Tlingit Indian Tribe
By Nataly and Leah
Pacific Northwest Coast
The Tlingit Indians were originally from the Pacific Northwest Coast. They lived in Southern Alaska, in British Columbia and in the Yukon in Canada. They lived in rectangular cedar plank houses with bark roofs up to 100 feet long. It holds several families as many as 50. Now the houses are used for ceremonial purposes. The Tlingit are not nomadic they stay in the same areas.
Languages
The language that the Tlingit Indians spoke was very confusing. For example gunalch (gu-nall-chaish) means thank you. They have 24 sounds that are not found in the English language. Tlingit Natives mostly speak English now.
Religion
They believed in the creator kah-shu-goon-yah. Primordial grandfather divisible man. They believed he controlled the sun ,moon, stars, and daylight. Little more is known of him.
Food
The Tlingit Indians were fisherman,hunters and gatherers. The sea animals they fished/hunted are fish and sea mammals. The ground animals they hunted were deer,mountain goats, and birds. The more inland Tlingit Indians hunted caribou and moose. Women gathered shellfish,seaweed,berries,and fruits.
Clothing
The ceremonial dress includes carved masks,weapons and Chilikat robes. Some robes are fringed,fur trimmed and multicolored. The designs depict animals significant to the family and town. They use to wear hats made of roots.
Weapons
Their main weapons are bow and arrows. They used for war and hunting or both.
Enemies and Allies
The enemies of the Tlingit were the Europeans and the allies were the Sitka
Totem Poles
Ancient tradition of Indian Tribes. People say that Native Americans did not make totem poles at all before the Europeans came.
Wars
Northwest Coast Tribes often fought with each other frequently over raiding each others land.
Europeans arrived in Tlingit in 1741, so they sent a boatload of men near Sitka. They didn't return so they sent another boatload. After the contact was limited till the 1800's.
Russian invaders invaded Aleut people and started moving south towards the Tlingit.