The Alaskan Athabascans , Alaskan Athapascans or Dena ( Russian : атабаски Аляски, атапаски Аляски ) are Alaska Native peoples of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. They are the original inhabitants of the interior of Alaska .
6-482: 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". 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
12-695: A matrilineal system in which children belong to the mother's clan, with the exception of the Yupikized Athabaskans (Holikachuk and Deg Hit'an). The Athabascan people hold potlatches which have religious, social and economic significance. Dogs were their only domesticated animal, but were and are an integral element in their culture for the Athabascan population in North America. Athabascans are descended from Asian hunter-gatherers, likely originally native to Mongolia , who crossed
18-485: The Bering Strait and settled in North America. Dene The Dene people ( / ˈ d ɛ n eɪ / ) are an Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal , subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term "Dene" has two uses: Dene are spread through a wide region. They live in
24-551: The Dene People decided to join the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) seeking recognition for their ancestral cultural and land rights. The largest population of Chipewyan language (Dënesųłinë́ or Dëne) speakers live in the northern Saskatchewan village of La Loche and the adjoining Clearwater River Dene Nation . In 2011 the combined population was 3389 people. The Dënesųłinë́ language
30-601: The Dene and the Inuit . In 1996, Dene and Inuit representatives participated in a healing ceremony at Bloody Falls to reconcile the centuries-old grievances. Behchokǫ̀ , Northwest Territories is the largest Dene community in Canada. The Dene include six main groups: Although the above-named groups are what the term "Dene" usually refers to in modern usage, other groups who consider themselves Dene include: In 2005, elders from
36-601: The Mackenzie Valley (south of the Inuvialuit ), and can be found west of Nunavut . Their homeland reaches to western Yukon , and the northern part of British Columbia , Alberta , Saskatchewan , Manitoba , Alaska and the southwestern United States. Dene were the first people to settle in what is now the Northwest Territories . In northern Canada, historically there were ethnic feuds between
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