Alaska's Indigenous Tribes
Read the text about Inupiaq tribe. Select one of the tribes discussed in the class and compare it with the tribe mentioned in the text. Publish your answer in the comments.White Settlers Encounter Alaska Natives
The first mass of white settlers to Alaska occurred during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s to about 1907. Prior to this, most white citizens in Alaska were affiliated with the US military. Thanks to the discovery of gold in Alaska, some fifty settlements were founded during the gold rush, with many remaining even after the bust. Only the discovery of gold prompted full exploration of the vast territory, with most of Alaska having been unexplored by Americans after its purchase from Russia some thirty years earlier.
Alaska Native Tribes
Alaska maintains the highest ratio of indigenous people as part of total state population, at between 15 and 20 percent. This is almost certainly influenced by the relatively low rate of immigration into Alaska by white settlers. There are five main groups of Alaska Native tribes: the Northwest Coast Indians, the Inupiaqs, the Yupiks, the Aleuts, and the Athabascans. Aside from the Athabascans, who lived in the vast interior of Alaska, most Alaska Natives lived near the coast and relied heavily on fishing. Due to their more hunting-dominant lifestyle, the Athabascans are more culturally similar to continental Native American tribes like the Navajo and Apache. Today, there are 228 federally-recognized Alaska Native tribes.
The Iñupiaq People
The Iñupiaq, which translates into the “real people,” have been in Barrow, Alaska, for about 4,000 years. To survive in the harsh Arctic environment, the Iñupiaq developed a deep understanding of the area’s natural resources and how to make good use of them, and created a culture of cooperation and sharing. They traded with their neighbors (and with others in the 1800s), and hunted, primarily seals, caribou, and bowhead whales. MAIN GROUPS The Iñupiaq and St. Lawrence Island Yupik tended to live in small groups of related families of 20-200 people, in five main geographical regions:
St. Lawrence Island Yupiit
Bering Strait Inupiat
Kotzebue Sound Inupiat
North Alaska Coast Inupiat, Tareumiut (da-gia-mee-ute), people of the sea
Interior North Inupiat, Nunamiut (nu-na-mee-ute) people of the land
HOUSE TYPES & SETTLEMENTS
They used a variety of designs and materials, but three key features were common:
- An underground tunnel entrance below the living level to trap cold air;
- A semi-subterranean structure, using the ground as insulation.
- A seal-oil lamp from soapstone or pottery, for light, heat, and cooking. Homes were usually made from sod blocks, sometimes laid over driftwood or whalebone and walrus bone frames, generally dome-shaped. The shape was usually rectangular, except on St. Lawrence Island, where the houses were circular of varying sizes. The rectangular houses generally were 12-15 by 8-10 feet, holding 8 to 12 people.
In the summer, many of these houses flooded when the ground thawed, but most people had already moved to their summer camps. Community houses, called qargi, were used as a work area in Iñupiaq settlements.
TRADITIONAL SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS
Traditional subsistence patterns depend upon location and season of the resources, such as whales, marine mammals, fish, caribou, and plants. For instance:
Traditional subsistence patterns depend upon location and season of the resources, such as whales, marine mammals, fish, caribou, and plants. For instance:
- Whales and sea mammals were hunted in the coastal and island villages.
- Pink and chum salmon; cod, inconnu, and whitefish were fished whenever ice formed; herring and crab and halibut were also caught.
- Birds and eggs formed an important part of the diet.
