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The Alaskan Athabascans,[2][3][4][5][6][7] Alaskan Athapascans[8]orDena[9] (Russian: атабаски Аляски, атапаски Аляски)[10] are Alaska Native peoples of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. They are the original inhabitants of the interior of Alaska.[citation needed]
Former Gwichʼin grand chief Clarence Alexander in 2004
| |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 6,400[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Alaska | |
| Languages | |
| Northern Athabaskan languages, American English (Alaskan variant), Russian (historically) | |
| Religion | |
| Shamanism (largely ex), Christianity |
Formerly they identified as a people by the word Tinneh (nowadays Dena; cf. Dene for Canadian Athabaskans). Taken from their own language, it means simply "men" or "people".[11]
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In Alaska, where they are the oldest, there are eleven groups identified by the languages they speak. These are:
The Alaskan Athabascan culture is an inland creek and river fishing (also coastal fishing by only Dena'ina of Cook Inlet) and hunter-gatherer culture. The Alaskan Athabascans have a matrilineal system in which children belong to the mother's clan, with the exception of the Yupikized Athabaskans (Holikachuk and Deg Hit'an).[12]
The Athabascan people hold potlatches which have religious, social and economic significance.[8]
Dogs were their only domesticated animal, but were and are an integral element in their culture for the Athabascan population in North America.[13]
Athabascans are descended from Asian hunter-gatherers, likely originally native to Mongolia, who crossed the Bering Strait and settled in North America.[14]
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These words do not explain why the Athapaskans initially left their home somewhere in Asia, probably Mongolia, to settle in cold country just south of the Arctic Circle.