A Little Alaska Native Info

Alaska's Native people are divided into three ethnic groups, eleven distinct cultures, speak twenty different languages, live in five geographical locations in Alaska, in 200 villages and communities, and make up nearly 20% of the total population of Alaska.

There are three types of Alaskan Natives

There are three types of Alaskan Natives with different cultural and linquistic history. They are Indian, Eskimo and Aleut.

The terms “Inuit” and “Native American” are sometimes used in place of “Eskimo” and “Indian” in an effort to be politically correct, but in Alaska, Eskimo and Indian are not generally considered derogatory terms.

The term "Alaskan natives" came into use with the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, but the term "alaskan native culture includes all three ethnic groupings.
Footnote:
Above was taken from http://www.timelineindex.com/content/view/2395




Alaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Inupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.

In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded. In 1971 Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which settled land and financial claims, and provided for the establishment of 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations to administer those claims. Similar to the status of the Canadian Inuit and First Nations, which are recognized as distinct peoples, Alaska Natives are in some respects treated separately from Native Americans in the United States. An example of this separate treatment is that Alaska Natives are allowed the harvesting of whales and other marine mammals under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.

In addition, Alaska Natives were not given title to land under the Dawes Act but were instead treated under the Alaska Native Allotment Act until it was repealed in 1971. Another characteristic difference is that Alaska Native tribal governments do not have the power to collect taxes for business transacted on tribal land, per the United States Supreme Court decision in Alaska v. Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government because Alaska Natives (except for Tsimshians) do not hold reservations.

CULTURES:
Below is a full list of the different Alaska Native cultures. Within each culture are many different tribes.

Athabascan
--Ahtna
--Deg Hit’an
--Dena'ina
--Gwich’in
--Hän
--Holikachuk
--Kolchan
--Koyukon
--Lower Tanana
--Tanacross
--Upper Tanana
Eyak
Haida
Tlingit
Tsimshian
Eskimo
--Inupiat (an Inuit people)
--Yupik
----Siberian Yupik
----Yup'ik
------Cup'ik
----Sugpiaq (Alutiiq)
------Chugach
------Koniag
Aleut (in their own language they refer to themselves as Unangan)
Alutiiq

Footnote:
Above was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Natives