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The Tlingit or Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , "Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs" (January 28, 2022), 87 FR 4636 they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized Tribes of Alaska.Pritzker, 162 Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; however, some are First Nations in Canada.
Their mother tongue is the Tlingit language, "Lingít Yoo X'atángi: The Tlingit Language." Sealaska Heritage Institute. (retrieved 3 December 2009) a Na-Dene language. Tlingit people today belong to several federally recognized Alaska Native tribes including the Angoon Community Association, Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes, Chilkat Indian Village, Chilkoot Indian Association, Craig Tribal Association, Hoonah Indian Association, Ketchikan Indian Corporation, Klawock Cooperative Association, the Organized Village of Kasaan, the Organized Village of Kake, the Organized Village of Saxman, Petersburg Indian Association, Skagway Village, the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe, and the Wrangell Cooperative Association. Some citizens of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation in Yukon and the Sitka Tribe of Alaska are of Tlingit heritage. Taku people are enrolled in the Douglas Indian Association in Alaska and the Taku River Tlingit First Nation in Canada.
The Tlingit have a matrilineal kinship system, with children born into the mother's clan, and property and hereditary roles passing through the mother's line.Pritzker, 210 Their culture and society developed in the temperate rainforest of the southeast coast and the Alexander Archipelago. The Tlingit have maintained a complex hunter-gatherer culture based on semi-sedentary management of fisheries.Moss, p. 27 Hereditary slavery was practiced extensively until it was outlawed by the United States Government. The Inland Tlingit live in the far northwestern part of the province of British Columbia and the southern Yukon in Canada.
Inland, the Tlingit occupied areas along the major rivers that pierce the Coast Mountains and Saint Elias Mountains and flow into the Pacific, including the Alsek River, Tatshenshini, Chilkat River, Taku River, and Stikine River rivers. With regular travel up these rivers, the Tlingit developed extensive trade networks with Athabascan tribes of the interior, and commonly intermarried with them. From this regular travel and trade, a few relatively large populations of Tlingit settled around Atlin Lake, Teslin Lake, and , whose headwaters flow from areas near the headwaters of the Taku River.
Delineating the current territory of the Tlingit is complicated because they live in both Canada and the United States, they lack designated reservations, other complex legal and political concerns make the situation confusing, and their population is highly mobile. They also share territory with Athabascan such as the Tahltan, Kaska, and Tagish. In Canada, the Interior Tlingit communities, such as Atlin, British Columbia (Taku River Tlingit), Taku River Tlingit Teslin, Yukon (Teslin Tlingit Council), and Carcross, Yukon (Carcross/Tagish First Nation) have Indian reserve.
Tlingits in Alaska lack Indian reservations because the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) established regional corporations throughout Alaska with complex portfolios of land ownership rather than bounded reservations administered by Tribal Governments. The corporation in the Tlingit region is Sealaska Corporation, which serves the Tlingit, Haida people, and Tsimshian in Alaska.
Tlingit people participate in the commercial economy of Alaska, and typically live in privately owned housing and land. Many also possess land allotments from Sealaska or from earlier distributions predating ANCSA. Their current residences are within their historical homelands. Land around Yakutat, south through the Alaskan Panhandle, to the lakes in interior Yukon, as being Lingít Aaní, the Land of the Tlingit.
The extant Tlingit territory can be roughly divided into four major sections, paralleling ecological, linguistic, and cultural divisions:
These categories reflect differences in cultures, food harvesting, and dialects. Tlingit groups trade among themselves with neighboring communities. These academic classifications are supported by similar self-identification among the Tlingit.
Tlingit society is divided into two moieties, the Raven and the Eagle. These in turn are divided into numerous clans, which are subdivided into lineages or house groups. They have a matrilineal kinship system, with descent and inheritance passed through the mother's line. These groups have heraldic crests, which are displayed on , , feast dishes, house posts, weavings, jewelry, and other art forms. The Tlingits pass down at.oow or blankets that represented trust. Only a Tlingit can inherit one but they can also pass it down to someone they trust, who becomes responsible for caring for it but does not rightfully own it.
Like other Northwest Coast native peoples, the Tlingit did practice hereditary slavery.
Between 1886 and 1895, in the face of their shamans' inability to treat Old World diseases including smallpox, many Tlingit people converted to Orthodox Christianity.Boyd, 241 Russian Orthodox missionaries had translated their liturgy into the Tlingit language. It has been argued that they saw Eastern Orthodox Christianity as a way of resisting assimilation to the "American way of life", which was associated with Presbyterianism.Kan, Sergei. 1999. Memory eternal: Tlingit culture and Russian Orthodox Christianity through two centuries. P.xix-xxii After the introduction of Christianity, the Tlingit belief system began to erode.
Today, some young Tlingits look back towards their traditional tribal religions and worldview for inspiration, security, and a sense of identity. While many elders converted to Christianity, contemporary Tlingit "reconcile Christianity and the 'traditional culture.'"Sergei, 42
Tlingit has an estimated 200 to 400 native speakers in the United States and 100 speakers in Canada. The speakers are bilingual or near-bilingual in English. Tribes, institutions, and linguists are expending extensive effort into revitalization programs in Southeast Alaska to revive and preserve the Tlingit language and its culture. Sealaska Heritage Institute, Goldbelt Heritage Institute and the University of Alaska Southeast have Tlingit language programs, and community classes are held in Klukwan and Angoon.
Halibut, shellfish, and seaweed traditionally provided food in the spring, while late spring and summer bring Pinniped and salmon. Summer is a time for gathering wild and tame berries, such as salmonberry, soap berry, and Ribes. "Sealaska – Programs – Language – Culture – Curriculum – Tlingit." Sealaska Heritage Institute. (retrieved 3 December 2009) In fall, are hunted. Herring and eulachon are also important staples, that can be eaten fresh or dried and stored for later use. Fish provide meat, oil, and eggs. Sea mammals, such as sea lions and sea otters, are used for food and clothing materials. In the forests near their homes, Tlingit hunted deer, bear, mountain goats and other small mammals.
Tribes or ḵwáans
G̱alyáx̱ Ḵwáan Salmon Stream Tribe Yakataga-Controller Bay area Kaliakh Xunaa Ḵáawu Tribe or People from the Direction of the North Wind Hoonah Hoonah people S'awdáan Ḵwáan From S'oow ('jade') daa (around), aan (land/country/village) because the bay is the color of jade all around Sedum Sumdum Tʼaḵjik.aan Ḵwáan: Coast Town Tribe northern Prince of Wales Island Tuxekan Laax̱aayík Kwáan: Inside the Glacier People Yakutat area Yakutat Tʼaaḵu Ḵwáan: Geese Flood Upriver Tribe Taku Taku Tlingit, Taku people Xutsnoowú (a.k.a. Xudzidaa) Ḵwáan Brown Bear Fort a.k.a. Burnt Wood Tribe Angoon Hootchenoo people, Hoochenoo, Kootznahoo Hinyaa Ḵwáan Tribe From Across The Water Klawock Henya, Hanega G̱unaax̱oo Ḵwáan Among The Athabascans Tribe Dry Bay Gunahoo people, Dry Bay people Deisleen Ḵwáan: Big Sinew Tribe Teslin Teslin Tlingit, Teslin people, Inland Tlinkit Shee Tʼiká (a.k.a. Sheetʼká) Ḵwáan Outside Edge of a Branch Tribe Sitka Sitka, Shee Atika Shtaxʼhéen Ḵwáan Bitter Water Tribe Wrangell Stikine people, Stikine Tlingit Séet Ká Ḵwáan People of the Fast Moving Water Petersburg Séet Ká Ḵwáan Jilḵáat Ḵwáan From Chaal ('food cache') xhaat ('salmon') khwaan ('dwellers'): Salmon Cache Tribe Klukwan Chilkat people Áa Tlein Ḵwáan Big Lake Tribe Atlin Taku River Tlingit, Inland Tlinkit Ḵéex̱ʼ Kwáan Dawn Tribe Kake Kake people Taantʼa Ḵwáan Sea Lion Tribe Fort Tongass (formerly) & Ketchikan (today) Tongass people Jilḵoot Ḵwáan Chilkoot Tribe Haines Chilkoot people Áakʼw Ḵwáan Small Lake Tribe Auke Bay Auke people Kooyu Ḵwáan Stomach Tribe Kuiu Island Kuiu people Saanyaa Ḵwáan Southward Tribe Cape Fox Village (formerly) & Saxman (today) Saanya Kwaan, owns Saxman Corporation, which owns Cape Fox Corporation
Culture
The Tlingit culture is multifaceted and complex, a characteristic of Northwest Pacific Coast people with access to easily exploited rich resources. In Tlingit culture a heavy emphasis is placed upon family and kinship, and on a rich oratory tradition. Wealth and economic power are important indicators of rank, but so is generosity and proper behavior, all signs of "good breeding" and ties to aristocracy. Art and spirituality are incorporated in nearly all areas of Tlingit culture, with even everyday objects such as spoons and storage boxes decorated and imbued with spiritual power and historical beliefs of the Tlingits.
Philosophy and religion
Tlingit thought and belief, although never formally codified, was historically a fairly well organized philosophical and religious system whose basic axioms shaped the way Tlingit people viewed and interacted with the world around them. Tlingits were traditionally , and hunters ritually purified themselves before hunting animals. , primarily men, cured diseases, influenced weather, aided in hunting, predicted the future, and protected people against witchcraft.Pritzker, 209–210 A central tenet of the Tlingit belief system is the reincarnation of both humans and animals.
Language
The Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska and Western Canada speak the Tlingit language (Lingít ), which is a branch of the Na-Dené language family. Lingít has a complex grammar and sound system and also uses certain phonemes unheard in almost any other language.
Housing
Tlingit tribes historically built plank houses made from cedar and today call them clanhouses; these houses were built with a foundation such that they could store their belongings under the floors. It is said that these plank houses had no adhesive, nails, or any other sort of fastening devices. Clan houses were usually square or rectangular in shape and had front facing designs and totem poles to represent to which clan and moiety the makers belonged.
Economy
Many Tlingit men work in the fishing industry while women are employed at canneries or in the local handicraft industry. These handicrafts include items like wood carvings and woven baskets which are sold for practical or tourist consumption. (2025). 9780756605209, Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 9780756605209
History
Various cultures of indigenous people have continuously occupied the Alaska territory for thousands of years, leading to the Tlingit. Human culture with elements related to the Tlingit originated around 10,000 years ago near the mouths of the Skeena River and . The historic Tlingit's first contact with Europeans came in 1741 with Russian explorers. Spanish explorers followed in 1775. Tlingits maintained their independence but suffered from epidemics of smallpox and other infectious diseases brought by the Europeans.Pritzker, 209 The 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic killed about 60% of the Mainland Tlingit and 37% of the Island Tlingit.
Food
Food is a central part of Tlingit culture, and the land is an abundant provider. Most of the richness of intertidal life found on the beaches of Southeast Alaska can be harvested for food. Though eating off the beach could provide a fairly healthy and varied diet, eating nothing but "beach food" is considered contemptible among the Tlingit and a sign of poverty. Indeed, shamans and their families were required to abstain from all food gathered from the beach, and men might avoid eating beach food before battles or strenuous activities in the belief that it would weaken them spiritually and perhaps physically as well. Thus for both spiritual reasons as well as to add some variety to the diet, the Tlingit harvest many other resources for food besides those they easily find outside their front doors. No other food resource receives as much emphasis as salmon; however, Pinniped and game are both close seconds.
Genetics
Genetic analyses of HLA I and HLA II genes as well as HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 gene frequencies links the Ainu people of Japan to some Indigenous peoples of the Americas, especially to populations on the Pacific Northwest Coast such as Tlingit. The scientists suggest that the main ancestor of the Ainu and of the Tlingit can be traced back to Paleolithic groups in Southern Siberia.
Notable Tlingit people
See also
Notes
Further reading
Andrei Val'terovich Grinev (2025). 9780803205383, University of Nebraska Press. . ISBN 9780803205383
(2025). 9780965900904, Heritage Research. ISBN 9780965900904
(2025). 9781550547825, Douglash & MicIntyre, University of Washington Press. ISBN 9781550547825
External links
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