full extent of’ its sustainable human carrying capacity as determined by, their hunting and gathering subsistence technology. They were separate ethno-linguistic societies that did interact to trade or wage war where the boundaries of their territories met, but for the most part lived independently of each other. A brief description of each group follows. 

The Aleut

Aleut people are closely related to Eskimos, but over time they developed remarkably successful physical and cultural adaptations to the harsh maritime environment of the Aleutian Chain. They numbered 15,000 - 18,000 at the time of contact and populated all the major islands in the Aleutian Chain. A typical village consisted of 200 people living in four or five communal sod houses. The sea lion was the main staple of the Aleut, though Beluga whale hunting was also an extremely important and ritualized activity: The men hunted large marine mammals in the distinctive Baidarka, or one-man skin kayak. Other Aleut inventions were the atlatl, or throwing board, a long wooden visor to protect the face from the elements, and the labret, a decorative wooden piece inserted into a pierced lip. Aleut social organization was matrilineal, and boys were trained in hunting primarily by their maternal uncle, not their father. Most marriages were monogamous, though some polygamy (when one male mates with more than female while each female mates with only one male) did occur.

The Aleuts were one of the first and most dramatically affected groups by Euro- American contact. Their highly developed hunting expertise was required by the Russian fur traders in order to procure sea otter, sea lion, and other pelts for the burgeoning markets. Aleut men were brutally enslaved and sent far afield to procure pelts. When they resisted the Russians used such tactics as mass murder and the holding of hostages to force compliance. Sometimes the entire male population would be removed from an island, leaving the women and children to starve without any men or boats to supply meat. Within 50 years of contact the healthy and successful Aleut population had been reduced to less than 1000. Although later cultural salvage efforts have preserved many aspects of traditional life, the events of the nineteenth century amount to a full-fledged genocide. The Aleut Corporation, created in 1971 by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, is one of the smallest of the Native Corporations, with only 4200 shareholders. 

The Athabascans

Athabascan is a general term to describe the linguistically varied groups of native Alaskans that populate the Interior, Over 11 different linguistic groups are associated with this culture. The Athabascan refer to themselves as ‘Dena’ or “the People.” There were 10,000 - 11,000 Athabascan at the time of contact, widely dispersed throughout the vast land area of the Interior but concentrated around the resources of 4 major waterways: the Yukon; Tanana; Susitna, Kuskokwim and Copper River drainage. Near these rivers, salmon was a primary food source, though this was supplemented to varying degrees by caribou hunting and plant gathering.

Nomadic through specific resource territories, Athabascan peoples subsisted in small groups of 20-40. In summer, entire family Units would move to fish camps along waterways; in winter, semi-permanent inland villages were repopulated. House types were dependent regional resources; architecture was often borrowed from neighboring Aleut and Eskimo cultures.

The social system of Athabascan was matrilineal in nature; children belonged to the clan of their mother. The traditional family group consisted of a woman’s family and her brother’s family; a woman’s husband and her brother shared hunting duties. As well, a woman’s brother took some responsibility for raising and training of his nieces and nephews to ensure children grew up knowing their clan’s history.

Contact with Europeans and Americans came later and was less cataclysmic than for other groups, due to their geographical isolation. They were far ranging and successful traders, so much so that when the American traders arrived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was the native trade routes that first undermined the western trade routes, not vice versa.

The Tlingit and Haida

The Tlingit (say “clink-it”) and Haida are the people of Southeast Alaska, and are more closely related to the native people of Canada than to the other Alaskan groups. They probably settled in Southeast between 2,000 - 4,000 years ago and numbered 15,000 at the time of contact. The Tlingit and Haida built large houses (40’ x 60’) that housed 4 -- 6 families that operated as an economic unit salmon was the primary staple, supplemented with bear and small game procured by bow and arrow hunting, and berry and clam gathering. The Tlingit and Haida utilized the high quality timber in Southeast to build both dug out canoes and totem poles. Totem poles were originally symbolic expressions of the formal structured kinship terminology and stratified matrilineal social organization of the Tlingit and Haida. In modern times, however, they have been adapted to other uses, such as the commemoration of special events or people.

The Tlingit and Haida were traders as well, interacting frequently with the Athapaskans. Due to the organized, military nature of their society they were never subjugated by the Russians and retained their autonomy well into the American period. The Tlingit and Haida were the first to organize to fight for-Native rights and land ownership.

The Inuit

The Inupiat were some 10,000 Eskimo people living in the far north of Alaska at the time of contact. On the northern coast they subsisted primarily by hunting large marine mammal, especially whales. In land this activity was supplemented by caribou hunting and mixed hunting and fishing. The Inupiat invented both the toggle headed harpoon and the umiak, a long, open skin boat up to 50 feet long for whale hunting. Their clothing consisted of animal skin parkas that utilized layering and drawstrings to combat the extreme arctic temperatures. They built semi-subterranean sod houses with underground entrances that housed 8 -- 12 people and were heated by body warmth and seal-oil lamps. The bilateral social organization of the Inupiat is identical to that of modern American society; maternal and paternal relationships assume equal – importance (in fact, the name of our system of kinship terminology is “Eskimo’).

The Inupiat were not much affected by Euro-American contact until the arrival of the Yankee whalers in the 1850’s. When contact did occur, however, entire communities were decimated by the introduction of alcohol and disease.

The Yupik

The Yupik, or Southern Eskimos, were the most numerous and diverse group at the time of contact, consisting of approximately 30,000 individuals spread out from Prince William Sound to the Bering Sea. Like Athabascan groups, the semi-nomadic Yupiks traveled with migrating fish and game. Small hunting and fishing camps were established in the summer; in winter, villages consisting of 100-300 people were repopulated. On the Pacific Coast, whales and large marine mammals were the primary food source, while intensive salmon fishing and migratory wildfowl and berries were important on the river and inland areas. Houses were rectangular sod dwellings with underground or surface entry.
Yupik social organization was based on the quasqig, or men’s house, where all males lived and worked communally. The quasqig hosted most community activities including ceremonies, singing, and dancing. The women and young children lived separately as family units in a smaller, architecturally similar dwelling, called an ena’. The ena’ had a removable skylight made of beaded walrus or seal intestine. Young boys made the transition from the ena to the quasqig at the age of ten. Social norms and behavior in Yupik culture focused on survival and compatibility among family and village groups. Roles and social status were determined solely on skill and gender rather than lineage. A successful hunter often became a village leader called a ‘Nukalpitt.’ Women’s roles revolved around child-rearing, sewing and food preparation.

Fiercely superstitious with regards to the hunt and daily life, the concept of Shamanism was prevalent across Yupik culture as a means of coping with and understanding the atrocities and hardships of life in the arctic. Both good and evil shamans played roles in village life. The good shaman healed, searched out animal spirits for hunters, and asked for survival necessities. On the other side, bad shamans continuously battled good shamans for power, placing curses, killing and making life miserable for a village.

Fine-tuned through centuries of trial and error, Yupik tools and technology were highly adapted to survival in the harsh Arctic. Technology varied dependent on village location, generally marine or riverine (delta regions). Important household items for women included an ‘uluaq’ (fan-shaped slate knife), seal-oil lamps, and skin-sewing implements made from stone, bone, or walrus ivory. Men’s tools were associated primarily with hunting. Spears, harpoons, snow goggles, ice canes, and elaborately decorated masks detailed with spiritual symbols all aided in successful hunting.

Groups within the Yupik include the Yup’ik, who lived primarily in the Yukon Kuskokwim River Delta and along the Bering Sea Coast, the Chugach along the Chugach mountain range and the Koniag on Koniag Island. Contact occurred at widely differing times, as the Chugach and Koniag were the first to be decimated by the Russian fur traders along with the Aleut, while the Yup’ik of St. Lawrence Island were one of the very last groups to be impacted.

Native Peoples of the Kenai Peninsula

Speaking of the Native Peoples on the Kenai can be confusing as there were several different groups living here. The most numerous were the Dena’ina, an Athapaskan Indian group that originally numbered 10,000 but were reduced to 3,000 by the 1780’s due to the introduction of influenza and smallpox. The Dena’ina number less than 800 today. There is archeological evidence of occupation along the Kenai as from as early as 1200 years ago, and Dena’ina people themselves date occupation as early as 3000 years ago. The early people subsisted on the same resources that are abundant today, fish, caribou, and wild plants. Note that the Dena’ina did not ear moose until the arrival of gold miners, trappers, and explorers in the area.

Anthropologists believe the first native settlers of the Kenai were the Unegkurmiut (spellings vary widely), a Yupik subgroup. There is one site on the Kenai Peninsula dated to 1700 years ago (Yerden-Walker 1994). These people were more closely related to the Yup’ik Chugach and Koniag than to the Athabascan Dena’ina, but little is known about them since there were only several hundred members living on the far east of the peninsula at the time of contact. It is not known why these Yup’ik Eskimos had all but left the peninsula by the mid 1700’s.

Natives Alaskans in a Changing World: Alaska Native Corporations 

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (discussed in Chapter14) attempted to settle the aboriginal land claims of Alaska Native peoples resulting from the acquisition of Alaska by the United States government. The act created 13 For-profit Native corporations representing various regions Of the state. Land and seed capital was conveyed to these 13 corporations—a total of $926 million and 44 million acres (more than 10% of state). 79,000 Native Alaskans were originally enrolled in native corporations; as a function of enrollment, each person received 100 shares of stock in the corporation affiliated with his or her respective village or region. To be considered “Native Alaska” for ANSCA purposes, a person must be a citizen of the United States born before Dec. 18, 1971 with 1/4 degree or more native Alaskan ancestry.

In addition to the large regional corporations, approximately 220 village corporations were created. Villages could choose to be profit or non-profit; all villages choose the profit designation so shareholders could receive monetary benefits. The largest of the village corporations were Nome, Kotzebue, Barrow and Bethel (population per villages averages 2000 residents). An amendment passed by Congress in 1976 allowed village corporations to merge with regional corps. or other villages.

ANSCA and the concept of native corporations was a milestone in federal legislation with regards to relations with Native Americans. Heralded by proponents as a “purposeful alternative” to the reservation system favored in the Iower-48, native corporations granted Native Alaskans some freedom in controlling their own social and economic future. Though, critics of ANSCA argue that the very notion of “Western- style” corporations contradict Native cultural. As well, many believe that Native Alaskans have a claim to the entire state and its resources, not just the small portion allotted by ANSCA.

Alaska Native Corporations

AHTNA 
Aleut Corp. 
Arctic Slope Regional Corp. 
Bering Straits Native.Corp. 
Bristol ay Native Corp. 
Calista Corp. 
Chugach Alaska Corp. 
Cookinlet Regional Corp. (CIRI) 
Doyon, Limited 
Koniaq 
NANA Regional VCorp. 
Sealaska Corp.
Thirteenth Regional Corp.

A Profile of Two Native Corps CIRI and DOYON

Two of the most visible native corps for AWA guests are the Cook Inlet Region, Inc. and Doyon, Limited. The following section briefly details these two native corporations: 

Cook Inlet Region, Inc.

One of the most profitable and socially successfully native corporations, CIRI may be closest to the model corporation envisioned by ANSCA. Based in Anchorage, ClRl serves Alaska’s Cook Inlet region. CIRI stands as a “melting pot” for many Alaska native groups since Anchorage draws people from all over the state. As a function of this, CIRI is the largest landowner in Southcentral Alaska. CIRI’s business portfolio includes telecommunications, construction and mining services, natural resource exploration and acquisition (CIRI “promotes and encourages environmentally-sensitive V exploration of its properties by oil and gas mining firms”), real estate, and tourism. CIRI owns and operates Kenai Fjords Tours, the Seward Windsong Lodge, the Talkeetna Alaska Lodge, Prince William Sound Cruises and Tours, and operates the CIRI Alaskan Tourism Co.

Due to its financial success, CIRI (unlike many of the smaller and less wealthy native corporations) has the ability to offer shareholders social services. CIRI supports a family of nonprofit agencies providing educational, housing, employment, social, and cultural services to alt shareholders and indirectly all native Alaskans living in the Cook Inlet region. Examples of these agencies include The CIRI Foundation (scholarships for native Alaskan students), Cook Inlet Housing Authority (low-income housing services), Southcentral Foundation, and the Cook Inlet Tribal Council. In conjunction with other large native corporations, CIRI supports of the Alaska, Native Heritage Center and the Koahanic Broadcast Corporation (operates Anchorage’s native public radio station - KNBA).

The CIRI building is visible on the Anchorage skyline on C Street at the intersection of Northern Lights and Fireweed. The building itself is 4 stories and paneled completely in glass. It can be pointed out to guests from the Seward Hwy as the bus passes through the Benson and Northern Lights intersections. 

DOYON

DOYON, Limited is the largest private landowner in the United States. Claiming lands extending from the Brooks Range on the North, the Alaska Range on the South, Northern Sound on the West, and the Alaska-Canada border on the East, Doyon sought entitlement to 12.5 million acres under the provisions of ANSCA.
DOYON currently has 14,000 shareholders, and its headquarters are in Fairbanks. Like CIRI, DOYON has a diversified business portfolio that includes natural resource acquisition (sole owner of Doyon Drilling, Inc. which contracts directly with BP), real estate and tourism. DOYON owns and operates Kantishna Roadside (neighbors of DBL in Kantishna), Denali River Cabins (on the East End of DNP), Wilderness Trails and Doyon Tourism. DOYON and CIRI recently entered into an agreement to jointly grow their tourism interests in Alaska.

CIRI and DOYON together are the two largest and most successful native corporations, offering shareholders both financial, cultural, and social benefits and services. This starkly contrasts with the smallest of the native corporations Who cannot even offer basic benefits to shareholders, demonstrating both the vivid successes and failure of ANSCA in modern Alaska.

Sources and Suggested Readings:

A Study of the Effect of the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act upon the Yup’ik Eskimos. 1995. On file in the AWA Natural History Library, Steve J. Langdon. The Native People of Alaska. Greatland Graphics, Anchorage, 1987. 

Kassie Siegel. Constraint and Compromise: The Effect of Provision 7 (The Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act. 1994. On file in the AWA Natural History Library). 

Madelyn Yerden-Walker. The People Left Behind: Early Peoples of the Kenai Coast. 1994. Alaska Natural History Association, Anchorage.

Alaska Native Heritage Center Website. www.alaskanative.net 

UAA Justice Center: justice.uaa.alaska.edu

Contributing Authors:

Kassie Siegel and Ella Bredthauer