History of the Tlingit
Encyclopedia
The history of the Tlingit involves both pre-contact and post-contact historical events and stories. The traditional history involved creation stories, the Raven Cycle and other tangentially related events during the mythic age when spirits freely transformed from animal to human and back, and the migration story of coming to Tlingit lands, clan histories More recent tales describe events near the time of first contact with Europeans. At that point, European and American historical records come into play, and though modern Tlingits have access to and review these historical records, they continue to maintain their own historical record by telling stories of ancestors and events important to them against the background of the changing world.
The Raven Cycle stories contain two different Raven characters, though most storytellers don't clearly differentiate them. One is the creator Raven who brings the world into being and is sometimes the same as the Owner of Daylight. The other is the childish Raven, who is always selfish, sly, conniving, and hungry. Comparing a few of the stories reveals logical inconsistencies between the two. This is usually explained as involving a different world where things did not make logical sense, a mythic time when the rules of the modern world did not apply.
All stories are considered property in the Tlingit cultural system, such that sharing a story without the proper permission of its owners is a breach of Tlingit law. However, the stories of the Tlingit people as a whole, the creation myths, and other seemingly universal records are usually considered to be property of the entire tribe, and thus may be shared without particular restriction. It is however important to the Tlingit that the details be correct, for if not this can lead to perpetuations of error and worsen the transmission of the information in the future, as well as degrade the value of the knowledge.
The story begins with the Athabaskan (Ghunanaa) people of interior Alaska and western Canada, a land of lakes and rivers, of birch
and spruce
forests, and the moose
and caribou. Life in this continental climate
is harsh, with bitterly cold winters and hot summers. One year the people had a particularly poor harvest over a summer, and it was obvious that the winter would bring with it many deaths from starvation. The elders gathered together and decided that people would be sent out to find a land rumored to be rich in food, a place where one did not even have to hunt for something to eat. A group of people were selected and sent out to find this new place, and would come back to tell the elders where this land could be found. They were never heard from again. However, we now know that these people were the Navajo
and Apache
, for they left the Athabaskan lands for a different place far south of their home, and yet retain a close relationship with their Athabaskan ancestors.
Over the winter countless people died. Again, the next summer's harvest was poor, and the life of the people was threatened. So once again, the elders decided to send out people to find this land of abundance. These people traveled a long distance, and climbed up mountain passes to encounter a great glacier
. The glacier seemed impassable, and the mountains around it far too steep for the people to cross. They could however see how the meltwater of the glacier traveled down into deep crevasse
s and disappeared underneath the icy bulk. The people decided that some strong young men should be sent down to follow this river to see if it came out on the other side of the mountains. But before these men had left, an elderly couple volunteered to make the trip. They reasoned that since they were already near the end of their lives, the loss of their support to the group would be minimal, but the loss of the strong young men would be devastating. The people agreed that these elders should travel under the glacier. They made a simple dugout canoe and took it down the river under the glacier, and came out to see a rocky plain with deep forests and rich beaches all around. The people followed them down under the glacier and came into Lingít Aaní, the rich and bountiful land that became the home of the Tlingit people. These people became the first Tlingits.
Another theory of Tlingit migration is that of the Beringia Land Bridge. Coastal people in general are extremely aggressive; whereas interior Athapascan people are passive. Tlingit culture, being the fiercest among the coastal nations due to their northernmost occupation, began to dominate the interior culture as they traveled inland to secure trading alliances. Tlingit traders were the "middlemen" bringing Russian goods inland over the Chilkoot Trail to the Yukon, and on into Northern British Columbia.
As the Tlingit people began marrying interior people, their culture became the established "norm." Soon the Tlingit clan and political structure, as well as customs and beliefs dominated all other interior culture. To this day, Tlingit regalia, language, clan structure, political structure, and ceremonies including beliefs are evident in all interior culture. The Athapascan way of life is now embedded with the Tlingit people's lifestyle.
Each clan in Tlingit society has its own foundation history. These stories are private property of the clan in question and thus may not be shared here. However, each story describes the Tlingit world from a different perspective, and taken together the clan histories recount much of the history of the Tlingits before the coming of the Dléit Khaa, the white people.
Typically, a clan history involves an extraordinary event that brought some family or group of families together, separating them from other Tlingits. Some clans seem to be older than others, and often this is notable by their clan histories having mostly mythic proportions. Younger clans seem to have histories that tell of breaking apart from other groups due to internal conflict and strife or the desire to find new territory. For example, the Deisheetaan descend from the Ghaanaxh.ádi, but their clan foundation story tells little or nothing of this relationship. In contrast, the Khák'w.wedí who are descended from the Deisheetaan usually mention their connection as an aside in the telling of their foundation story. Presumably this is the case because their separation was more recent, and is thus well remembered, whereas the separation of the Deisheetaan from the Ghaanaxh.ádi is less apparent in the minds of the Deisheetaan clan members.
Bering and Chirikov (1741)
Vitus Bering
was separated from Aleksei Chirikov
and only reached as far east as Kayak Island
. However Chirikov traveled to the western shores of the Alexander Archipelago. He lost two boats of men around Lisianski Strait at the northern end of Chichagof Island
. Subsequently Chirikov encountered Tlingit whom he felt were hostile, and returned west.
First Bucareli Expedition (1774)
Juan Josef Pérez Hernández sent by Don Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa
, Viceroy of New Spain, to explore to north 60 latitude in 1774. Accompanied by Fray Juan Crespi
and Fr. Tomás de la Peña Suria (or Savaria). Suria executed a number of drawings that today serve as invaluable records of Tlingit life in the precolonial period.
Second Bucareli Expedition (1775)
Lt. Bruno de Hezeta (or Heceta) commanded the expedition aboard the Santiago, with Lt. Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
leading the Sonora as second in command. Hezeta returned to Mexico shortly after a massacre by the Quinault
near the Quinault River
in modern Washington, but Bodega y Quadra insisted upon completing the mission to reach 60° north latitude. He traveled almost as far as Sitka, Alaska to 59° north, claimed possession of the lands he encountered for Spain
, and named Mt. Edgecumbe
as "Mount Jacinto". It is unclear whether the expedition ever encountered the Tlingit.
James Cook (1778)
James Cook
acquired possession of the journals of Bodega y Quadra's second commander Francisco Antonio Mourelle
and of maps created from the two previous Bucareli Expeditions. This inspired him to investigate the northwest coast of America on his third voyage, in search of the Northwest Passage
.
Third Bucareli Expedition (1779)
Lt. Ignacia de Arteaga officially led this expedition in the Princesa, however Bodega y Quadra was the more experienced explorer and accompanied the expedition aboard the Favorita. They made contact and traded with the Tlingits around Bucareli Bay
(Puerto de Bucareli). They also named Mount Saint Elias
.
Potap Zaikov
La Pérouse (1786)
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse
George Dixon (1787)
George Dixon (captain)
James Colnett (1788)
James Colnett
Ismailov and Bocharov (1788)
Gerasim Izmailov
and Dmitry Bocharov
William Douglas (1788)
Alessandro Malaspina (1791)
Alessandro Malaspina
, after whom the Malaspina Glacier
is named, explored the Alaskan coast as far north as Prince William Sound
. His expedition made contact with the Laxhaayík Khwáan of the Yakutat
area upon reaching Yakutat Bay
.
George Vancouver (1794)
George Vancouver
, the Hudson's Bay Company
post at the juncture of the Yukon
and Pelly River
s.
In 1855 an alliance of Tongass Tlingit (Stikines) and Haida raided Puget Sound
on a slaving expedition. They were confronted at Port Gamble
, Washington Territory
by the USS Massachusetts
and other naval vessels and suffered casualties, including a prominent Haid a chief. A return expedition by the alliance the following year was punitive in character, with Isaac N. Ebey
chosen at random as a high-ranking white man whose death would avenge the death of one of the raiding chiefs the year before. The territorial government pressed the colonial government of Vancouver Island
to apprehend the killer, but the British had insufficient military capacity to take on the allied Haida and Tlingit and the killer was never identified or caught.
in October 1882, a shaman and aristocrat named Til'tlein was killed in an accident that involved the factory's boats and harpoon bombs. Another man had been violently killed recently, and his relatives had not been compensated by the factory managers for his death, a customary Tlingit practice that they had honored previously. The Tlingits had let the previous matter rest, to maintain friendly relations. However, when Til'tlein was killed and the owners again refused to compensate his survivors, the Angoon residents followed traditional Tlingit practice: they seized the boats and weapons involved in the death and took a few whites hostage until the factory managers repaid them for the deaths. They claimed compensation of two hundred blankets from the factory.
Incensed at the theft and perhaps misunderstanding the situation as a threat, the owners sent word to the US Naval Commander Merriman in Sitka. Merriman came to Angoon aboard the revenue cutter Corwin
and demanded that the Angoon people return the boats and men and pay a fine of four hundred blankets in twenty-four hours or suffer bombing from the cutter's cannons. The following morning only 80 blankets were produced and Merriman proceeded to destroy the canoes on the beach, shell the houses and storehouses, and send a landing party in to loot and burn the remaining town.
The looting and burning of the storehouses destroyed most of the Angoon people's possessions and food they had put up for winter, and that year many people died of starvation. It took five years for the town to rebuild to the size it was before the bombing. This incident, concomitant with the gold rush in Juneau
, forced the US government to recognize the need for a formal Territorial Government to replace the martial law that had been in place since the Alaska Purchase.
The residents of Angoon have long held out for a formal apology for what they consider was undue terrorizing punishment for a cultural misunderstanding. In 1973 the US government offered a ninety thousand dollar settlement to the village of Angoon in response to the bombardment, but the government and the US Navy declined to offer a formal apology. In 1982, on the centennial of the bombing, Angoon held a memorial potlatch. Tlingit dignitaries from all across Southeast Alaska and Governor Jay Hammond attended. The people of Angoon formally made public their feelings and opinions on the matter, and demanded an apology from the US Navy. No representatives of the Navy attended, despite a formal invitation, and neither the Government or the Navy made an apology, despite repeated requests from the town government, the Tlingit tribal organizations, and representatives of the State of Alaska.
Elizabeth Peratrovich
was a renowned member of the ANS for whom in 1988 the State of Alaska designated a state holiday, February 16.
of December 18, 1971.
Creation story and the Raven Cycle
Stories about Raven are unique in Tlingit culture in that though they technically belong to clans of the Raven moiety, most are openly and freely shared by any Tlingit no matter their clan affiliation. They also make up the bulk of the stories that children are regaled with when young. Raven Cycle stories are often shared anecdotally, the telling of one inspiring the telling of another. Many are humorous, but some are serious and impart a sense of Tlingit morality and ethics, and others belong to specific clans and may only be shared under appropriate license. Some of the most popular are known to other tribes along the Northwest Coast, and provide creation myths for the everyday world.The Raven Cycle stories contain two different Raven characters, though most storytellers don't clearly differentiate them. One is the creator Raven who brings the world into being and is sometimes the same as the Owner of Daylight. The other is the childish Raven, who is always selfish, sly, conniving, and hungry. Comparing a few of the stories reveals logical inconsistencies between the two. This is usually explained as involving a different world where things did not make logical sense, a mythic time when the rules of the modern world did not apply.
The theft of daylight
The most well recognized story of is that of the Theft of Daylight, in which Raven steals the stars, the moon, and the sun from Naas-sháki Yéil or Naas-sháki Shaan, the Raven (or Old Man) at the Head of the Nass River. The Old Man is very rich and owns three legendary boxes that contain the stars, the moon, and the sun; Raven wants these for himself (various reasons are given, such as wanting to admire himself in the light, wanting light to find food easily, etc). Raven transforms himself into a hemlock needle and drops into the water cup of the Old Man's daughter while she is out picking berries. She becomes pregnant with him and gives birth to him as a baby boy. The Old Man dotes over his grandson, as is the wont of most Tlingit grandparents. Raven cries incessantly until the Old Man gives him the Box of Stars to pacify him. Raven plays with it for a while, then opens the lid and lets the stars escape through the chimney into the sky. Later Raven begins to cry for the Box of the Moon, and after much fuss the Old Man gives it to him but not before stopping up the chimney. Raven plays with it for a while and then rolls it out the door, where it escapes into the sky. Finally Raven begins crying for the Box of the Sun, and after much fuss finally the Old Man breaks down and gives it to him. Raven knows well that he cannot roll it out the door or toss it up the chimney because he is carefully watched. So he finally waits until everyone is asleep and then changes into his bird form, grasps the sun in his beak and flies up and out the chimney. He takes it to show others who do not believe that he has the sun, so he opens the box to show them and then it flies up into the sky where it has been ever since.The Tlingit migration
There are a few variations of the Tlingit story of how they came to inhabit their lands. All are fairly similar, and one will be detailed here. They vary mostly in location of the events, with some being very specific about particular rivers and glaciers, others being more vague. The particular one presented here involves some interesting relationship explanations between the Tlingit and their inland neighbors, the Athabaskans. Note that the particular Athabaskan group is not noted, and it seems to be indeterminate. It may in fact refer to a time before the Athabaskans had developed into the multiplicity of peoples that they are today.All stories are considered property in the Tlingit cultural system, such that sharing a story without the proper permission of its owners is a breach of Tlingit law. However, the stories of the Tlingit people as a whole, the creation myths, and other seemingly universal records are usually considered to be property of the entire tribe, and thus may be shared without particular restriction. It is however important to the Tlingit that the details be correct, for if not this can lead to perpetuations of error and worsen the transmission of the information in the future, as well as degrade the value of the knowledge.
The story begins with the Athabaskan (Ghunanaa) people of interior Alaska and western Canada, a land of lakes and rivers, of birch
Birch
Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...
and spruce
Spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...
forests, and the moose
Moose
The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...
and caribou. Life in this continental climate
Continental climate
Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...
is harsh, with bitterly cold winters and hot summers. One year the people had a particularly poor harvest over a summer, and it was obvious that the winter would bring with it many deaths from starvation. The elders gathered together and decided that people would be sent out to find a land rumored to be rich in food, a place where one did not even have to hunt for something to eat. A group of people were selected and sent out to find this new place, and would come back to tell the elders where this land could be found. They were never heard from again. However, we now know that these people were the Navajo
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
and Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
, for they left the Athabaskan lands for a different place far south of their home, and yet retain a close relationship with their Athabaskan ancestors.
Over the winter countless people died. Again, the next summer's harvest was poor, and the life of the people was threatened. So once again, the elders decided to send out people to find this land of abundance. These people traveled a long distance, and climbed up mountain passes to encounter a great glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
. The glacier seemed impassable, and the mountains around it far too steep for the people to cross. They could however see how the meltwater of the glacier traveled down into deep crevasse
Crevasse
A crevasse is a deep crack in an ice sheet rhys glacier . Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the sheer stress generated when two semi-rigid pieces above a plastic substrate have different rates of movement...
s and disappeared underneath the icy bulk. The people decided that some strong young men should be sent down to follow this river to see if it came out on the other side of the mountains. But before these men had left, an elderly couple volunteered to make the trip. They reasoned that since they were already near the end of their lives, the loss of their support to the group would be minimal, but the loss of the strong young men would be devastating. The people agreed that these elders should travel under the glacier. They made a simple dugout canoe and took it down the river under the glacier, and came out to see a rocky plain with deep forests and rich beaches all around. The people followed them down under the glacier and came into Lingít Aaní, the rich and bountiful land that became the home of the Tlingit people. These people became the first Tlingits.
Another theory of Tlingit migration is that of the Beringia Land Bridge. Coastal people in general are extremely aggressive; whereas interior Athapascan people are passive. Tlingit culture, being the fiercest among the coastal nations due to their northernmost occupation, began to dominate the interior culture as they traveled inland to secure trading alliances. Tlingit traders were the "middlemen" bringing Russian goods inland over the Chilkoot Trail to the Yukon, and on into Northern British Columbia.
As the Tlingit people began marrying interior people, their culture became the established "norm." Soon the Tlingit clan and political structure, as well as customs and beliefs dominated all other interior culture. To this day, Tlingit regalia, language, clan structure, political structure, and ceremonies including beliefs are evident in all interior culture. The Athapascan way of life is now embedded with the Tlingit people's lifestyle.
Clan histories
The clans were Yeil, or Raven; Gooch, or Wolf; and Chaak, or Eagle.Each clan in Tlingit society has its own foundation history. These stories are private property of the clan in question and thus may not be shared here. However, each story describes the Tlingit world from a different perspective, and taken together the clan histories recount much of the history of the Tlingits before the coming of the Dléit Khaa, the white people.
Typically, a clan history involves an extraordinary event that brought some family or group of families together, separating them from other Tlingits. Some clans seem to be older than others, and often this is notable by their clan histories having mostly mythic proportions. Younger clans seem to have histories that tell of breaking apart from other groups due to internal conflict and strife or the desire to find new territory. For example, the Deisheetaan descend from the Ghaanaxh.ádi, but their clan foundation story tells little or nothing of this relationship. In contrast, the Khák'w.wedí who are descended from the Deisheetaan usually mention their connection as an aside in the telling of their foundation story. Presumably this is the case because their separation was more recent, and is thus well remembered, whereas the separation of the Deisheetaan from the Ghaanaxh.ádi is less apparent in the minds of the Deisheetaan clan members.
First contact
A number of both well-known and undistinguished European explorers investigated Lingít Aaní and encountered the Tlingit in the earliest days of contact. Most of these exchanges were congenial, despite European fears to the contrary. The Tlingit rather quickly appreciated the trading potential for valuable European goods and resources, and exploited this whenever possible in their early contacts. On the whole the European explorers were impressed with Tlingit wealth, but put off by what they felt was an excessive lack of hygiene. Considering that most of the explorers visited during the busy summer months when Tlingit lived in temporary camps, this impression is unsurprising. In contrast, the few explorers who were forced to spend time with the Tlingit Tribe during the inclement winters made mention of the cleanliness of Tlingit winter homes and villages.Bering and Chirikov (1741)
Vitus Bering
Vitus Bering
Vitus Jonassen Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering (also, less correNavy]], a captain-komandor known among the Russian sailors as Ivan Ivanovich. He is noted for being the first European to discover Alaska and its Aleutian Islands...
was separated from Aleksei Chirikov
Aleksei Chirikov
Aleksei Ilyich Chirikov was a Russian navigator and captain who along with Bering was the first Russian to reach North-West coast of North America. He discovered and charted some of the Aleutian Islands while he was deputy to Vitus Bering during the Great Northern Expedition.- Life and work :In...
and only reached as far east as Kayak Island
Kayak Island
Kayak Island , which includes the Bering Expedition Landing Site, is located in the Gulf of Alaska, 100 km SE of Cordova, Alaska Malaspina Coastal Plain. It has a land area of 73.695 km² and no population....
. However Chirikov traveled to the western shores of the Alexander Archipelago. He lost two boats of men around Lisianski Strait at the northern end of Chichagof Island
Chichagof Island
Chichagof Island, or Shee Kaax, is an island in the Alexander Archipelago of the Alaska Panhandle. At long and wide, it has a land area of , making it the fifth largest island in the United States and the 109th largest island in the world. It's coastline measures 742 miles. There was a 2000...
. Subsequently Chirikov encountered Tlingit whom he felt were hostile, and returned west.
First Bucareli Expedition (1774)
Juan Josef Pérez Hernández sent by Don Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa
Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa
Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, marqués de Valleheroso y conde de Jerena was a Spanish military officer, governor of Cuba, and viceroy of New Spain .-Beginning of his administration:He was governor of Cuba when he was named viceroy...
, Viceroy of New Spain, to explore to north 60 latitude in 1774. Accompanied by Fray Juan Crespi
Juan Crespi
Father Juan Crespí was a Majorcan missionary and explorer of Las Californias. He entered the Franciscan order at the age of seventeen. He came to America in 1749, and accompanied explorers Francisco Palóu and Junípero Serra. In 1767 he went to the Baja Peninsula and was placed in charge of the...
and Fr. Tomás de la Peña Suria (or Savaria). Suria executed a number of drawings that today serve as invaluable records of Tlingit life in the precolonial period.
Second Bucareli Expedition (1775)
Lt. Bruno de Hezeta (or Heceta) commanded the expedition aboard the Santiago, with Lt. Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra was a Spanish naval officer born in Lima, Peru. Assigned to the Pacific coast Spanish Naval Department base at San Blas, in the Viceroyalty of New Spain , this navigator explored the Northwest Coast of North America as far north as present day Alaska.Juan...
leading the Sonora as second in command. Hezeta returned to Mexico shortly after a massacre by the Quinault
Quinault (tribe)
The Quinault are a group of Native American peoples from western Washington in the United States.-Lands:The Quinault Indian Reservation, at , is located on the Pacific coast of Washington, primarily in northwestern Grays Harbor County, with small parts extending north into southwestern Jefferson...
near the Quinault River
Quinault River
The Quinault River is a long river located on the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington. It originates deep in the Olympic Mountains in the Olympic National Park. It flows southwest through the "Enchanted Valley". Several miles above Lake Quinault the river is joined by its main...
in modern Washington, but Bodega y Quadra insisted upon completing the mission to reach 60° north latitude. He traveled almost as far as Sitka, Alaska to 59° north, claimed possession of the lands he encountered for Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and named Mt. Edgecumbe
Mount Edgecumbe (Alaska)
Mount Edgecumbe is the current name of a dormant volcano located at the southern end of Kruzof Island, Alaska, of which it is the highest point. In the Tlingit language it is called L’ux. Mt...
as "Mount Jacinto". It is unclear whether the expedition ever encountered the Tlingit.
James Cook (1778)
James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
acquired possession of the journals of Bodega y Quadra's second commander Francisco Antonio Mourelle
Francisco Antonio Mourelle
Francisco Antonio Mourelle de la Rúa was a Galician naval officer and explorer serving the Spanish crown. He was born in 1750 at San Adrián de Corme , near La Coruña, Galicia.-1775 voyage:...
and of maps created from the two previous Bucareli Expeditions. This inspired him to investigate the northwest coast of America on his third voyage, in search of the Northwest Passage
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
.
Third Bucareli Expedition (1779)
Lt. Ignacia de Arteaga officially led this expedition in the Princesa, however Bodega y Quadra was the more experienced explorer and accompanied the expedition aboard the Favorita. They made contact and traded with the Tlingits around Bucareli Bay
Bucareli Bay
Bucareli Bay is a bay in the Alexander Archipelago, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located off the western coast of Prince of Wales Island, between Baker Island and Suemez Island. To the east it connects to various waterways, such as San Alberto Bay. To the west it...
(Puerto de Bucareli). They also named Mount Saint Elias
Mount Saint Elias
Mount Saint Elias, also designated Boundary Peak 186, is the second highest mountain in both Canada and the United States, being situated on the Yukon and Alaska border. It lies about southwest of Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada. The Canadian side is part of Kluane National Park,...
.
Potap Zaikov
La Pérouse (1786)
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse
Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse was a French Navy officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania.-Early career:...
George Dixon (1787)
George Dixon (captain)
James Colnett (1788)
James Colnett
James Colnett
James Colnett was an officer of the British Royal Navy, an explorer, and a maritime fur trader. He served under James Cook during Cook's second voyage of exploration...
Ismailov and Bocharov (1788)
Gerasim Izmailov
Gerasim Izmailov
Gerasim Grigoryevich Izmaylov was a Russian navigator involved in the Russian colonization of the Americas and in the establishment of the colonies of Russian America in Alaska. He was responsible for the first detailed maps of the Aleutian Islands....
and Dmitry Bocharov
Dmitry Bocharov
Dmitry Bocharov is a Russian chess Grandmaster .In 2003 he tied for 1st-7th with Vladimir Burmakin, Eduardas Rozentalis, Philipp Schlosser, Alexander Areshchenko, Jakov Geller and Evgeny Miroshnichenko in the Cappelle-la-Grande Open. In 2004, came first at Abu Dhabi. In 2006 he won the 14th...
William Douglas (1788)
Alessandro Malaspina (1791)
Alessandro Malaspina
Alessandro Malaspina
Alessandro Malaspina was an Italian nobleman who spent most of his life as a Spanish naval officer and explorer...
, after whom the Malaspina Glacier
Malaspina Glacier
The Malaspina Glacier in southeastern Alaska is the largest piedmont glacier the world. Situated at the head of the Alaska Panhandle, it is about wide and long, with an area of some . It is named in honor of Alessandro Malaspina, an Italian explorer in the service of the Spanish Navy, who visited...
is named, explored the Alaskan coast as far north as Prince William Sound
Prince William Sound
Prince William Sound is a sound off the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System...
. His expedition made contact with the Laxhaayík Khwáan of the Yakutat
Yakutat City and Borough, Alaska
Yakutat City and Borough is a unified city-borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2010 census, the population was 4035. The name is Tlingit, Yaakwdáat, meaning "the place where canoes rest", but it originally derives from an Eyak name diyaʼqudaʼt and was influenced by the Tlingit word...
area upon reaching Yakutat Bay
Yakutat Bay
Yakutat Bay is a 29-km-wide bay in the U.S. state of Alaska, extending southwest from Disenchantment Bay to the Gulf of Alaska. "Yakutat" is a Tlingit name reported as "Jacootat" and "Yacootat" by Yuri Lisianski in 1805....
.
George Vancouver (1794)
George Vancouver
George Vancouver
Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...
Fur trade
In 1852 Chilkat Tlingit warriors attacked and burned Fort Selkirk, YukonFort Selkirk, Yukon
Fort Selkirk is a former trading post on the Yukon River at the confluence of the Pelly River in Canada's Yukon. For many years it was home to the Selkirk First Nation ....
, the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
post at the juncture of the Yukon
Yukon River
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into...
and Pelly River
Pelly River
The Pelly River is a river in Canada, and is a headstream of the Yukon River. The river originates west of the Mackenzie Mountains and flows 530 km long through the south central Yukon. The Pelly has two main tributaries, the Ross and Macmillan rivers.The river was named by Robert Campbell in...
s.
In 1855 an alliance of Tongass Tlingit (Stikines) and Haida raided Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
on a slaving expedition. They were confronted at Port Gamble
Port Gamble, Washington
Port Gamble is an unincorporated community on the northwestern shore of the Kitsap Peninsula in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It is also a small, similarly named bay, along which the community lies, near the entrance to Hood Canal. The unincorporated communities of Port Gamble and...
, Washington Territory
Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 8, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington....
by the USS Massachusetts
USS Massachusetts (1845)
USS Massachusetts was a steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy prior to the American Civil War. She was used by the U.S. War Department as a transport during the Mexican-American War and traveled widely, including transiting Cape Horn several times as part of her official duties on both sides of the...
and other naval vessels and suffered casualties, including a prominent Haid a chief. A return expedition by the alliance the following year was punitive in character, with Isaac N. Ebey
Isaac N. Ebey
Colonel Isaac Neff Ebey was the first permanent white resident of Whidbey Island, Washington.Ebey was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1818. During his childhood Ebey's father, Jacob, moved the family to Adair County, Missouri where as a young man, the young Ebey was trained in the law...
chosen at random as a high-ranking white man whose death would avenge the death of one of the raiding chiefs the year before. The territorial government pressed the colonial government of Vancouver Island
Colony of Vancouver Island
The Colony of Vancouver Island , was a crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with British Columbia. The united colony joined the Dominion of Canada through Confederation in 1871...
to apprehend the killer, but the British had insufficient military capacity to take on the allied Haida and Tlingit and the killer was never identified or caught.
Alaska purchase
In 1867 the United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire.The bombardment of Angoon
At a rendering plant located near AngoonAngoon, Alaska
Angoon is a city on Admiralty Island in Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 572, by the 2010 census the population had declined to 459...
in October 1882, a shaman and aristocrat named Til'tlein was killed in an accident that involved the factory's boats and harpoon bombs. Another man had been violently killed recently, and his relatives had not been compensated by the factory managers for his death, a customary Tlingit practice that they had honored previously. The Tlingits had let the previous matter rest, to maintain friendly relations. However, when Til'tlein was killed and the owners again refused to compensate his survivors, the Angoon residents followed traditional Tlingit practice: they seized the boats and weapons involved in the death and took a few whites hostage until the factory managers repaid them for the deaths. They claimed compensation of two hundred blankets from the factory.
Incensed at the theft and perhaps misunderstanding the situation as a threat, the owners sent word to the US Naval Commander Merriman in Sitka. Merriman came to Angoon aboard the revenue cutter Corwin
USS Corwin
Two ships of the United States Navy have been named Corwin after Secretary of the Treasury Thomas Corwin.*The , was a side wheel gunboat, wooden steamer built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1849....
and demanded that the Angoon people return the boats and men and pay a fine of four hundred blankets in twenty-four hours or suffer bombing from the cutter's cannons. The following morning only 80 blankets were produced and Merriman proceeded to destroy the canoes on the beach, shell the houses and storehouses, and send a landing party in to loot and burn the remaining town.
The looting and burning of the storehouses destroyed most of the Angoon people's possessions and food they had put up for winter, and that year many people died of starvation. It took five years for the town to rebuild to the size it was before the bombing. This incident, concomitant with the gold rush in Juneau
Juneau, Alaska
The City and Borough of Juneau is a unified municipality located on the Gastineau Channel in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then-District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900...
, forced the US government to recognize the need for a formal Territorial Government to replace the martial law that had been in place since the Alaska Purchase.
The residents of Angoon have long held out for a formal apology for what they consider was undue terrorizing punishment for a cultural misunderstanding. In 1973 the US government offered a ninety thousand dollar settlement to the village of Angoon in response to the bombardment, but the government and the US Navy declined to offer a formal apology. In 1982, on the centennial of the bombing, Angoon held a memorial potlatch. Tlingit dignitaries from all across Southeast Alaska and Governor Jay Hammond attended. The people of Angoon formally made public their feelings and opinions on the matter, and demanded an apology from the US Navy. No representatives of the Navy attended, despite a formal invitation, and neither the Government or the Navy made an apology, despite repeated requests from the town government, the Tlingit tribal organizations, and representatives of the State of Alaska.
Alaska Native Brotherhood and recognizing rights
Two Tlingit brothers initially created the Alaska Native Brotherhood in 1912 in Sitka in order to pursue the privileges of whites in the area at the time. The Alaska Native Sisterhood followed. ANB and ANS now function as nonprofit organizations serving to assist in societal development and the preservation of Native culture, and ensure all people are treated equally.Elizabeth Peratrovich
Elizabeth Peratrovich
Elizabeth Peratrovich , Tlingit nation, was an important civil rights activist; she worked on behalf of equality for Alaska Natives...
was a renowned member of the ANS for whom in 1988 the State of Alaska designated a state holiday, February 16.
World War II
Aleuts were forcibly encamped by the United States government throughout Southeast Alaska during World War II.Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
Tlingits were an important driving force behind passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement ActAlaska Native Claims Settlement Act
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, commonly abbreviated ANCSA, was signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 23, 1971, the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve the long-standing issues surrounding aboriginal land claims in...
of December 18, 1971.