Alaska
Ministry of Education of the Ukraine
Section: Area stadies
Topic: Alaska
Done by Lena Kozachenok
201 gr.
Kyev 1998
FROM THE LAND CALLED BERINGIA
Origins of Alaska’s Native Groups
No one knows exactly when people first found the land that would be
called Alaska.
Some anthropologists believe that people migrated from Asia to North
America as long as 40,000 years ago. Others argue it was as recent as
15,000 years ago.
Whenever, the consensus is that they came from Asia by way of a
northern land bridge that once connected Siberia and Alaska.
That land bridge, now recalled as Beringia, was the first gateway to
Alaska. But these first visitors were hardly tourists intent on exploring
new worlds. Rather they were simply pursuing their subsistence way of life
as they followed great herds of grazing mammals across the grassy tundra
and gentle steppes of Beringia.
They came sporadically through many millennia.. in waves of different
ethnic backgrounds/generations of people and animals..hunters and hunted.
As the Ice Age drew to an end and the seas claimed the land, these people
moved to higher and drier places--the land that, as the continents drifted
apart, would become Alaska.
Some groups settled in the Arctic. Others traversed the mountain
passes to other parts of Alaska. While still others migrated through
Alaska, continuing on to distant lands--perhaps as far as South America!
Those who made Alaska their permanent home make up the state’s four
major anthropological group: Eskimos, Aleuts, Athabascans, and Northwest
Coast Indians.
While all four groups shared certain basic similarities--all hunted,
fished and gathered food--they developed distinctive cultures and sets of
skills.
The Eskimos:
Flexible Residents of the Arctic
The Eskimos were primarily a coastal people, setting along the shores
of the Arctic and Bering seas.
For millennia they lived a simple, subsistence life--much as they
still do today--by harvesting the fish and mammals of the seas, the fruits
and game of the land. Somehow they learned how to thrive despite the
demanding conditions of the Arcitc.
Their sense of direction was keen, almost uncanny. Traveling in a
straight line, sometimes through snowstorms and whiteouts, they found their
way around the mostly featureless terrain by noting wind direction, the
position of the stars, the shape and size of a snowdrift.
And they were resourceful. In a land where the summer sun stays at eye-
level for weeks on end, never setting below the horizon, the Eskimos
fashioned the first sun-visor--which also doubled as a snowmask to protect
their eyes from the wind-driven snow!
The Athabascans:
Nomads of the Interior
Like the Eskimos, the Athabascans were skillful hunters, but they
depended more on large land mammals for their subsistence--tracking moose
and migrating caribou.
When it came to fishing, the Athabascans were absolutely ingenious,
snaring fish with hooks, lures, traps and nets that are the fascination of
modern day anglers who visit their camps.
Generally nomadic, they lived in small, simply organized bands of a
few families, and whenever possible pitched their camps in the sheltered
white spruce forests of the Interior. Some adventurous tribes, however,
wandered all the way to the Southwest United States to become kin to the
Navajos and Apaches.
Aleuts:
Born of the Sea
For the Aleuts, life centered around the sea as they distributed
themselves among the 70-some islands in the Aleutian chain across the North
Pacfic.
Life here was somewhat more benign that in the Arctic, though wind
storms were sometimes strong enough to blow rocks around!
Since their food supply was rich, varied and readily available, the
Aleuts had time to develop a complex culture. Evidence indicates that they
practiced surgery and that their elaborate burial rituals included
embalming. Instruments. utensils, even their boats (baidars) were made with
amazing beauty and exact symmetry. And everything was fashioned for a
specific purpose--the Aleuts used 30 different kinds of harpoon heads for
different species of game!
Skilled navigators and sailors, the Aleuts had the dubious distinction
of being the first to encounter the white man...Russian fur traders who
took them as slaves to harvest the fur seals in the Pribilofs.
The Northwest Coast Indians:
High Society of Alaska’s Southeast
The milder, more temperate climate and an unlimited supply of salmon
and other seafood’s enabled the Northwest Coast Indians to evolve a way of
life quite different from the Eskimos, Aleuts and Athabascans.
They settled in year-round permanent villages, took slaves, gave
lavish potlatches, and lived their lives according to the strict rules,
rituals, and regulations of their respective clans. Their artwork was
nothing less than masterful...beautiful blankets, finely woven cedarbark
and spruceroot baskets magnificent totem creations.
From the Russian Empire to the United States of America
[pic]
Treaty of Cession 15 Stat. 539 Treaty concerning the Cession of the
Russian Possessions in North America by his Majesty the Emperor of all the
Russias to the United States of America; Concluded March 30, 1867; Ratified
by the United States May 28, 1867; Exchanged June 20, 1867; Proclaimed by
the United States June 20, 1867. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Whereas, a treaty between the United States of
America and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias was concluded and
signed by their respective plenipotentiaries at the city of Washington, on
the thirtieth day of March, last, which treaty, being in the English and
French languages, is, word for word, as follows: The United States of
America and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, being desirous of
strengthening, if possible, the good understanding which exists between
them, have, for that purpose, appointed as their Plenipotentiaries: the
President of the United States, William H. Seward, Secretary of State; and
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the Privy Councillor Edward de
Stoeckl his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United
States. And the said Plenipotentiaries, having exchanged their full
powers, which were found to be in due form, have agreed upon and signed the
following articles: ARTICLE I His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias
agrees to cede to the United States, by this convention, immediately upon
the exchange of the ratifications thereof, all the territory and dominion
now possessed by his said Majesty on the continent of America and in the
adjacent islands, the same being contained within the geographical limits
herein set forth, to wit: The eastern limit is the line of demarcation
between the Russian and the British possessions in North America, as
established by the convention between Russia and Great Britain, of February
28 - 16, 1825, and described in Articles III and IV of said convention, in
the following terms: III. "Commencing from the southernmost point of the
island called Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in the parallel of
54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude, and between the 131st and the 133d
degree of west longitude (meridian of Greenwich,) the said line shall
ascend to the north along the channel called Portland channel, as far as
the point of the continent where it strikes the 56th degree of north
latitude; from this last-mentioned point, the line of demarcation shall
follow the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the coast as far as
the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude (of the
same meridian;) and finally, from the said point of intersection, the said
meridian line of the 141st degree, in its prolongation as far as the Frozen
ocean. IV. "With reference to the line of demarcation laid down in the
preceding article, it is understood - "1st. That the island called Prince
of Wales Island shall belong wholly to Russia," (now, by this cession, to
the United States.) "2nd. That whenever the summit of the mountains which
extend in a direction parallel to the coast from the 56th degree of north
latitude to the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude
shall prove to be at the distance of more than ten marine leagues from the
ocean, the limit between the British possessions and the line of coast
which is to belong to Russia as above mentioned (that is to say, the limit
to the possessions ceded by this convention) shall be formed by a line
parallel to the winding of the coast, and which shall never exceed the
distance of ten marine leagues therefrom." The western limit within which
the territories and dominion conveyed, are contained, passes through a
point in Behring's straits on the parallel of sixty-five degrees thirty
minutes north latitude, at its intersection by the meridian which passes
midway between the islands of Krusenstern, or Inaglook, and the island of
Ratmanoff, or Noonarbook, and proceeds due north, without limitation, into
the same Frozen ocean. The same western limit, beginning at the same
initial point, proceeds thence in a course nearly southwest through
Behring's straits and Behring's sea, so as to pass midway between the
northwest point of the island of St. Lawrence and the southeast point of
Cape Choukotski, to the meridian of one hundred and seventy-two west
longitude; thence, from the intersection of that meridian, in a
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