Taku (people)
The Taku are an Indian tribe ( kwaan or tribe) and belong to the Tlingit . The self-name in the Tlingit language is T'aaku Kwáan - something like "Tribe from the river above the geese flood".
They live in the Alexander Archipelago in southern Alaska and on the lower reaches of the Taku River on the mainland, which is part of British Columbia , Canada .
history
Early history
Human traces reach back to around 8000 BC in the region. BC back. Since they lived on the islands of the Alexander Archipelago, they must have had water companions available. The obsidian trade , a type of stone that came from Mount Edziza in British Columbia and on Sumez Island west of Prince of Wales Island , goes back similarly .
Watercraft existed, people lived in small groups and relied on the resources of the coast, such as mussels and marine mammals. This earliest phase is therefore known as the paleomarine tradition and goes back to around 5000 or 4500 BC. Chr.
This phase was followed by the so-called Transitional Period . It differs from the previous one through new tool technologies and ranged from approx. 5000 to 3000 BC. It is possible that around this time Tlingite groups immigrated from the Nass and Skeena Rivers if one follows some oral traditions such as that of the Gaanax, a'di and Kaagwaantaan . The Kaach.a'di, on the other hand, believe they come from southeast Alaska. Possibly there was a mixing of the populations, or at least a cultural assimilation up to the language.
This phase was followed by the Developmental Northwest Coast Traditions (until approx. 1800/1850) with more complex stone and bone tools. The settlements became significantly larger and lived longer and longer. The houses also got bigger and huge totem poles were built. In addition, the diet was based much more on salmon. This created fish trap systems and extensive piles of waste and settlement known as shell middens . Society developed complex rituals and beliefs.
The main Taku village was on the river of the same name and was inhabited in winter. Two more were on the islands. The tribe managed to establish a trade monopoly based on their position in what is now Juneau. A fish trap was found there in 1989, which could be dated to around 1350. A nature trail ( Kaxdegoowu Heen Dei , "clear water that runs back") at the confluence of Montana Creek and Mendenhall River reveals the cultural significance to the visitor.
Europeans
The first Europeans in Alaska were the Russians from around 1741. They established a settlement at Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island in 1784 . In 1808 the governor Alexander Andrejewitsch Baranow moved his headquarters from there to Sitka . In 1833 there was a fort at Wrangell .
In 1794, George Vancouver's crew reported campfires on Auke Bay , Vancouver circumnavigated Douglas Island , which he named after the Bishop of Salisbury .
When the first Europeans arrived, the tribes of the Auk, the Taku and the Sumdum (on Holkum Bay below the Sumdum Glacier) lived around what is now Juneau. The Auk may have lived in Auke Bay from around 1550. In 1880 there were three villages. They were located on Admiralty Island on Youngs Bay, on Douglas Island (possibly Fish Creek) and on the mainland north of Auke Bay (now Auke Village Recreation Area).
Hudson's Bay Company, British Colony
They also acted as the only middlemen to dealers from Europe, such as the Hudson's Bay Company . This company established a trading post at Fort Durham in Taku Harbor in the early 1840s . The Taku left their winter village and settled around the fort. There they stayed, although the unprofitable fort was abandoned in 1843, until 1880. In that year gold was found, and the Taku felt compelled to work for the prospectors for wages. They moved to the Sheep Creek (Gold Creek) area.
Canada, USA
In the meantime, Alaska had been bought by the United States in 1867 . Gold was discovered at Sitka in 1872, and further finds between Windum Bay and Berners Bay led to the creation of Juneau . Engineer George Pilz offered 100 blankets to each Tlingit when he showed them a gold spot. Cowee of the Auk showed him one such spot on the Gastineau Channel . On October 18, 1880, they staked out the claim on which Juneau was soon to emerge, but which was initially called Harrisburg. The town's population rose from 150 to 1,200 within 9 years. Of the numerous individual seekers, three mining companies ultimately remained, namely Treadwell, Alaska Gastineau and Alaska Juneau, which were also able to operate the now capital-intensive industry. They took gold from the mountain for $ 158 million. Treadwell, active on Douglas Island, went bankrupt in 1922, the year before the Alaska Gastineau. The Alaska Juneau was still digging until 1944. Nevertheless, Juneau did not disappear again like many other gold rush towns, but became the capital of Alaska with more than 2000 inhabitants around 1900.
Like all Tlingit, the tribe was divided into two moietys , that of the raven and the wolf or eagle moiety.
In the USA, the Tlingit and thus the Taku are recognized as a people by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska . In 1912 they founded the Alaska Native Brotherhood , then the Alaska Native Sisterhood followed . Today both are committed to preserving the Tlingit culture.