Indigenous peoples of the Subarctic
Encyclopedia
Indigenous peoples of the Subarctic are the aboriginal peoples the Subarctic
Subarctic
The Subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Alaska, Canada, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and northern Mongolia...

 regions of the Americas, located south of the true Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

. This region includes the interior of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, the Western Subarctic or western Canadian Shield
Canadian Shield
The Canadian Shield, also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien , is a vast geological shield covered by a thin layer of soil that forms the nucleus of the North American or Laurentia craton. It is an area mostly composed of igneous rock which relates to its long volcanic history...

 and Mackenzie River
Mackenzie River
The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...

 drainage area, and the Eastern Subarctic or Eastern Canadian Shield
Eastern Canadian Shield taiga
The Eastern Canadian Shield taiga is an ecoregion of Canada as defined by the World Wildlife Fund categorization system.-Setting:Located in northeastern Canada, this ecoregion covers a large part of northern Quebec and most of Labrador, reaching from Hudson Bay and James Bay in the west, across to...

. Peoples of subarctic Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

 and Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

 are sometimes included in the subarctic; however, Greenlandic Inuit are usually classified as Indigenous peoples of the Arctic
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...

.

Languages

Native subarctic peoples have over 30 languages, falling into two major language families: Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...

 and Athapaskan. Algonquian peoples tend to live in the east, while Athapaskan peoples live more in the west.

Arts and cultures

Caribou has traditionally played a central role in Subarctic culture. Besides providing food, caribou provides clothing, shelter, and tools, such as the babiche
Babiche
Babiche is a type of cord or lacing of rawhide or sinew traditionally made by American Indians.Babiche were used for all purposes for which Europeans would use string or rope, e.g...

 bag, made of caribou rawhide. Moosehair embroidery and porcupine quill embroidery are worked onto hides and birchbark. After introduction by Europeans, glass beads became popular and are sewn into floral designs.

List of indigenous peoples of the Subarctic

  • Ahtna
    Ahtna
    The Ahtna are one of the tribes of Athabaskan people in Alaska. The tribe's homeland is located in the Copper River area of southern Alaska, and the name Ahtna derives from the local name for the Copper River...

     (Ahtena, Nabesna)
  • Anishinaabe
    Anishinaabe
    Anishinaabe or Anishinabe—or more properly Anishinaabeg or Anishinabek, which is the plural form of the word—is the autonym often used by the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Algonquin peoples. They all speak closely related Anishinaabemowin/Anishinaabe languages, of the Algonquian language family.The meaning...

     - see also Northeast Woodlands
    • Oji-Cree (Anishinini, Severn Ojibwa), Ontario, Manitoba
    • Ojibwa
      Ojibwa
      The Ojibwe or Chippewa are among the largest groups of Native Americans–First Nations north of Mexico. They are divided between Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the third-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by Cree and Inuit...

       (Chippewa, Ojibwe), Ontario, Manitoba, Minnesota
    • Odawa (Ottawa)
  • Atikamekw
    Atikamekw
    The Atikamekw are the indigenous inhabitants of the area they refer to as Nitaskinan , in the upper Saint-Maurice River valley of Quebec , Canada. Their population currently stands at around 4500. One of the main communities is Manawan, about northeast of Montreal. They have a tradition of...

  • Bearlake
    Bearlake
    Bearlake may refer to:* a mainboard chipset* a language or tribe...

  • Chipewyan
    Chipewyan
    The Chipewyan are a Dene Aboriginal people in Canada, whose ancestors were the Taltheilei...

  • Cree
    Cree
    The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...

  • Dakelh
    Dakelh
    The Dakelh or Carrier are the indigenous people of a large portion of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada.Most Carrier call themselves Dakelh, meaning "people who go around by boat"...

    • Babine
      Babine
      In its broader sense, Babine refers to the Athabascan Indians who speak the Babine dialect of the Babine-Witsuwit'en language in the vicinity of the Babine River, Babine Lake, Trembleur Lake, and Takla Lake in the central interior of British Columbia, Canada....

    • Wet'suwet'en
      Wet'suwet'en
      Wet'suwet'en are a First Nations people who live on the Bulkley River and around Broman Lake and Francois Lake in the northwestern Central Interior of British Columbia...

  • Deg Hit’an
    Deg Hit’an
    Deg Hit’an is a group of Northern Athabascan peoples in Alaska. Their native language is called Deg Xinag. They reside in Alaska along the Anvik River in Anvik, along the Innoko River in Shageluk, and at Holy Cross along the lower Yukon River...

     (Deg Xinag, Degexit’an, Kaiyuhkhotana)
  • Dena’ina
    Dena’ina
    The Dena'ina are an Alaska Native people, an extended tribe of American Indian lineage. They are the original inhabitants of the southcentral Alaska region ranging from Seldovia in the south to Chickaloon in the northeast, Talkeetna in the north, Lime Village in the Northwest and Pedro Bay in the...

     (Dialects: Outer Inlet, Upper Inlet, Iliama, Inland
    Inland
    Inland is an area of land away from the coast or shore line. It usually refers to the interior part of a country or region.Inland may refer to:* Inland Fräkne Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden...

    , Kachemak Bay
    Kachemak Bay
    Kachemak Bay is a 64-km-long arm of Cook Inlet in the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southwest side of the Kenai Peninsula. The communities of Homer, Halibut Cove, Seldovia, Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Kachemak City are on the bay as well as three Old Believer settlements in the Fox River...

    , Kenai
    Kenai
    -Places:* Kenai, Alaska, a city in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska* Kenai Peninsula, a large peninsula in south-central Alaska* Kenai River, a river on the Kenai Peninsula* Kenai Mountains, a mountain range in Alaska* Kenai Fjords National Park...

    , Susitna River
    Susitna River
    The Susitna River is a long river in the Southcentral Alaska. It is the 15th largest river in the United States of America, ranked by average discharge volume at its mouth. The river stretches from the Susitna Glacier to Cook Inlet....

    )
  • Dunneza
    Dunneza
    The Dane-zaa are a First Nation of the large Athapaskan language group; their traditional territory is around the Peace River of the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, Canada...

     (Beaver)
  • Gwich'in (Kutchin, Loucheaux)
  • Hän
    Hän language
    The Hän language is a Native American endangered language spoken in only two places: Eagle, Alaska and Dawson City, Yukon. There are only a few fluent speakers left , all of them elderly....

  • Hare
  • Holikachuk
    Holikachuk
    Holikachuk are an Athabaskan people native to western Alaska. Their native territory includes the area surrounding the middle and upper Innoko River. Later in 1963 they moved to Grayling on the Yukon River.The Holikachuk call themselves Doogh Hit’an...

  • Innu
    Innu
    The Innu are the indigenous inhabitants of an area they refer to as Nitassinan , which comprises most of the northeastern portions of the provinces of Quebec and some western portions of Labrador...

    , Labrador
    Labrador
    Labrador is the distinct, northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle...

     and Quebec
    Quebec
    Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

    • Montagnais
    • Naskapi
      Naskapi
      The Naskapi are the indigenous Innu inhabitants of an area they refer to as Nitassinan, which comprises most of what other Canadians refer to as eastern Quebec and Labrador, Canada....

  • Kaska
    Kaska
    The Kaska or Kaska Dena are a First Nations people living mainly in northern British Columbia and the southeastern Yukon in Canada. The Kaska language originally spoken by the Kaska is an Athabaskan language....

     (Nahane
    Kaska
    The Kaska or Kaska Dena are a First Nations people living mainly in northern British Columbia and the southeastern Yukon in Canada. The Kaska language originally spoken by the Kaska is an Athabaskan language....

    )
  • Kolchan (Upper Kuskokwim)
  • Koyukon
    Koyukon
    The Koyukon are a group of Athabaskan people living in northern Alaska. Their traditional home is along the Koyukuk and Yukon rivers where they subsisted by hunting and trapping for thousands of years...

  • Mountain
  • Naskapi
    Naskapi
    The Naskapi are the indigenous Innu inhabitants of an area they refer to as Nitassinan, which comprises most of what other Canadians refer to as eastern Quebec and Labrador, Canada....

  • Sekani
    Sekani
    Sekani is the name of an Athabaskan First Nations people in the Northern Interior of British Columbia. Their territory includes the Finlay and Parsnip River drainages of the Rocky Mountain Trench. The neighbors of the Sekani are the Babine to the west, Dakelh to the south, Dunneza to the east, and...

  • Slavey
    Slavey
    The Slavey are a First Nations aboriginal people of the Dene group, indigenous to the Great Slave Lake region, in Canada's Northwest Territories, and extending into northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta....

     (Dialects: Hay River
    Hay River (Canada)
    Hay River is a large river in northern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories, Canada.It originates in the muskeg of north western Alberta, flows west to British Columbia, then returns to Alberta, where it follows a northern course towards the Northwest Territories, where it discharges in the...

    , Simpson Providence, Liard, Fort Nelson
    Fort Nelson River
    The Fort Nelson River is located in north-eastern British Columbia, Canada. It flows 517 km generally north-westward to the Liard River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River, which empties into the Arctic Ocean...

    )
  • Tagish
    Tagish
    The Tagish or Tagish Khwáan are a group of Athabaskan First Nation people that lived around Tagish Lake and Marsh Lake, in the Yukon Territory of Canada. Tagish people intermarried heavily with Tlingit people from the coast and the Tagish language is almost extinct...

  • Tahltan
    Tahltan
    Tahltan refers to a Northern Athabaskan people who live in northern British Columbia around Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake, and Iskut.-Social Organization:...

  • Lower Tanana
  • Middle Tanana
  • Upper Tanana
  • Tanacross
    Tanacross
    Tanacross may refer to:*Tanacross, an Athabascan language of Alaska*Tanacross, Alaska, a census-designated place...

  • Tasttine (Beaver)
  • Tli Cho
    Tli Cho
    The Tłįchǫ or Tåîchô First Nation, formerly known as the Dogrib, are a Dene Aboriginal Canadian people living in the Northwest Territories , Canada....

  • Inland Tlingit
  • Tsetsaut (extinct)
  • Tsilhqot'in
    Tsilhqot'in
    The Tsilhqot'in are a Northern Athabaskan First Nations people that live in British Columbia, Canada...

     (Chilcotin)
  • Northern Tutchone
    Northern Tutchone
    The Northern Tutchone are a First Nations people living mainly in the central Yukon in Canada. The Northern Tutchone language, originally spoken by the Northern Tutchone people, is a variety of the Tutchone language, part of the Athabaskan language family...

  • Southern Tutchone
    Southern Tutchone
    The Southern Tutchone are a First Nations people living mainly in the southern Yukon in Canada. The Southern Tutchone language, originally spoken by the Southern Tutchone people is a variety of the Tutchone language, part of the Athabaskan language family, although it may be argued that Northern...

  • Yellowknives
    Yellowknives
    The Yellowknives, Yellow Knives, Copper Indians, Red Knives or T'atsaot'ine are Aboriginal peoples of Canada, one of the five main groups of the Dene indigenous people that live in the Northwest Territories of Canada...



See also

  • Aboriginal peoples in Canada
    Aboriginal peoples in Canada
    Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative....

  • Alaska Natives
    Alaska Natives
    Alaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Aleut, Inuit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.-History:In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded...

  • Caribou
  • Hudson's Bay Company
    Hudson's Bay Company
    The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

  • Subarctic climate
    Subarctic climate
    The subarctic climate is a climate characterized by long, usually very cold winters, and short, cool to mild summers. It is found on large landmasses, away from the moderating effects of an ocean, generally at latitudes from 50° to 70°N poleward of the humid continental climates...

  • Alaska Native Storytelling
    Alaska Native Storytelling
    Alaska Native storytelling has been passed down through generations by means of oral presentation. The stories tell life lessons or serve as lessons in heritage. Many different aspects of arctic life are incorporated into each story, mainly the various animals found in Alaska...

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