Athabasques

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Tanana fish camp on the Tanana River in Alaska (1997)
The Yellowknife Athabasques Akaitcho and Son, 1821
Two girls of the Ahtna-Athabasques with traditional carrying system

Athabasken or Athapasken is a collective name for the numerous scattered indigenous bands of the northern branch of the Athapaskan language family , which with one exception ( Dena'ina , sea fishermen in Cook Inlet ) in the boreal coniferous forests , forest tundras , mountain forests and along the large rivers and Lakes of Alaska (2005 approx. 7,000) and northwestern Canada (2005 approx. 27,000) live.

The name "Athapaskaw" comes from the neighboring forest cree and means "everywhere is grass or cane" and refers to the region to the west of Athabasca Lake in northern Alberta.

There are two major regional groups:

This northern branch of the Athabaskan language family is divided into at least 31 individual languages , which, due to the social structure of the Athabascans, are in turn divided into numerous regional dialects (each spoken by a local group ). Despite the linguistic relationship, the languages ​​are not mutually understandable . Even within the individual languages ​​- each of which is to be viewed as a dialect continuum - mutual intelligibility dwindles considerably as the geographical distance between the groups increases.

The division into tribal groups that is common today was made by linguists and anthropologists on the basis of the language families and thus suggests a self-understanding of the Alaska-Dene or the Dene. In fact, however, neighboring local groups speaking a related dialect did not see each other as a larger community, and the athabasques had never developed any social or political idea of ​​a nation or tribal identity .

The southern athabasques , native to the southwest of the USA and northern Mexico , had similar names to the northern athabasques (Dene) and Alaska-Athabasques (Alaska-Dene); the Navajo called themselves Diné and the Apache (depending on the dialect) Indee, Ndé or T'Inde ("people").

Tribal groups of the Athabascans

Dissemination of the northern Bahamas groups

As already mentioned, the various groups of athabasques were first divided into larger regional and cultural tribal groups by the Europeans; previously this was completely alien to the athabasks, as they were characterized by a traditional tribal society and the individuality typical of all athabasks . The neighboring athabasks recognized each other as linguistically related based on the common language, but the individual tribal groups developed different cultures and sometimes fought each other. Each tribal group was divided into bands and these again into smaller local groups. To this day, however, the assignment of several bands (or local groups) to a tribal group is sometimes controversial. In addition, some varieties - considered by the athabasques as independent languages ​​- are only perceived by linguists as dialects of a common language (e.g. Tahltan with the languages ​​/ or dialects: Kaska (Dene Zágéʼ), Tahltan (Dahdzege) and Tagish ( Tā̀gish)). Since most of the athabasks were known under anglicized foreign names of neighboring - often non-Athabaskan peoples - the most common tribal names are given here as well as (in brackets) first the own names and then the origin of the name. (Unless otherwise stated, the proper names simply mean “people” or “people”).

Alaska Athabasques or Alaska Dene

The Alaska-Dene are generally divided into eleven tribal groups, some of which can also be found in the adjacent Yukon (from northwest to southeast):

1. Koyukon ( Dinaa , Tl'eeyegge Hut'aane - "people with a common language", but often according to the affiliation of their regional band / group as Hut'aane / Hotana - "residents of a region", "people along, from, vom ... "; Origin of name: Koyukukhotana -" People on the Koyukuk River ", northwesternmost group of the Alaska-Dene)

  • Kaiyuhkhotana or Lower Yukon Koyukon (along the Yukon River between the Anvik River and Koyukuk River , including the Innoko River drainage area north of the 63rd parallel north, were considered enemies by both the Koyukukhotana and the Yukonikhotana / Unakhotana, only they performed with fighting the Europeans resistance)
  • Koyukukhotana or Koyukuk River Koyukon (in the drainage area of ​​the Koyukuk River)
  • Yukonikhotana / Unakhotana or Upper Yukon Koyukon (in the drainage area of ​​the Yukon River south of the confluence of the Tanana River to the mouth of the Koyukuk River)

2. Gwich'in or Kutchin ( Dinjii Zhuu - "little people"; origin of the name: Gwich'in - "inhabitants of a region", northernmost group of all Indians, lived mostly north of the Arctic Circle in the Yukon Flats along the Yukon River, Porcupine Rivers , Chandalar Rivers , Peel River , Mackenzie River and Arctic Red River in the north of the Yukon and the Northwest Territories and in Northeast Alaska)

3. Hän (Han) ( Jëjee , Hän Hwëch'in - "people along the river, i.e. the Yukon River", but often according to the affiliation of their regional band / group as Hwëch'in - "residents of a region" or "people along , from, from ... ”; Origin of the name: Anglicisation of their own name Hän Hwëch'in or the Gwich'in word hangʷičʼin (Han Gwich'in) , which means both“ people along the (Yukon) river ”, lived on both sides of the Upper Yukon Rivers and the Klondike Rivers in Yukon Territory and Alaska - often mistakenly regarded as a band of the Gwich'in)

4. Holikachuk or Innoko ( Dina , but often according to the affiliation of her regional band / group as Doogh Hit'an - "natives", "locals", "residents of a region" or "people along, from, from ..."; Xiyighelinghdi (Huligachagat) , the name of a now abandoned village and after its tribal areas along the Middle and Upper Innoko Rivers in western Alaska - often incorrectly combined with the Koyukon, although culturally they are closest to the Deg Hit'an)

5. Ingalik ( Dena or Dina , today Deg Hit'an - "natives", "locals", "residents of a region" or "people along, from, from ..." (originally served to determine belonging to a regional band / group Origin of name: Yup'ik word Ingqiliq - "Those who have lice eggs", "Those who are louse", a collective term for all athabasks and later for all Indians, is rejected by the Deg Hit'an as offensive , lived along the Anvik River, the Innoko River, the Lower Yukon River and the Middle Kuskokwim River, therefore also called Anvik-Shageluk Ingalik , Kuskokwim Ingalik or Yukon Ingalik - often incorrectly called Kaiyuhkhotana )

6. Upper Kuskokwim or Kolchan / Goltsan ( Dina'ena , today: Dichinanek 'Hwt'ana or Digenegh xit'an - "People along the river lined with wood, ie the Kuskokwim River"; Origin of name: were based on their tribal area along of the Upper Kuskokwim River in southwest Alaska or after the Tanaina name Gheltsana or Giltsane - "the strangers, the others" for neighboring inland athabasks - often incorrectly referred to as McGrath Ingalik , although their language and culture are closer to the Tanana / Lower Tanana stands as the Deg Hit'an (Ingalik), they were also erroneously assigned to the Tlingit as Tundra Kolosh / Koulischen , since in Russian the latter were referred to as Koloshi (Колоши) , which is based on the Sugpiaq-Alutiiq word kulut'ruaq for Labret -Piercing goes back)

Tanana athabasques (hadnocross-group self-designation, as they didnotsee themselvesas an ethnic group, depending on the language or dialect:Dena,Dendeh / DendeeyorDineh, but often according to the affiliation of their regional band / group asKokht'ana,Koxt ' een / Koxt'en iinorKoht'iin- "inhabitants of a region" or "peoplealong, from, from...";Origin ofname: Anglicization of the Gwich'in wordTanan Gwich'in- "People along the Tanana River (Tanan Gwinjik ) "Or the Koyukon wordTen Hut'aane-" people along the (river water) path ", as they called the Tanana RiverTene No '-" waterpath ", is mostly used as a collective term for three regional groups that use related languages ​​or . Speak dialects, lived in the river basin of theTanana Riverin the east of Interior Alaska and partly in the adjacent Yukon)

7. Tanana / Lower Tanana and / or Middle Tanana ( Dena or Kokht'ana )
8. Tanacross or Tanana Crossing ( Dendeh / Dendeey or Koxt'een / Koxt'en iin )
9. Upper Tanana ( Dineh or Koht'iin )

10. Tanaina ( Dena'ina , the only group of the Alaskan Dene that penetrated to the coast, settled in permanent settlements and took over sea fishing, lived in the area of Cook Inlet - from them as Tikahtnu - "Much water-bearing river" or Nuti - called "salt water" - in south-central Alaska, its tribal area (Dena'ina Ełnena) extended from Seldovia in the south to Chickaloon in the northeast, from Talkeetna (K'dalkitnu) in the north and Lime Village (Hek'dichen Hdakaq ') in the northwest to Pedro Bay in the southwest)

11. Ahtna or Copper River Athabasques ( Atna Hwt'aene - "ice people", but mostly Koht'aene [kote-an-eh] / Hwt'aene - "inhabitants of a region" or "people along, from , vom ... “, in order to determine the affiliation to a regional band / group by specifying the place ; Origin of the name: Anglicisation of their own designation as Ahtna, Ahtena , Atnatana , Ahtnakotana , Ahtna-Khotana or Ahtna-Kohtaeneda in their tribal area (Atna Nenn ') in Southeast Alaska along the Copper River (Atna River) - called by them 'Atna' tuu "River of the Ahtna" - and whose tributaries stretched, their tribe name means something like "People on the 'Atna' River, i.e. the Copper River")

  • Lower Ahtna ( Atnahwt'aene - "people at the mouth of the ('Atna') Copper River" (in the Gulf of Alaska ) )
  • Central Ahtna or Middle Ahtna ( Dan'ehwt'aene )
  • Western Ahtna ( Tsaay Hwt'aene or Dze Ta Hwt'aene - "People in the midst of the mountains, the Nutzotin Mountains ")
  • Upper Ahtna ( Tatl'ahwt'aene - "People from the upper reaches of the ('Atna') Copper River")

Further subdivision

In addition, based on cultural adaptation to the respective “ landscape / environment ” ( climate , topography, flora and fauna ), resource use ( land use , size and spatial distribution of the population as well as settlement types ), social structures (social relationships, economy as well as rule and authority) are divided ) and the resulting cultural identity ( spirituality and social rules) as well as the resulting / influenced cultural products (hunting, weapons and handicraft techniques, "sciences" and art ) the Alaska-Dene again into two regional / cultural Groups on:

  • Southern Alaska Athabaskans (Southern Alaskan Athabaskans) or Southern Alaska Dene : the Dena'ina and Ahtna , because they culturally resemble the Tlingit living in the south and other peoples.
  • Central Alaska Athabaskans (Central Alaskan Athabaskans) or inland Athabascans (Interior Athabaskans) : all other Alaska-Dene, as they are culturally strong either from the Yupik and Iñupiat Eskimo in the north and northwest or from the northern Athabasques or Dene - e.g. . B. the Chipewyan (Dënesųłiné) and North and South Slavey - were influenced in the west.

Dene and / or northern athabasques

Dene

Today's name Dene has two meanings and is accordingly used differently; mostly (and in a narrower sense) the term Dene is only used for five (according to another definition six) Athabaskan- speaking bands in Denendeh ("Land of Dene", today's Northwest Territories ) and Nunavut and some parts of Manitoba , Alberta in northern Canada :

1. Chipewyan ( Denésoliné or Dënesųłiné - "People of the barren, barren land"; Origin of name: Wetcipwayi Wiyiniwuk or Cīpwayān ( ᒌᐘᔮᐣ ) - 'People wearing Pointed Skins' from the Cree language of the hostile Woodland Cree , which means they have the typical cut and style of Chipewyan- parkas pointed (abgel out. cīpwāw ( ᒌᐚᐤ ) - 'to be pointed' and Wayan ( ᐘᔮᐣ ) - "skin" or "skin" to Cīpwayān ). the Algonquian-speaking people in the United States usually Chippewa mentioned Anishinabe (Ojibwe) has nothing to do with the Chipewyan despite the similarity of the name)

2. Yellowknives ( T'atsaot'ine - "people of the ejected water", a pictorial description of the copper occurring in the river or Acha'otinne - "woodland people", origin of the name: European fur traders called them Yellowknife ("yellow knife"), Red Knife ("Rotmesser") or Red Indians ("Red Indians") or Copper Indians ("Copper Indians"), as they used copper knives, the blades of which shimmered red-yellow and the Coppermine River and Yellowknife River are rich in their tribal area Wrongly under their Chipewyan name Tandzán-hot! ínne - "Those who live by the dirty lake" as a large regional Chipewyan group, however, the Yellowknife regarded themselves as an independent ethnic group with several bands and local groups and were mostly the Chipewyan extremely hostile)

3. Dogrib ( Tłįchǫ or Taicho - "Dog Rib" or Tłįchǫ Done - "dog ripping people"; Origin of name: Adaptation their own name into English)

4. North Slavey ( Dene wá , the bands who lived less from fishing than from hunting in the forests and tundras of the mountains and plains called themselves Ɂehdzo Got'ı̨ne - " Trappers People", but today mostly Sahtú Dené / Sahtu Dene - " People at Great Bear Lake ", divided into four regional, cultural and dialect-speaking groups)

  • Hare (skin) Dene ( K'ahsho Got'ine / K'áshot 'Got'ine - "people with large arrowheads" or K'a so Got'ine / Katoo Got'ine - "people of the great willows", origin of name: ( Hare (skin) Dene is probably a wrong translation of Gahwié Got'ine - "rabbit (fur) folk", as they wore woven clothes made of mountain hare skins))
  • Mountain Slavey (Mountain Dene) ( Shita Got'ine / Shúhtagot'ine - "People in the midst of the mountains")
  • Willow Lake Dene ( K'áálǫ Got'ine - "People at Willow Lake")
  • Sahtú Dene (Great Bear Lake Dene) ( Sahtú Got'ine / Sahtúot'ine / Sahtú Dene - "People at the Great Bear Lake", developed from 1850 onwards an independent identity as Sahtúot'ine or Sahtú Dene, after K'ahsho during the fur trade Got'ine bands, the Satihot'in and Et'at'in regional bands of Dogrib (Tłįchǫ) as well as some Shita Got'ine, Gwich'in and South Slavey at Déline (Fort Franklin) on Sahtú (Great Bear Lake) preferred to Soon there were marriages among the members of the various Dene Bands and common settlements were built around the fort and on the lake shore. Their dialect shows great influences of the Dogrib (Tłįchǫ Yatiì) )

5. South Slavey ( Deneke or Dene , today Dene Tha - "true people" in Alberta and Deh Cho Dené / Deh Cho Dene - "people on the great river, i.e. on the Mackenzie River " in the Northwest Territory)

The Gwich'in or Kutchin ( Dinjii Zhuh - "little people") are - although resident in Alaska as well as in the Yukon and Northwest Territories - mostly regarded as Alaska-Dene , as they are together with the Hän (Häɬ goɬan) or Hänkutchin der Hän (Hän Hwëch'in) form the linguistic subgroup "Kutchin-Hän" of the northern Athabaskan languages.

Northern Athabasques

If the term Dene is taken broader (this happens increasingly in more recent specialist literature as well as on the part of the associated ethnic groups), the following bands and tribal groups are also regarded as Dene , but in contrast to the Dene listed above, these are usually northern athabasques or (often in Canada) simple Called athabasques (this term can in turn include the bands of the actual Dene listed above ). They mainly inhabited the coniferous forests of the Canadian Cordilleras . Their residential areas in the south, however, extended into the deciduous forests and forest steppes of the so-called parklands and to a small extent into the northern plains west and south of the actual. Dene in Yukon , British Columbia , Alberta and Saskatchewan :

  • Tutchone or Tutchonekutchin (depending on the dialect: Dan or Dän , but mostly they referred to themselves as Huč'an or Ku Dän - "People of")according to the affiliation of their regional band / group; Origin of the name: with Dechan to hot'yan - "People, that lives in the woods ”were originally called Tutchone in the Stewart River Valley in their language -“ Tutchone ”or Wood Indians or Stick Indians was then adopted as the tribal name for all groups, their tribal area encompassing the upper reaches of the Alsek and Yukon Rivers (Chu Nìikwän) dominated the plateau and along the Tatshenshini Rivers (Shäwshe CHU) in the southwest of Yukonterritoriums and in northwestern British Columbia, to the southwest of the coastal mountains and Saint Elias Mountains and to the northeast of the Selwyn Range - defies the formerly common tribal name as Tutchonekutchin include they do not refer to the Gwich'in (Kutchin) ; culturally and linguistically, there are two large groups - the Northern Tutchone north / northeast of Lake Laberge and the Southern Tutchone south / southwest)
  • Tagish ( Tā̀gish kotʼīnèʼ - “People of Tagish Lake”, lived in the region of Tagish Lake - called Tā̀gish - “the ice (of spring) breaks” - and the Marsh Lake and along the Yukon River ( Tahgàh Cho ) in the Yukon Territory in northwest Canada, but later under the influence of the culturally and politically more powerful Tlingit - whose language they also adopted - they regarded themselves as a regional tribal group of the Tlingit with Tagish ancestors and called themselves Tagish Ḵwáan )
  • Tahltan (Tāłtān, consider themselves the first inhabitants of the Stikine River , their tribal area covered approx. 242,163 km² in northeast British Columbia , it reached from the coastal mountains eastward to the deeper boreal coniferous forests in Yukon in the north, in the east to the (after named the Kaska Dena) Cassiar Mountains and comprised the upper reaches of the Nass River and Skeena River in the south; other important rivers were the Iskut River , Klappan River and Dease River )
  • Kaska Dena ( Gudanéʼ or Gudene - "inhabitants of a region", "people along, from, from ...", lived in the river basin of the Liard River , Finlay River , Ross River and Pelly River in northwest Canada, their former area of ​​about 240,000 km² Tribal territory stretched across northern British Columbia, southeastern Yukon, and southwestern Northwest Territories)
  • Tsetsaut ( Wetaɬ or Wetalth ; origin of the name: T'set'sa'ut, Ts'a̱ts'aaw or Jits'aawit ("people in the interior") wasa collective term for several neighboring hostile bandsamong the Gitxsan , Tsimshian and Nisga'a called besides the Tsetsaut for the Sekani, Kaska Dena, Tahltan and Tagish, to distinguish these Athabaskan to the Tsetsaut also - the northern Athabaskan eigentl Tsetsaut. or Western Tsestaut and some groups today Tahltan and Eastern Tsestaut )
  • Sekani (depending on the dialect: Tsek'ene , Tse Keh Nay , Tsay Keh Dene - "people in the stony mountains"; Origin of name: an Anglicization of their own name, lived along the Upper Fraser River northwards along the Rocky Mountain Trench to the headwaters of the Kechika River , a tributary of the Liard River , at Williston Lake , northwest across Takla Lake including along the Finlay River and Parsnip River , were often considered a subgroup of the Dane-zaa (Daneẕaa) because of cultural and linguistic similarities with the neighboring Dane-zaa ( Daneẕaa),who had fled into the mountainsfrom the advancing armed Plains Cree )
  • Chilcotin ( Tsilhqot'in - "people of the blue water" or "people along the river", Tsilh - "blue", qo - "water" and t'in - "people"; origin of the name: an Anglicisation of their own name, lived along the Chilcotin River in the Chilcotin Plateau between Fraser River and the Coast Mountains in southern British Columbia, became famous through the Chilcotin War under the leadership of Chief Klattasine (Lhats'asʔin) ( Chinook Wawa : "We don't know his name"), who opposedrefused toopen up / cross the country during the Cariboo gold rush )
  • Carrier or today increasingly Dakelh ("carrier", historical collective name for two linguistically related tribal groups; origin of name: English translation of the Sekani name for Dakelh groups as Aghelhne or Aɣelne - "those who carry something" or "the carriers", there the Dakelh widows carried the ashes of their deceased husbands in a sack for three years)
    • actual Carrier or Dakelh (today mostly Dakelh , but only the southern and middle dialect groups call themselves Dakelh / Dakelh-ne - "people who travel over water" (a contraction of the designation uda ukelh and ne ), the northern dialect groups, however, as Yinkadinee or Yinka Déné - "People of the World")
    • incorrectly called northern or western carriers:
  • Sarcee or Sarsi ( Tsuu T'ina or Tsu T'ina - "many people" or "a large number of people"; origin of the name: the once hostile Blackfoot called them saahsi, sarsi or Sucseqwan - "bold"because of their daring and martial arts , brave people "or" stubborn, defiant people ", lived as the northernmost representatives of the Plains Indians in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains , the parks and plains in northeast British Columbia and in northwest Alberta west of Edmonton )
  • Dane-zaa or Tsattine (depending on the dialect: Daneẕaa , Dane-Zaa , Dunne Tsaa , Dunne-za / Dunne Za or Dunneza - "the true, prototypical people"; Origin of the name: the Dakelh called them Tsat'en, Tsattine or Tza Tinne and the Cree as Amiskiwiyiniw or Amisk Wiyiniwak "Bieber people" or "people in the midst of beavers", therefore they were often referred to in English as Beaver and in French as Gens de Castor and in ethnological reports as Tsatinne , lived before 1800 the Dane-zaa further east near the Athabaska and Clearwater Rivers and north to Lake Athabasca and in areas north of the Upper Peace River , after heavy fighting with armed Plains Cree advancing into their eastern areas , they closed with them about 1800 on the Peace River Peace, the Plains Cree had to stay south and east and the Dane-za finally north and west of the Peace River).

Culture

Leader of the Beaver Athabascans with family 1899
A Chipewyan woman with child hunting muskrats in Lake Garson in Saskatchewan

The athabasques have always been nomadic hunters and gatherers or semi-nomadic fishermen and formed the entire western part of the subarctic cultural area . The forest provided the Indians with plenty of food: forest caribou, forest bison, deer and elk. There was a lot of fishing along the rivers. Through trade with the Europeans, fur hunting became the basis of their economy in the 18th century. The rulers-free and grassroots-democratically organized Athabasques roamed the coniferous forests and tundras of their homeland in small, egalitarian kinship groups.

“Some people say that the earth is our body. Others say it's a big self-service store. [...] "

- George Blondin, Dene Indian from Canada

In the past, the everyday life of these people living in the far north was mainly shaped by the environmental and climatic conditions, to which one had to adapt as well as possible in order to live well. The most important materials for the manufacture of clothing and everyday objects were leather, furs and birch bark, from which containers and canoes were mainly made. The dwellings used to consist of conical tents (similar to the tipis of the Plains Indians) in the southeast and pent roof tents in the northwest, which were covered with fur or bark. Log houses and earth huts were also added there. Winter prevailed for most of the year. As a means of transport , dog sledding was generally unknown to the Athabaskan peoples (in contrast to the neighboring Yupik and Iñupiat Eskimo); During their long hikes they only used the dogs for hunting, to protect their camps and as pack animals . The first fur traders and researchers discovered this in the middle of the 19th century when they advanced along the Yukon River further into the interior of Alaska and Canada. Only the Ingalik and Holikachuk, who were culturally strongly influenced by the Yupik, as well as the Koyukon, used dog sleds; they probably learned this technique from the Iñupiat or Yupik. The others, including the Gwich'in, Tanana, Ahtna and the rest of the Athabascans, pulled their sleds or toboggans (skidless sleds) by hand. It is likely that the Athabascans introduced the frame snowshoe to North America, or at least they developed it most perfectly. This enables them to hunt big game even in deep snow. In the snow-free months, the canoe was the main means of transport.

In their free time, singing and dancing was and is very important to the Athabascans: there is a very wide range of songs on all subjects of life. In the past, the songs were also a way of imparting knowledge to children who were confronted with music at a very early age. The athabasques of Alaska were also familiar with the potlatch , a ritual gift festival at large gatherings that was adopted by the northwest coast cultures. Jerry Alfred from the Selkirk -Tutchone is an athabask musician who is well-known beyond the borders of Canada .

Since the middle of the 20th century, the assimilation of the athabasques by modern society has increased. At the beginning of the 21st century, around 50 percent of Dené still speak their mother tongues, some of which are in danger of disappearing.

Social structures

Young Athabaskan woman from Talkeetna with traditional clothes

Social life has always been determined by three principles:

The first principle was pragmatism . The size of the groups inevitably had to be based on the available resources, which were very different in space and time in the far north. If there was little food available, the athabasques lived in local communities or family groups that consisted of one or more matrilocal and matrilinear extended families . (Here again the Holikachuk and Ingalik , who were strongly culturally and socially influenced by the Yupik , were an exception). If enough food was available, several local groups formed a regional band (see also: horde of hunters ) . Even larger camps were set up when ceremonies, celebrations, and the like took place. Still, the territories of even the smallest groups were clearly defined.

The second principle was kinship . Usually in a local group or band the members were related to one another in some way. To avoid incest , however, men and women belonged to different clans , which were separated from one another by different totems (group badges). The totem was named after animals and plants (but also mountains, rivers, springs and the like) and also established a mythical-family connection to them. Because they believed that each clan from a common ancestress or a common ancestor (this could also be animals and natural phenomena) would derive their allowable marriage rules do not marry within the same clan and were off limits . As a result, they were forced to look for their future spouses outside of their own clan, within their band or tribal group, or among neighboring peoples also organized in matrilineal clans, so that these mutual exogamous marriages between two (or more) groups become the basis of extensive alliances between (as in the Athabasques and Tsimshian even ethnically and linguistically) different peoples (see exchange of women ). For these peoples it was not their linguistic or ethnic origin that was important, but their membership of the mother's clan. Since all the tribes believed that the clans were related to one another, they could also rely on the help of clan members from neighboring tribes in times of need or war. The members of a clan thus regarded themselves as blood relatives with a common ancestor or ancestor.

So had z. B. The Wet'suwet'en , Babine and Dakelh , who belong to the northern athabasques , took over the clan system of the neighboring Tsimshian-speaking Gitxsan , Nisga'a and Tsimshian and were also divided into several clans; the Wet'suwet'en : Gilseyhu (Big Frog Clan), Laksilyu (Small Frog Clan), Gitdumden (Wolf / Bear Clan), Laksamshu (Fireweed Clan), Tsayu (Beaver Clan), the Babine : Likh c'ibu (Bears Clan), Likh tsa mis xu (beaver clan), Jilh tsekh xu (frog clan) and Gilanton (caribou clan) as well as the Dakelh : Likh ji bu (bear clan), Gilhanten (caribou clan), Jihl tse yu (frog clan) and Likh sta Mis yu (Beaver Clan).

The third social principle was individuality . Everyone was free to choose their band membership, as long as there were relatives there. This principle prevented, among other things, disputes and ensured the cohesion of the band.

Despite these principles, which prevented a complete isolation of the local groups, different habits, customs , dialects and beliefs developed everywhere . The Athabasques never saw themselves as one people , at most as related ethnic groups .

Faith

James Teit, Medicine Man of the Tahltan Athabascans, ca.1932

The original religion of the athabasques was animistic : the belief that all living beings and also some inanimate objects of nature are animated or inhabited by spirits (yega) . These yegas were considered to be very powerful and had to be tuned by correct behavior (e.g. when hunting) and making offerings. In principle, animals were worshiped ritually . Violations of morals may have resulted in the revenge of the spirits, which could express itself in illness, hardship and misery. In such cases, certain appeasement ceremonies were performed. If that didn't help, a medicine man or woman had to be consulted to summon and soothe the spirits.

Officially, almost all athabasques today are Christians. In Alaska, proselytizing already took place by the Russians, so that the Indians there are usually Orthodox Christians . In Canada, Christianization began during the fur trade, among other things to secure trade for the Europeans. Due to the extremely sparsely populated residential areas of the Athabaskan the missionaries arrived, people only sporadically, so that the religious practice until today more or less many elements of traditional beliefs includes (see also: syncretism ) . The work of modern prophets of the Dogrib and neighboring groups is particularly interesting .

Exploration and recording

Beaver athabasques in front of their tipi

Little is known about the history of the athabasques as serious attempts have been made to research them only since the early 20th century. This applies even more to the prehistory of their settlement area, poor in archaeological finds, which has only gradually been illuminated since the 1970s. Since approx. 1000 BC The athabasques are detectable in the catchment area of ​​the Mackenzie River . They are preceded by the archaeological Tayee Lake complex in southern Yukon (since around 3000/2000 BC?) .

Around 1770 fur traders advanced to Lake Athabasca , where they came into contact with groups of the Athabasques, among others. a. with the Beaver, Slave , Dogrib and Gwich'in .

In 1908 the anthropologist Robert Lowie traveled to Canada to research the Chipewyan way of life and possibly to reconstruct their history. Significantly, Lowie was unable to find out more than legends. In retrospect, Lowie said, "Scientifically speaking, it was the most fruitless research trip of my career."

Todays situation

Children of Sarcee -Athabasken at a parade. The Sarcee were historically the northernmost people of the plains cultures

Athabasques now live less in reservations than mostly in cities. However, there are still numerous remote villages with mostly Athabaskan inhabitants. Subsistence-oriented hunting and foraging as well as commercial fur hunting still play an important role for some groups there.

As Indians, Athabasks have the privilege of free social insurance and their own representations, so-called Native Corporations , which can issue their own limited laws. As a result, some Native Corporations have legalized gambling even though it is banned in the state in which they are located. This, and the fact that numerous oil-rich lands are owned by native corporations, has made some prosperous.

See also

literature

  • Hunters of the Northern Forest. Time-Life, Alexandria (Virginia, USA) 1995, ISBN 0-8094-9570-8 .
  • The large picture atlas Indians. from the English transl. by Werner Petermann, Orbis, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-572-00770-4 . (Original edition: Colin F. Taylor, William C. Sturtevant: The Native Americans. Salamander Books, London, ISBN 0-86101-523-1 )
  • Wendell H. Oswalt: This Land was Theirs. A Study of the North American Indian. 2nd Edition. Wiley, New York et al. a. 1973, ISBN 0-471-65717-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Willi Stegner (Ed.): Pocket Atlas Völker und Sprachen. 1st edition. Klett-Perthes, Gotha 2006, ISBN 3-12-828123-8 , p. 219.
  2. a b Hartmut Motz: Languages ​​and Peoples of the Earth - Linguistic-Ethnographic Lexicon. 1st edition. Volume 2, Projekt-Verlag Cornelius, Halle 2007, ISBN 978-3-86634-368-9 . S. Motz.
  3. a b c d Introduction to Athabascans (Dené) . Alaska Native Knowledge Network, University of Alaska, Fairbanks (USA), accessed April 18, 2015.
  4. Werner Petermann (translator): The large picture atlas Indianer (English original edition: The Native Americans. Salamander Books, London). Orbis, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-572-00770-4 , pp. 182-191.
  5. Krauss and Golla 1981 and Mithun 1999
  6. DEG XINAG ORAL TRADITIONS: RECONNECTING INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION THROUGH TRADITIONAL NARRATIVES
  7. Upper Kuskokwim (Dinak'i) Propose
  8. Dickinanek 'Hwt'ana: A History of the people of the Upper Kuskokwim who live in Nikolai and Telida, Alaska.
  9. ^ Natural Resource Utilization of four Upper Kuskokwim Communities
  10. Search for data in: Database Na-Dene family: Athapaskan group (13 lists)
  11. ^ The Phonology and Morphology of the Tanacross Athabaskan Language
  12. Copper River Native Places - A report on culturally important places to Alaska Native tribes in Southcentral Alaska ( Memento from July 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ^ Edward S. Curtis: The North American Indian , Vol. 18: The Chipewyan. The Western woods Cree. The Sarsi , Classic Books Company 1928, p. 3.
  14. South Slavey Topical Dictionary Kátå'odehche Dialect
  15. ^ Northern Tutchone Dictionary - Introduction
  16. The trade monopolies of the Chilkat Tlingit (Jilḵáat Ḵwáan) through the Chilkoot Pass and the White Pass (Dead Horse Trail) were established in 1870 by the US Army and in 1890 through the Chilkat Pass by American traders - until then, the Tlingit had sometimes also with military force in each case prevented direct trade contacts between the Athabasques and the Europeans on the north-west coast; they forbade their Athabaskan trading partners - the trading chiefs - to come to the coast to trade.
  17. ^ Dictionary of Canadian Biography - KLATSASSIN (Klatsassan, Klattasine), Chilcotin Chief
  18. Lakeview Community Association - Tsuu T'ina Nation Series ( Memento of the original from July 12, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lakeviewcommunity.org
  19. Voices of the Earth. Raben, BMAG (Ed.) Big Mountain Action Group e. V .: Munich 1993, p. 42.
  20. the Innu and Naskapi as well as the Cree of the Subarctic also used the toboggan - a skidless sledge pulled by dogs or the hunter - as a means of transport.
  21. Phyllis Ann Fast: Northern Athabascan Survival. University of Nebraska Press, 2002, pp. 3 ff.
  22. Jörg R. Mettke: Russia's Colony in America . In: Der Spiegel . No. 1 , 2004, p. 90-93 ( online ).
  23. Uwe Klußmann: For a handful of dollars . In: Spiegel history . 1/2012, p. 99.
  24. Christian F. Feest : Animated Worlds - The religions of the Indians of North America. In: Small Library of Religions , Vol. 9, Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-451-23849-7 . P. 191.
  25. See the dating attempts by JP Cook, RA McKennan: The Athapaskan Tradition: A View from Healy Lake. Paper presented to Athapaskan Conference, Museum of Man, Ottawa, March 1971.
  26. Handbook of North American Indians , Smithsonian Institute Washington DC, 1978-2001, ISBN 0-16-050400-7 , vol. 5: Arctic. P. 133ff.
  27. Barry M. Pritzker: A Native American Encyclopedia. History, Culture and Peoples. Oxford University Press, New York 2000, ISBN 0-19-513877-5 , pp. 491, 495.