Alaska Natives

Alaska Natives are the Indigenous peoples of Alaska in the United States. They include many different cultural and language groups, such as the Inupiat, Aleut, Yupik peoples, and American Indians like the Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and Northern Athabaskan. Most Alaska Natives belong to Alaska Native tribes, which are part of 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations that help manage land and resources.

The ancestors of Alaska Natives moved into Alaska thousands of years ago. Scientists believe they came from Asia, possibly using the Bering land bridge or traveling by sea.

Over time, Alaska Native cultures grew and changed, showing great skill in living in cold environments. Today, Alaska Natives make up a large part of Alaska’s population, and their languages and traditions remain important.

List of peoples

Most Alaska Natives belong to two big groups: the Eskaleut and the Na Dene. Here is a list of the different groups of Alaska Natives, based on their historic languages:

• Alaskan Athabaskans
  • Ahtna
  • Deg Xitʼan
  • Denaʼina
  • Gwichʼin
  • Hän
  • Holikachuk
  • Koyukon
  • Tanana Athabaskans
    • Lower Tanana
    • Tanacross
    • Upper Tanana
  • Upper Kuskokwim (Kolchan)
• Aleut (Unangan)
• Ancient Beringian
• Eskimo
  • Iñupiat, an Inuit group
  • Yupik
    • Alutiiq (Sugpiaq)
      • Chugach Sugpiaq
      • Koniag Alutiiq
    • Cup'ik
    • Nunivak Cup'ig
    • Siberian Yupik (Yupiget)
    • Yup'ik
• Eyak
• Haida
• Tlingit
• Tsimshian

Demographics

Alaska Natives make up about 15% of the people living in Alaska today. In 1990, there were around 86,000 Alaska Natives in Alaska and 17,000 more living in other states. By 2013, the number grew to over 120,000 Alaska Natives in Alaska alone. Many live in small villages, but more are moving to cities. In 2010, 44% of Alaska Natives lived in urban areas, up from 38% in 2000.

Before Europeans arrived, around the year 1750, there were about 93,800 Alaska Natives. Their numbers went down over time, reaching a low of 25,450 by 1910. Since then, the population has grown again, reaching 168,826 by 2010, with most living in Alaska.

Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development Nome Dillingham Bethel

History

The modern history of Alaska Natives began in the eighteenth century when they first met Russian explorers from Siberia. Later, in the nineteenth century, British and American traders arrived in the region. In some parts of Alaska, Christian missionaries did not arrive until the twentieth century.

Russian colonial period

Vitus Bering spotted Alaska during an expedition. In the 18th century, Alaska Natives met Russians, with contact happening at different times across Alaska. Russians came by ship from Siberia in the mid-eighteenth century, establishing trade with Alaska Natives, especially in the Aleutian Islands. They set up settlements around trading posts, including Russian Orthodox missionaries. These missionaries were the first to translate Christian scripture into Native languages, such as Tlingit. The lasting effect of this period is seen today in many Russian Orthodox Christian congregations in Alaska made up mostly of Alaska Natives.

The Sibero-Russian promyshlenniki did not hunt or gather marine life themselves. Instead, they made the Aleuts do this work, treating them unfairly. As the fur trade grew, competition among Russian companies increased.

The most serious effect on the Aleut population during the first two generations of Russian contact (1741/1759-1781/1799 AD) was the introduction of new diseases from Eurasia. Many Aleuts died from these infectious diseases.

Effects of Russian colonization

The Russian Tsarist government moved into Indigenous lands in present-day Alaska for its own reasons. It used the land’s natural resources during the trading years, and spread Russian Orthodoxy. Their arrival in these areas changed the land and the lives of Indigenous communities.

In 1912, the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) was formed to fight for citizenship rights. The Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS) was created in 1915. Also in 1915, the Alaska Territorial legislature passed a law allowing Alaskan Natives the right to vote – but only if they gave up their cultural customs and traditions. The Indian Citizenship Act, passed in 1924, gave all Native Americans United States citizenship.

ANB became very powerful in the 1920s. They protested the segregation of Alaska Natives in public places and institutions, and also organized boycotts. Alberta Schenck (Inupiaq) led a well-known protest against segregation in a movie theater in 1944. With the help of Elizabeth Peratrovich (Tlingit), the Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945 was passed, ending segregation in Alaska.

In 1942, during World War II, the United States moved around nine hundred Aleuts from the Aleutian Islands. Many Aleuts died, and survivors returned to find their homes destroyed.

The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945 ended discrimination in Alaska. It gave all Alaskans the right to use public places and businesses equally.

Alaska became part of the United States in 1959 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower recognized Alaska as the 49th state.

ANCSA and since (1971 to present)

In 1971, with the help of Alaska Native leaders such as Emil Notti, Willie Hensley, and Byron Mallott, the U.S. Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), which settled land and financial claims for lands and resources that Alaska Natives had lost. It set up thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations to manage these claims. In some ways, Alaska Natives are treated differently by the government compared to other Native Americans in the United States.

Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, Alaska Natives have the right to hunt whales and other marine mammals.

Climate change

Four Indigenous tribes in Alaska—the Shishmaref, Kivalina, Shaktoolik, and Newtok tribes—are facing big changes because of climate change. Their homes are being affected by melting sea ice and more wildfires, making life very hard.

Because of climate change, Alaska Natives are having trouble with health problems, finding enough food and clean water, and keeping their homes safe. The land where they live is changing fast, and some villages might have to move because the ground is no longer stable. This change also makes it harder for animals to live in their usual places, which affects the food that these communities depend on.

Subsistence

See also: Subsistence economy

For many Alaska Natives, getting food from nature is very important. In a place called Utqiaġvik, Alaska, many families still hunt, fish, or gather food.

Alaska Natives have few treaties with the United States to protect their rights to get food from nature. A law called the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act took away many of these rights in Alaska.

Ethnicity by region

Census 2010, Table 16 (Alaska).

The 2010 census showed the ethnic groups of Alaska Natives in each region. The numbers add up to 100% for every region.