Athapaskan Facts Total Population 50,000 Arctic Homelands Alaska & Canada Origins Siberia, 10,000 years ago Languages Athapaskan Traditional Activities Fishing, hunting, wood crafts Religion Animistic Did you know? Many northern Athapaskans now call themselves Dene which means 'human beings'. Moose and caribou are especially important for many Athapaskan communities in providing a year-round source of meat. Athapaskan society is well known for its potlatch, a ceremony which honors the connection between ancestors and the living. Contact with British and Russian explorers, fur traders, and missionaries have had a profound impact on traditional Athapaskan culture. Though influenced heavily by American society, Athapaskan hunters often still spend their summers in remote hunting camps in search of game.

Athapaskan People

The Athapaskan territory covers a huge expanse of coniferous boreal forest stretching across interior Alaska, parts of the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories of Canada, and down across the Arctic Circle into British Columbia. Having continuously inhabited the land for several thousand years, Athapaskan society exemplifies how humans can maintain a sustainable coexistence with their environment. Subsisting on the rich natural resources provided by the northern boreal forest, they have developed a deep respect for both the land and its animals.

Most archaeologists believe that Athapaskan-speaking peoples crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska about 10,000 years ago as the vast ice sheets of the Pleistocene period receded. Traveling eastward across the continent they encountered a landscape very similar to the one that exists today.

Traditionally and in modern times, life in Athapaskan communities has revolved around annual cycles of hunting, trapping, fishing, and gathering depending on the availability of food supplies. Salmon fishing, caribou and moose hunting, and in coastal communities, hunting marine mammals, such as seals and whales are the predominant activities. Social organization in traditional Athapaskan communities is based around kinship ties, with various connections and alliances structured around a central (or nuclear) family.

Much of Athapaskan history is preserved in stories and passed down through the generations. This rich oral heritage is spiritually-based and portrays a world where everything is interconnected. Most aspects of the natural world are embodied with human elements. In Athapaskan mythology, the raven is central to their beliefs about the origins of the world.

Dramatic change has swept through Athapaskan culture over the last 100 years. Policies of modernization and assimilation together with mandatory schooling has resulted in a loss of traditional skills and values. Land claims in Canada and Alaska, however, are helping Athapaskans retain and promote their cultural heritage and enabling a measure of self-determination.