Alaska Natives
Alaska Natives are the Indigenous peoples of Alaska in the United States. They encompess diverse cultural and linguistic groups, including Inupiat, Aleut, Yupik peoples, and American Indians such as the Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and various Northern Athabaskan. Most Alaska Natives are enrolled in federally recognized Alaska Native tribes, which are members of the 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations responsible for managing land and financial claims.
The migration of Alaska Natives' ancestors into the Alaskan region occurred thousands of years ago in multiple waves. Some present-day groups descend from a later migration event whose descendants gradually settled across northern North America. The Alaska Native's ancestors are the ones who did not migrate further south or east. Genetic evidence indicates that these groups are not closely related to the Indigenous peoples of South America.
Evidence from archaeology indicates that the ancestors of Alaska Natives migrated from Asia. Anthropologists have proposed that their journey to Alaska from Asia was made possible through the Bering land bridge or by traveling across the sea. Across the Arctic and the circumpolar north, the ancestors of Alaska Natives established a variety of Indigenous cultures that developed and changed over time. These cultures demonstrated considerable ingenuity in adapting to harsh climates and environments.
Historically, the defining characteristic of Alaska Native groups has often been their languages, which belong to several major language families. Currently, Alaska Natives or Native Alaskans constitute more than 20% of Alaska's population.
List of peoples
The vast majority of Alaska Natives are either Eskaleut or Na Dene. Below is a full list of the different Alaska Native or Native Alaskan peoples, who are largely defined by their historical languages :- Alaskan Athabaskans
- *Ahtna
- *Deg Hitʼan
- *Denaʼina
- *Gwichʼin
- *Hän
- *Holikachuk
- *Koyukon
- *Tanana Athabaskans
- **Lower Tanana
- **Tanacross
- **Upper Tanana
- *Upper Kuskokwim
- Aleut
- Ancient Beringian
- Eskimo
- *Iñupiat, an Inuit group
- *Yupik
- **Alutiiq
- ***Chugach Sugpiaq
- ***Koniag Alutiiq
- **Cup'ik
- **Nunivak Cup'ig
- **Siberian Yupik
- **Yup'ik
- Eyak
- Haida
- Tlingit
- Tsimshian
Demographics
History
The modern history of Alaska Natives began in the eighteenth century with the initial contact between Alaskan First Nations and Russian explorers sailing from Siberia. Subsequently, in the nineteenth century, British and American traders, coming mostly from eastern settlements in North America, arrived in the region. In some areas of Alaska, the active presence of Christian missionaries did not occur until the twentieth century.Russian colonial period
spotted Alaska during an expedition. Subsequently, in the 18th century, Alaska Natives encountered Russians, with the timing of this contact varying among different Native groups across Alaska. Arriving by ship from Siberia, in the mid-eighteenth century, Russians established trade with Alaska Natives, particularly in the Aleutian Islands. They founded settlements around their trading posts, which included Russian Orthodox missionaries. These missionaries were the first to translate Christian scripture into Native languages, such as Tlingit. The lasting impact of this period is evident in the 21st century with numerous Russian Orthodox Christian congregations in Alaska composed predominantly of Alaska Natives.The Sibero-Russian promyshlenniki, rather than engaging in hunting and harvesting marine life themselves, coerced the Aleuts into performing this labor, enserfing the Aleuts. As news for the fur trade spread, competition among Russian companies intensified. Catherine the Great, upon ascending to the throne in 1763, expressed goodwill towards the Aleuts and encouraged fair treatment. However, the increasing competition between trading companies, which eventually consolidated into larger and more powerful corporations, led to conflicts that worsened relations with the Indigenous populations. Over time, the situation became dire for the Aleuts and other Native Alaskan people affected by Russian contact.
As the animal populations declined, the Aleuts, already dependent on the new barter economy driven by the fur trade with the Russians, faced increasing pressure to take greater risks in the dangerous waters of the North Pacific to hunt for more otter. The Shelikhov-Golikov Company, and later Russian-American Company developed as a monopoly, using skirmishes and systematic violence as tools for the colonial exploitation of the Indigenous peoples. When the Aleut revolted and won some victories, the Russians retaliated with deadly force, destroying their boats and hunting equipment, leaving them no means of survival.
The most devastating impact on the Aleut population during the initial two generations of Russian contact was the introduction of new diseases from Eurasia. Approximately 80% of the Aleut population perished from these infectious diseases, to which they had no immunity, unlike Europeans among whom these diseases have been endemic for centuries.
Effects of Russian colonization
The Russian Tsarist government expanded into Indigenous territory in present-day Alaska for its own geopolitical reasons. It consumed natural resources of the territory during the trading years, and Russian Orthodoxy was evangelized. Their movement into these populated areas of Indigenous communities altered the demographic and natural landscape.Historians have suggested that the Russian-American Company exploited Indigenous peoples as a source of inexpensive labor. The Russian-American Company not only used Indigenous populations for labor during the fur trade, but also held some as hostages to acquire iasak. Iasak, a form of taxation imposed by the Russians, was a tribute in the form of otter pelts. It was a taxation method the Russians had previously found useful in their early encounter with Indigenous communities of Siberia during the Siberian fur trade. Beaver pelts were also customary to be given to fur traders upon first contact with various communities.
The Russian-American Company used military force on Indigenous families, taking them hostage until male community members produced furs for them. Otter furs on Kodiak Island and Aleutian Islands enticed the Russians to start these taxations. Robbery and maltreatment in the form of corporal punishment and the withholding of food was also present upon the arrival of fur traders. Catherine the Great dissolved the giving of tribute in 1799, but her government initiated mandatory conscription of Indigenous men between the ages of 18 and 50 to become seal hunters strictly for the Russian American Company. This mandatory labor gave the Russian American Company an edge in competition with American and British fur traders. But the conscription separated men from their families and villages, thus altering and breaking down communities. With able-bodied men away on the hunt, villages were left with little protection as only women, children, and the elderly remained behind.
In addition to changes that came with conscription, the spread of disease also altered the populations of Indigenous communities. Although records kept in the period were scarce, it has been said that 80% of the pre-contact population of the Aleut people were gone by 1800. The Alaska Native population was first recorded in the 1880 United States census, and it was estimated that the population had declined from 80,000 in 1741 to 33,000 due to disease. The population continued to decline until 1910 and it was not until 1947 that this number surpassed the 1880 figure.
Relationships between Indigenous women and fur traders increased as Indigenous men were away from villages. This resulted in marriages and children that would come to be known as Creole peoples, children who were Indigenous and Russian. To reduce hostilities with Aleutian communities, it became policy for fur traders to enter into marriage with Indigenous women. The Creole population increased in the territory controlled by the Russian American Company.
The growth of the Russian Orthodox Church was another important tactic in the colonization and conversion of Indigenous populations. Ioann Veniaminov, who later became Saint Innocent of Alaska, was an important missionary who carried out the Orthodox Church's agenda to Christianize Indigenous populations. The church encouraged Creole children to follow Russian Orthodox Christianity, while the Russian American Company provided them with an education. Many Orthodox missionaries, like Herman of Alaska, defended Natives from exploitation. Creole people were believed to have high levels of loyalty toward the Russian crown and Russian American Company. After completing their education, children were often sent to Russia, where they would study skills such as mapmaking, theology, and military intelligence. In the 1850s Russia lost much of its interest in Alaska.
American colonialism
Alaska's abundance of natural resources, particularly gold, drew the interest of the United States. In 1867, the United States bought Alaska from Russia. This purchase happened without considering the opinions of the Native Alaskans, who were not regarded as citizens at the time. The land traditionally belonging to Alaska Natives was treated as "open land," allowing white settlers to claim it without providing any compensation or recognition to the Native people living there. The only educational opportunities available for Alaska Natives were in schools established by religious missionaries. Many white settlers failed to appreciate the complex and well-developed cultures that Alaska Natives had created to thrive in their challenging environment. Instead, they viewed them as inferior to European Americans, which aligned with white supremacist ideologies.The Klondike Gold Rush of 1896–1898 led to increased white settlement in Alaska and brought discriminatory practices against Indigenous peoples. American settlers imposed racial segregation and discriminatory laws similar to Jim Crow laws, which severely limited Alaska Natives' opportunities and cultural practices, effectively treating them as second-class citizens. This segregation manifested in various ways, including "whites only" signs that prevented natives from entering certain buildings. Educational discrimination was also prevalent. In an 1880 court case, a child was barred from attending school with Americans because his stepfather was native. Children of mixed heritage could only attend American schools if their families abandoned their native culture. Simultaneously, the U.S. government implemented policies to disrupt Alaska Native family structures. Federal records show that disrupting native family units was a deliberate part of Federal Indian policy aimed at assimilating Indigenous children. The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative played a major role in creating intergenerational trauma by removing children from their native villages and placing them in off-reservation boarding schools alongside children from other tribes. This system created artificial communities of Indigenous children throughout the boarding school network, resulting in new Indigenous family structures depending on whether children returned to their native villages or settled elsewhere after completing their education. These policies prohibited Alaska Native children from speaking their native languages, wearing traditional clothing, associating with other natives, consuming traditional foods, or practicing their religions. The resulting family separation and cultural eradication caused significant intergenerational trauma.
In 1912, the Alaska Native Brotherhood was formed to help fight for citizenship rights. The Alaska Native Sisterhood was created in 1915. Also in 1915, the Alaska Territorial legislature passed a law allowing Alaskan Natives the right to vote – but on the condition that they give up their cultural customs and traditions. The Indian Citizenship Act, passed in 1924, gave all Native Americans United States citizenship.
ANB began to hold a great deal of political power in the 1920s. They protested the segregation of Alaska Natives in public areas and institutions, and also staged boycotts. Alberta Schenck staged a well-publicized protest against segregation in a movie theater in 1944. With the help of Elizabeth Peratrovich, the Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945 was passed, ending segregation in Alaska.
In 1942, during World War II, the United States forced evacuation of around nine hundred Aleuts from the Aleutian Islands. The idea was to remove the Aleuts from a potential combat zone during World War II for their own protection, but European Americans living in the same area were not forced to leave. The removal was handled so poorly that many Aleuts died after they were evacuated; the elderly and children had the highest mortality rates. Survivors returned to the islands to find their homes and possessions destroyed or looted. Civil rights activists such as Alberta Schenck Adams and Elizabeth Peratrovich protested discriminatory laws against Native Alaskans with what were effectively sit-ins and lobbying.
The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945, the first anti-discrimination state law in the U.S., occurred as a result of these protests. It entitled all Alaskans to "full and equal enjoyment" of public areas and businesses, a ban on segregating signs, with discriminatory actions punishable by a $250 fine and up to 30 days in jail.
Alaska became part of the United States in 1959 upon President Dwight D. Eisenhower recognizing Alaska as the 49th state.