Alaska Travel

Alaska Travel

Discover the Diversity of Alaska Native Heritage

There is much to know about Alaska Native Heritage and this makes any visit to Alaska easier to understand and appreciate. I learned some of this before making my way to this northern part of the world and discover more every time I visit there.

Alaska Native Heritage is represented in the lives of Native Alaskans who live in every part of Alaska and are identified in five geographical areas.  They belong to one of eleven different cultures and speak the same number of languages in around twenty two different dialects.

The houses, community living, culture, subsistence patterns, trade, clothing, tools, transportation and beliefs and ceremonies in each of their geographical areas reflect their environment and differ from one area to the other.

The Inupiaq and the St. Lawrence Island Yupik People continue to live in an extreme climate on the land and sea of the vast north and northwest Alaska. Their lives and subsistence and survival continue to evolve around the whale, walrus, seal, polar bear, caribou and fish.

The Athabascan People originally lived in Interior Alaska, south of the Brooks Mountain Range and down to the Kenai Peninsula along Alaska’s five major river ways. They migrated seasonally in small groups to fish, hunt and trap. Athabascans learn to respect for all living things and sharing underlies their social and subsistence practices.

The Yup'ik and Cup'ik People live in Alaska’s southwest region. They still fish, hunt and gather food. Their social culture and behavior revolved around survival and compatibility within family-village groups. Traditionally, the Yup’ik and Cup’ik people were very mobile. They followed migratory game, fish and plants.

The Aleut and Alutiiq People originated from the south and southwest Alaska. They are maritime peoples along and inland from the North Pacific and Bering Sea. Their lives revolve around the resources in the sea and the intensity of the weather there. These cultures were strongly influenced by the arrival of the Russians from the 18th century.

The Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian are part of a culture that stretches along the Pacific coast from as far south as northern Oregon. These people all have a complex social system consisting of moieties, phratries and clans. The region from the Copper River Delta to the Southeast Panhandle and the original inhabitants of this area depended upon the ocean and rivers for their food and travel.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage is a center connects local residents and visitors to Native Alaska values and languages through programs that preserve Alaska Native traditions for future generations. It does this through dance, singing, storytelling, exhibits, demonstrations and tours and is open daily May through September. For me, visiting this center has been a key to unlocking the historical and present day Alaska native heritage and to understanding how this underpins Alaska’s developing culture.

If you'd like to read more about what draws us to continue our Alaskan travels whenever we think we should stop, read our other articles on this website and go to our blog at www.mightydigitaldownloads.com

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