Wikibooks: Canadian History/The People of the Lands/Tlinkit

• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Subjects: Many Islands; First Nations; haida; tlingit; Tlinkit; Alaska
• Online Access: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Canadian_History/The_People_of_the_Lands/Tlinkit

The Tlingit (also sometimes known as the Tlinkit although this name is considered inaccurate) were a seafaring group of first nations who lived on the many islands and the coast of Alaska.They are closely related to the Haida. = Environment = The Tlingit are the most Northern group of the Northwest coast peoples who range from Alaska all the way down to Oregon. They live in the Alaska Panhandle surrounded by the tidewater and many coastal mountains. The heavy rainfall creates tropical rainforests and a temperate climate. The many islands off the coast of Alaska form a protected waterway called the Inland Passage that is ideal and regularly used for transportation and communication. = Language = Tingl an Alaskan language traditionally spoken by people of the Tlingit ancestary although there are many dialects of it. Today there are approximately 700 Tinglit speakers left most of whom are elders. Some people are still struggling to keep their native alive and learn it while they are young however. = Food = The Tlingit ate a lot of fish mainly salmon halibut and oolakan. Also in their diet was seal and deer as well as an abundance of berries roots and seaweed. If food became an issue during the winter they relied on clam beds. During the summer tribes would stock up of food and dry or pickle it so it would last them throughout the winter. = Housing = People lived in large plank houses built from cedar wood. = Totem Poles = Carved from cedar wood and up to 20ft tall totem poles had many purposes. They could be used as decoration door posts welcoming posts or memorials to the dead. These poles were used to tell stories about the village or a particular family. They were commonly decorated with carvings of crests or animals such as the beaver bear wolf whale raven eagle and frog. = Potlatch = This is a huge ceremony and feast celebrated by all first nation groups of the Northwest Coast. The host would invite many people from different villages to come sing fest dance and tell stories for several days. The host would ...