Hän
The Hän or Han , correctly Hän Hwëch'in ("people who live on the river [the Yukon River]") are an Indian people whose original settlement area stretched on both sides of the Yukon River in the Yukon Territory in northwest Canada and in Alaska . The Gwich'in (Kutchin) live in the north, the Northern Tutchone in the south and the Upper Tanana (Kohtʼiin) in the west .
Name and designations
The tribal name used today as Hän or Han is an abbreviation of their own name as Hän Hwëch'in / Han Hwach'in or the naming of the Gwich'in (Kutchin) who live in the north for the Hän as hangʷičʼin - both names literally mean "people, that on the river - the Yukon River - lives ".
In historical specialist literature and travel literature, they were therefore usually referred to as Hänkutchin / Han Huch'inn and often wrongly viewed as a band of the Gwich'in, which is closely related both linguistically and culturally; however, they are to be distinguished from these and see themselves as related but separate ethnic groups . Other spellings of the name: Han-Kootchin, Hun-koo-chin, Hong-Kutchin, An Kutchin, Han Kutchin, Han-Kutchín, Hăn-Kŭtchin and Hungwitchin .
The French trappers and fur traders referred to them as Gens du fou, Gens de Fou, Gens de Foux, Gens des Foux ("wild people") or Gens-de-fine . Often the name Gens de Foux (and its variants) was also used for the linguistically related Northern Tutchone (Dan or Huč'an) , but in this case the Han were used as Gens de Bois or Gens des Bois (“People of the Waldes ”).
The Hän Hwëch'in can be traced back to Hän (Häɬ goɬan) -language regional bands that can be traced back around 11,000 years in the Upper Yukon River and Klondike River area. These were made up again of local groups (local bands) along which one or more matrilineal extended families existed. Each band therefore referred to itself as Hwhere'in / Hwëch'in ("people"; literally: "residents of an area") as well as including the name of the respective main village or river as a location for clear identification and differentiation from neighboring but different bands (see same: Gwich'in for the Gwich'in / Kutchin and Huč'an / Ku Dän for the Tutchone).
So the today's official name of the Tr'ondek Haw'in First Nation derives from the autonym Tr'ondek Haw'in or Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in ("people along the Klondike River"), which is derived from the name for the Klondike river as Tr'ondek (BAL of. Tro - " blow stones , to secure the insertion of the salmon weirs" and Ndëk - " river ") as well as Hwech'in / Hwech'in; derived ( "people" literally means "inhabitants of an area") leaves. Today, however, they identify themselves after their once important capital Tr'ochëk ("mouth of the Klondike River") as "people at the mouth of the Klondike River".
Regional bands of the Hän
Shortly before and during the Klondike gold rush , there were three regional bands along the Yukon River (Chu Kon 'Dëk) ("bubbling water river") downriver and (from south to north) (Mishler and Simeone 2004):
- Chief Isaac People , Isaac's Band or Dawson Indian Band : with at least three local groups - the main town Tr'ochëk (later called Lousetown or Klondike City ) at the mouth of the Klondike (Trʼondëk) in the Yukon (Chu Kon 'Dëk), the Hän -The village of Nuklako (Jutl'à 'K'ät) directly opposite the Fort Reliance trading post near today's Dawson along the Klondike River and rich fishing grounds along these rivers were in the area of the largest local group, another had its hunting grounds upstream and along the Klondike Blackstone River (Ttth'oh zrąy) and in the Uplands and therefore shared the Forty Mile caribou hunting areas in the area of Black City / Blackstone Village on the west bank of the East Blackstone River with the Dagudh / Tukudh and Teetł'it / Teetl'it Zheh Bands of the Gwich'in , the Bonanza Creek (Gàh Dëk - Rabbit Creek, ie. "Rabbit Creek") - the main area of the gold rush - also belonged to the range - called (call) themselves Tr'ondek Hänz'in / Tr'ondë k Hwëch'in ("people at the mouth of the Klondike River") and now form the vast majority of the Tr'ondek Haw'in First Nation .
- David's Band , later Johnny's Band : on the lower reaches and the confluence of the Fortymile River in the Yukon (Chu Kon 'Dëk) to the main town called David's Camp or Johnny's Village (Klat-ol-klin) (after the successive chiefs David and John named; today's Native Eagle Village) near the town of Eagle (Tthee T'äwdlenn) in Alaska, there was also another village 2.5 miles downstream from Eagle, between the two villages was the short-lived trading post Belle Isle , the local groups wintered regularly on Mission Creek, on the Seventymile River and their hunting area extended at least to Comet Creek, Eureka Creek and American Creek. Smallpox survivors moved to Forty Mile (Ch'ëdä Dëk) in 1880. Chief David died no later than 1903 when he was given a potlatch in memory. His son Peter followed as chief - today some can be found in the Native Eagle Village , but the majority as part of the Tr'ondek Haw'in First Nation .
- Charley's Band , Charlie's Band or Fortymile Indians : along the Upper Fortymile River downstream to the confluence with the Yukon (Chu Kon 'Dëk) with the important fishing village there called Forty Mile (Ch'ëdä Dëk) and its main town, Charley's Village ( Tadush) at the mouth of the Kandik River (also called Charley Creek) in the Yukon, so its range included today's Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve as well as parts of the Charley River catchment area , as well as Eagle Village and Kechumstuk in today's Alaska, For them, the Porcupine River caribou herd was the most important source of food besides fishing. After 1914, Charley's Village was abandoned due to a flood and the chief of the same name led his band to Eagle Village; Hän also moved from the Charley River to Fort Yukon between 1900 and 1910, these are most likely two different local groups of the same regional band - descendants are mostly in the Native Eagle Village near the town of Eagle (in Hän: Tthee T'äwdlenn) in today Alaska as well as to be found under today's Tr'ondek Haw'in First Nation .
Chief Isaac's Band was therefore only one of three regional bands and their descendants can only be addressed as Tr'ondek Haw'in.
language
Their language, the Ha goɬan , belongs to the Central Alaska-Yukon group of the Northern Athapaskan languages and is closely related to the Dinjii Zhu 'Ginjik of the neighboring Gwich'in . It is acutely threatened with extinction. It is estimated that only around 15 (mostly elderly) people still speak this language, although some efforts are being made to teach it to younger people.
History and way of life
Originally their way of life was based mainly on salmon fishing . In summer the Han gathered on the Yukon to catch the fish, in winter they split up into smaller family groups to hunt game such as caribou , elk , bears , porcupines and beavers . The demarcation between the then Russian Alaska and Canada divided their settlement area, during the course of the Klondike gold rush at the end of the 19th century it was overrun by whites, which changed their way of life.
At the time of the first contact with the whites, it is estimated that around 1000 hans were living. Today they number around 300 people in the United States and Canada together. Most of them live in Dawson, Canada, and Eagle, Alaska.
literature
- William C. Sturtevant (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Volume 6: June Helm (Ed.): Subarctic. Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 1981.