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Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian Native American history - page 1 of 4

The Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian share a common and similar Northwest Coast Culture with important differences in language and clan system. Anthropologists use the term Northwest Coast Culture to define the Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures, as well as that of other peoples indigenous to the Pacific coast, extending as far as northern Oregon. The Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian have a complex social system consisting of moieties, phratries and clans. Eyak, Tlingit and Haida divide themselves into moieties, while the Tsimshian divide into phratries.

Although these four groups are neighbors, their spoken languages were not mutually intelligible. Eyak is a single language with only one living speaker. The Tlingit language has four main dialects: Northern, Southern, Inland and Gulf Coast with accent variations in each village. The Haida people speak an isolate language, Haida, with three dialects: Skidegate and Masset in British Columbia Canada, and the Kaigani dialect in Alaska. The Tsimshian people speak another isolate language, Sm’algyax, comprised of four main dialects: Coast Tsimshian, Southern Tsimshian, Nisga’a, and Gitksan.

Eyak occupied the lands in the southeastern corner of southcentral Alaska, running along the Gulf of Alaska from the Copper River Delta to Icy Bay. Oral tradition tells us that the Eyak moved down from the interior of Alaska via the Copper River or over the Bering Glacier during the 18th century. Previously, the Eyak were more closely associated with their Athabascan neighbors to the north than the North Coast Cultures.

Tlingit inhabit the Southeast panhandle of Alaska from Icy Bay in the north to the Dixon entrance in the south. Another Tlingit group, the Inland Tlingit people have occupied the area to the east inside the Canadian border dating back 10,000 years.

The original homeland of the Haida people is the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, Canada, some Haida migrated north to the Prince of Wales Island area within Alaska. This group is known as the “Kaigani” or Alaska Haidas, and the Kaigani Haida live primarily in two villages, Kasaan and the consolidated village of Hydaburg.

The original homeland of the Tsimshian stretched between the Nass and Skeena Rivers in British Columbia, Canada, and later also in Southeast Alaska’s Portland Canal area, villages at Hyder and Halibut Bay. Presently, the Tsimshian live primarily on Annette Island, New Metlakatla, Alaska and in Canadian settlements.

• Athabascans,
• Yup'ik and Cup'ik,
• Inupiaq and St. Lawrence Island Yupik people,
• Aleut and Alutiiq peoples,
• Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people.

Tlingit, Eyak, Haida and Tsimshian Native American history - page 2

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