The Kandik map: cultural exchange along the Yukon River

• Main Author: Johnson, Linda R.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: Bancroft; Fairbanks; Indian; Pacific; Yukon; Athabascan; Kuskokwim; Yukon river; Alaska
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11122/5800

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2007 The Kandik Map drawn in 1880 by Yukon Indian Paul Kandik and annotated by French Canadian fur trader François Mercier and U.S. Census Agent Ivan Petroff is a unique record in the documentary history of Northwestern North America. It traces the Yukon, Tanana, and Kuskokwim Rivers from their headwaters to the Pacific, showing trading posts, trails, and place names in several Athabascan languages, as well as French and English. As one of the oldest maps of the Alaska-Yukon borderlands it documents indigenous knowledge and the dynamic cultural exchange between Native residents and non-native newcomers along the Yukon River prior to the Klondike Gold Rush. Using oral traditions, archival and published sources, this thesis examines the significance and meanings of the map from 1880 to the present. The original map is preserved at The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. 1. The Kandik map : reflections on time and space -- 2. Searching for Paul Kandik -- 3. Documenting a mystery -- 4. François Mercier : agent of change -- 5. Mapping the North : where the Kandik map fits in -- 6. Conclusion : meetings and meanings -- Selected bibliography -- Unpublished and archival sources.