History of the Tlingit facts for kids

The history of the Tlingit people is full of amazing stories and important events. It includes tales passed down through generations, like creation stories and the adventures of Raven. It also covers the time when Europeans first arrived and how the Tlingit people lived through many changes. Even today, the Tlingit keep their own records of their ancestors and the events that shaped their world.

Tlingit canoes in Alaska, 1887

Raven Tales: Stories of Creation

Raven Tales are special stories from the Tlingit culture. Many of these stories are shared with all Tlingit children. They are often funny, but some are serious. They teach important lessons about Tlingit values and how to live. Some of the most famous stories are about how the world was created.

The Raven stories often feature two different Raven characters. One Raven is the powerful creator, sometimes called the Owner of Daylight. The other Raven is more like a mischievous child. This Raven is often selfish, clever, tricky, and always hungry. These stories take place in a mythical time when the rules of our modern world didn't apply.

The Box of Daylight

One of the most popular Raven stories is about how he stole the stars, moon, and sun. Raven wanted light so he could admire himself or find food easily. He learned that a rich old man at the head of the Nass River had these lights in three special boxes.

Raven turned himself into a tiny hemlock needle. He floated into the water cup of the old man's daughter. She drank the water and became pregnant with Raven. The old man loved his new grandson very much.

Raven cried and cried until the old man gave him the box of stars. Raven played with it and opened the lid. The stars flew out through the chimney and into the sky! Later, Raven cried for the box of the moon. The old man gave it to him after blocking the chimney. Raven rolled the moon out the door, and it escaped into the sky.

Finally, Raven cried for the box of the sun. The old man gave it to him. Raven knew he couldn't roll it out or throw it up the chimney because he was being watched. So, he waited until everyone was asleep. He changed into his bird form, grabbed the sun in his beak, and flew out the chimney. Raven showed everyone his sun. When he opened the box, the sun flew up into the sky, where it has been ever since.

The Tlingit Migration Story

The Tlingit people have a special story about how they came to live in their lands. The story changes a little depending on who tells it. Some versions mention specific rivers and glaciers. Others describe how they connected with their neighbors who spoke Athabaskan languages.

In Tlingit culture, stories are like property. You usually need permission to share a story that belongs to a specific family or group. However, stories about the whole Tlingit people, like creation myths, can usually be shared freely. It's very important to tell these stories correctly to keep them accurate.

One version of the migration story begins with the Athabaskan people. They lived in interior Alaska and western Canada. This land had many lakes, rivers, birch, and spruce forests. Moose and caribou lived there. The weather was very harsh, with freezing winters and hot summers.

One year, the people didn't gather enough food. It was clear that many would starve in the winter. The elders decided to send explorers to find a rumored land rich in food. This first group was never heard from again.

Many people died that winter. The next summer, the food harvest was poor again. So, the elders sent another group of explorers. This group traveled a long way and climbed mountain passes. They found a huge glacier. The glacier seemed impossible to cross, and the mountains were too steep. But they saw how the glacier's meltwater flowed into deep cracks and disappeared under the ice.

The people thought strong young men should follow the river under the glacier. But an elderly couple volunteered instead. They said losing young men would be terrible, but they were near the end of their lives. The people agreed. The elders made a simple dugout canoe. They took it downriver under the glacier. On the other side, they found a rocky plain with thick forests and rich beaches. This was Lingít Aaní, the plentiful land that became the Tlingit home. The people followed the elders under the glacier, and these people became the first Tlingit.

Another idea about Tlingit migration is that they crossed the Beringia land bridge. The Tlingit were known for being strong and brave. They became a powerful coastal group. They traveled inland to trade with other groups, bringing goods from Russia. As Tlingit people married those from the interior, their culture became very important.

Tlingit Clan Histories

The main Tlingit groups are called yeil (raven), gooch (wolf), and ch'aak (eagle). The eagle and wolf groups are part of the same larger division. All Tlingit families, or clans, belong to one of these main groups.

Each clan has its own special history, which is usually kept within the clan and not shared widely. These stories describe the Tlingit world from different points of view. Together, they tell much of the Tlingit history before Europeans arrived.

A typical clan history tells about an amazing event that brought a family or group of families together. This event often separated them from other Tlingit groups. Some clans seem to be very old, and their histories are like myths. Newer clans often have stories about separating from other groups because of disagreements or a desire for new land.

European Contact with the Tlingit

Many European explorers visited Lingít Aaní, the Tlingit lands. They met the Tlingit people. Most of these meetings were peaceful. The Tlingit quickly saw how valuable European goods were for trading. They used this to their advantage in their early contacts.

Early European explorers were often impressed by the Tlingit's wealth. However, they sometimes thought the Tlingit had poor hygiene. Most explorers visited during the summer when the Tlingit lived in temporary camps. The few explorers who stayed through winter saw how clean their homes and villages were.

Here are some of the expeditions:

• Bering and Chirikov (1741): Vitus Bering and Aleksei Chirikov explored the coast. Chirikov met some Tlingit and then returned west.
• First Bucareli Expedition (1774): Juan Josef Pérez Hernández explored the coast and met the Tlingit. Drawings were made of Tlingit life before European settlement.
• Second Bucareli Expedition (1775): Bruno de Hezeta and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra led this trip. It's not clear if they met the Tlingit.
• James Cook (1778): Captain Cook used maps from earlier Spanish trips to explore the northwest coast of America. He was looking for the Northwest Passage.
• Third Bucareli Expedition (1779): Bodega y Quadra and Ignacia de Arteaga made contact and traded with the Tlingit around Bucareli Bay.
• Alessandro Malaspina (1791): Malaspina explored the Alaskan coast. His expedition met the Tlingit people of the Yakutat region.
• Other explorers included Potap Zaikov, La Pérouse (1786), George Dixon (1787), James Colnett (1788), Ismailov and Bocharov (1788), William Douglas (1788), and George Vancouver (1794).

The Fur-Trade Era

When Russians began settling in Tlingit lands in the 1790s, there was both peaceful trade and sometimes violent fights. A major conflict was the Battle of Sitka in 1804.

In 1852, Chilkat Tlingit warriors attacked and burned Fort Selkirk. This was a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company. The Chilkat people had been important middlemen in trade between the company and the Athapaskan people. They didn't want to be left out of this trade.

In 1855, an alliance of Tongass Tlingit and Haida raided Puget Sound. They were looking for people to capture. They faced the USS Massachusetts and other ships. The raiders had losses, including a Haida chief. The next year, they returned to get revenge. They chose Isaac N. Ebey, a high-ranking white man, to avenge the chief's death. Ebey was killed. The government tried to find his killer, but they couldn't.

American Military Rule

In March 1867, the United States bought Alaska from Russia. This was called the Alaska Purchase. The U.S. Army was put in charge of the new territory. Military rule lasted until 1884. This time was often confusing, sometimes violent, and unclear in terms of laws.

The Tlingit people were greatly affected by American military rule.

• Kake War (1869): The USS Saginaw destroyed three empty villages and two forts near Kake. This happened after two white trappers were killed by the Kake. The Kake were getting revenge for the death of two Kake people who were leaving Sitka. The Tlingit at Sitka had a standoff with the army. No Kake people died in the destruction of the villages, but losing their winter supplies, canoes, and homes led to deaths later that winter. The Kake did not rebuild these small villages.
• Wrangell Bombardment (1869): This began after a Stikine man named Lowan bit off a white woman's finger. Lowan and another Stikine were then killed by soldiers. Lowan's father, Scutd-doo, shot and killed a trading-post operator named Leon Smith. The army demanded Scutd-doo's surrender. After a bombardment, the villagers gave Scutd-doo to the military. He was executed. Before he died, Scutd-doo said he had avenged Lowan's death.
• Angoon Bombardment (1882): U.S. naval forces destroyed the Tlingit village of Angoon. Tlingit villagers had taken white hostages and property. They demanded blankets from a trading company after a Tlingit shaman died in an accident on a whaling ship. The hostages were released when the navy arrived. But the naval commander demanded more blankets. When the Tlingit didn't deliver enough, his forces destroyed the village. In 1973, the Angoon clans were given $90,000 for their destroyed property. The Angoon Tlingit still ask for an apology from the navy. The Governor of Alaska named the 100th anniversary of the bombardment "Tlingit Remembrance Day."

By the 1880s, the American government had hired Tlingit people to help police the local population, especially in Sitka. Some important Tlingit became police officers. However, their new legal authority sometimes clashed with traditional Tlingit ways of solving problems between clans.

Early Fishing Industry

The first American industrial fish canneries were built in Tlingit territory in 1878. They were in Klawock and Sitka. Some Tlingit sold fish to the canneries or worked processing fish. That summer, Tlingit leaders protested when Chinese workers arrived in Sitka. They worried these new workers would take their jobs. The American managers promised that the Chinese workers would only do jobs the Tlingit hadn't learned yet. If the Tlingit learned those skills, they would replace the Chinese workers.

Alaska Native Brotherhood and Recognition

Two Tlingit brothers started the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) in 1912 in Sitka. Their goal was to gain the same rights and opportunities that white people had at the time. The Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS) was formed later. Both the ANB and ANS are groups that help with community development, preserving native culture, and achieving equality.

Elizabeth Peratrovich was an ANS member. Alaska celebrates a state holiday for her on February 16. Her brother-in-law, Frank Peratrovich, was president of the Native Brotherhood. He was of Tlingit and Serbian descent. Serbian and Montenegrin immigrants married Tlingit people in the 1800s because they shared the same religion. The St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Juneau was built by a group of Orthodox Tlingit and Serbs.

World War II and Code Talkers

During World War II, some Aleut people were held in camps by the U.S. government at Funter Bay.

In 2008, the Code Talkers Recognition Act showed that speakers of several Native American languages served as code talkers. These brave individuals used their native languages to send secret messages during the war. Among them were five Tlingit men: Richard Bean Sr., Robert "Jeff" David Sr., Mark Jacobs Jr., Harvey Jacobs, and George Lewis Jr.

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and Today

The Tlingit people played a big part in the creation of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). President Richard Nixon signed this important law on December 18, 1971.

Some Tlingit people live inland in Atlin, British Columbia, and in the Yukon communities of Whitehorse, Carcross, and Teslin. Coastal Tlingit also live in Alaska. Every two years, the inland and coastal Tlingit celebrate their culture. Juneau hosts the celebration in even-numbered years, and Teslin hosts in odd-numbered years. These celebrations include traditional performances, cultural demonstrations, feasts, games, canoeing, children's activities, an artists' market, and food vendors.