17 Facts About Tlingit

Tlingit are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America.

Tlingit have a matrilineal kinship system, with children considered born into the mother's clan, and property and hereditary roles passing through the mother's line.

The Tlingit maintained a complex hunter-gatherer culture based on semi-sedentary management of fisheries.

Greatest territory historically occupied by the Tlingit extended from the Portland Canal along the present border between Alaska and British Columbia, north to the coast just southeast of the Copper River delta in Alaska.

The Tlingit occupied almost all of the Alexander Archipelago, except the southernmost end of Prince of Wales Island and its surroundings, where the Kaigani Haida moved just before the first encounters with European explorers.

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Inland, the Tlingit occupied areas along the major rivers that pierce the Coast Mountains and Saint Elias Mountains and flow into the Pacific, including the Alsek, Tatshenshini, Chilkat, Taku, and Stikine rivers.

From this regular travel and trade, a few relatively large populations of Tlingit settled around Atlin, Teslin, and Tagish Lakes, whose headwaters flow from areas near the headwaters of the Taku River.

Delineating the modern territory of the Tlingit is complicated because they are spread across the border between the United States and Canada, they lack designated reservations, other complex legal and political concerns make the situation confusing, and there is a relatively high level of mobility among the population.

The corporation in the Tlingit region is Sealaska Corporation, which serves the Tlingit as well as the Haida and Tsimshian in Alaska.

Tlingit culture is multifaceted and complex, a characteristic of Northwest Pacific Coast people with access to easily exploited rich resources.

Tlingit society is divided into two moieties, the Raven and the Eagle.

Tlingit thought and belief, although never formally codified, was historically a fairly well organized philosophical and religious system whose basic axioms shaped the way Tlingit people viewed and interacted with the world around them.

Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska and Western Canada speak the Tlingit language, which is a branch of the Na-Dene language family.

Tlingit has an estimated 200 to 400 native speakers in the United States and 100 speakers in Canada.

Human culture with elements related to the Tlingit originated around 10, 000 years ago near the mouths of the Skeena and Nass Rivers.

Food is a central part of Tlingit culture, and the land is an abundant provider.

The scientists suggest that the main ancestor of the Ainu and of the Tlingit can be traced back to Paleolithic groups in Southern Siberia.