The history of the Tlingit includes pre- and post-contact events and stories. Tradition-based history includes creation stories, the Raven Cycle, migration stories of arrival in , and individual clan histories. Tlingit historical knowledge is preserved through oral tradition, clan property, place names, ceremonial practice and later written records. More recent accounts describe events near the time of the first contact with Europeans. European and American historical records come into play at that point; modern Tlingit also maintain their own records of ancestors and events important to them against the background of a changing world.
Raven Tales Raven Tales are a major part of Tlingit oral tradition. Although the tales are associated with the Raven moiety, many are shared by any Tlingit regardless of clan affiliation and make up some of the stories told to children. Raven Cycle stories are often shared anecdotally, the telling of one inspiring the telling of another. Many are humorous; some are serious, imparting Tlingit morality and ethics, and others belong to specific clans and may only be shared with permission. Some of the most popular are Pacific Northwest tribal creation myths.
The Raven Cycle stories often present Raven in different roles, although most storytellers do not clearly distinguish them. One role is the creator, Raven, who is sometimes identical to the Owner of Daylight. Another is the childish Raven: selfish, sly, conniving, and hungry. Comparing several stories reveals logical inconsistencies between the two, which is usually explained by their setting in a mythical place and time in which the rules of the modern world did not apply.
The Box of Daylight The most familiar story is The Box of Daylight, in which Raven steals the stars, the moon, and the sun from Naas-sháki Yéil (or Naas-sháki Shaan, the old man of the raven tribe at the head of the Nass River). The old man is wealthy, and owns three boxes which contain the stars, the moon, and the sun. Raven wants them for a variety of reasons (such as wanting to admire himself in the light or wanting light to find food easily), transforms himself into a hemlock needle and drops into the water cup belonging to the old man's daughter while she picks berries. She becomes pregnant with him, and gives birth; the old man dotes on his grandson. Raven cries constantly, until the old man gives him the box of stars to pacify him. Raven, playing with it, opens the lid; the stars escape through the chimney into the sky. He later begins crying for the box of the moon, and the old man gives it to him after blocking the chimney. Raven plays with it, rolls it out the door and it escapes into the sky. Raven finally begins crying for the box of the sun, and the old man gives it to him. Knowing that he cannot roll it out the door or toss it up the chimney (because he is being watched), he waits until everyone is asleep, changes into his bird form, grasps the sun in his beak and flies out the chimney. Raven shows the others his sun; when he opens the box the sun flies up into the sky, where it has been ever since.
Tlingit migration The Tlingit tell a story, with slight variations, of how they came to their lands. The story varies primarily in location, with some versions referring to specific rivers and glaciers; one describes the relationship with their inland Athabaskan-speaking neighbors.
Stories are considered property in Tlingit culture, and sharing a story without its owners' permission is a breach of Tlingit law. Songs, stories, designs, personal names and land may belong to particular clans or houses. Stories about the Tlingit people as a whole, the creation myths and other universal records, however, are usually considered the property of the tribe and may be shared without restriction. It is important that the details be correct, to preserve the story's accuracy.
One version begins with the Athabaskan (Ghunanaa) people of interior Alaska and western Canada: a land of lakes and rivers, of birch and spruce forests, moose and caribou. Life in its continental climate was harsh, with bitterly cold winters and hot summers. One year the people had a poor harvest, and it was obvious that the winter would bring many deaths from starvation. The elders gathered and decided that a group of explorers would be sent to find a land rumored to be rich in food, a place where one did not have to hunt.
Over the winter, many people died. The next summer's harvest was poor, again threatening the people, and the elders again decided to send explorers to find the land of abundance. This group traveled a long distance, climbing mountain passes to find a huge glacier. The glacier seemed impassable, and the mountains around it were much too steep for the people to cross. They could, however, see how the glacial meltwater flowed down into deep crevasses and disappeared under its icy bulk. The people decided that strong, young men should be sent to follow the river and see if it emerged on the other side of the mountains. Before the men left, however, an elderly couple volunteered to make the trip; the loss of strong young men would be devastating, they reasoned, but the couple were near the end of their lives. The people agreed that the elders should travel under the glacier. They made a simple dugout canoe, took it downriver under the glacier, and came out to see a rocky plain with deep forests and rich beaches. The people followed them under the glacier and came to Lingít Aaní: the rich, bountiful land which became the Tlingit home. These people were the first Tlingit.
Another theory of Tlingit migration is that they crossed the Beringia land bridge. Tlingit trade networks connected coastal communities with inland Athabaskan-speaking peoples, and Tlingit traders acted as middlemen who brought coastal and later Russian goods inland over routes such as the Chilkoot Trail to the Yukon and northern British Columbia.
Early occupation and economy Archaeological and oral historical evidence indicate a long Tlingit presence in Southeast Alaska. The National Park Service has reported archaeological sites in Sitka National Historical Park associated with occupation by prehistoric Native Americans and their descendants, including the Sitka Tlingit and Kiks.ádi, from about 2,600 years ago to the modern period. Kiks.ádi oral histories also connect the clan to Sitka from the time of an eruption of Mount Edgecumbe.
Tlingit life depended on maritime and riverine resources, including salmon, halibut, herring, cod, sea mammals, land mammals and berries. Tlingit people used large cedar canoes, fish traps and drying techniques, and clan groups maintained rights to particular fishing places. Coastal products were traded inland for goods such as caribou skins, fox furs, jade and copper.
Clan histories The main Tlingit moieties are (raven), (wolf) and (eagle). Eagle and wolf are the same moiety. All clans fall under one of the moieties. Each clan has its own foundation history, which belongs to the clan and may not be shared. Each story describes the Tlingit world from a different perspective and, taken together, narrates much Tlingit history before the coming of the (white people).
A typical clan history involves an extraordinary event that brought a family (or group of families) together, separating them from other Tlingit. Some clans seem to be older than others, and their histories have mythic proportions. Younger clans generally have histories describing a separation from other groups due to internal conflict or the desire for new territory. Although the Deisheetaan clan descends from the Ghaanaxh.ádi, its foundation story tells little to nothing about that relationship. However, the Khák'w.wedí (who are descended from the Deisheetaan) usually mention their connection in their foundation story. Their separation was more recent (and well-remembered) than that of the Deisheetaan from the Ghaanaxh.ádi.
European contact A number of well-known and obscure Europeans explored Lingít Aaní and encountered the Tlingit. Many early exchanges involved trade, and the Tlingit quickly appreciated the trading potential of valuable European goods and resources, exploiting it in their early contacts.
Early European explorers commented on Tlingit wealth and on the difference between summer camps and winter villages. Expeditions were: Bering and Chirikov (1741): Vitus Bering was separated from Aleksei Chirikov, and only reached Kayak Island; Chirikov, however, traveled to the western shores of the Alexander Archipelago. He lost two boats of men around Lisianski Strait, at the northern end of Chichagof Island. Chirikov then encountered hostile Tlingit, and returned west. First Bucareli Expedition (1774): Juan Josef Pérez Hernández was sent by Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, Viceroy of New Spain, to explore to 60° north latitude in 1774 with Juan Crespí and Tomás de la Peña Suria (or Savaria). Suria made a number of drawings of Tlingit life in the pre-colonial period. Second Bucareli Expedition (1775): Bruno de Hezeta (or Heceta) commanded the expedition aboard the Santiago, with Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra leading the Sonora as de Hezeta's second-in-command. Hezeta returned to Mexico shortly after a massacre by the Quinault near the Quinault River in present-day Washington state, but Bodega y Quadra insisted upon completing the mission to reach 60° north. He nearly reached Sitka, Alaska (59° north), claimed the lands he encountered for Spain, and named Mt. Edgecumbe Mount Jacinto. It is unclear if the expedition encountered the Tlingit. James Cook (1778): James Cook acquired the journals of Bodega y Quadra's second commander, Francisco Antonio Mourelle, and maps made from the first two Bucareli expeditions. This inspired him to explore the northwest coast of America on his third voyage in a search for the Northwest Passage. Third Bucareli Expedition (1779): Although Ignacia de Arteaga officially led the expedition on the Princesa, Bodega y Quadra (a more-experienced explorer) accompanied him aboard the Favorita. They made contact (and traded with) the Tlingit around Bucareli Bay (Puerto de Bucareli), and named Mount Saint Elias. Potap Zaikov La Pérouse (1786) George Dixon (1787) James Colnett (1788) Ismailov and Bocharov (1788) William Douglas (1788) Alessandro Malaspina (1791): Malaspina, for whom the Malaspina Glacier is named, explored the Alaskan coast as far north as Prince William Sound. His expedition contacted the Laxhaayík Khwáan of the Yakutat region when it reached Yakutat Bay. George Vancouver (1794)
Fur-trade era
Russian settlement in Tlingit lands (1790s onwards) involved both peaceful trade and periodic violent clashes - notably the Battle of Sitka in 1804, the culmination of the of 1802-1805.
Russian traders arrived at Sitka in 1799 and established Redoubt Saint Michael. Relations with the Kiks.ádi deteriorated, and in 1802 Tlingit forces destroyed the Russian post. Before the Russian return in 1804, Tlingit leaders built the fort Shís'gi Noow near the Indian River and selected K'alyáan as war chief. Russian forces under Alexander Baranov attacked in 1804. After an initial Tlingit defense and the loss of a gunpowder reserve, the Kiks.ádi withdrew in what is now called the Survival March. The Russians then occupied the abandoned site and established New Archangel. Tlingit resistance and negotiation continued after the battle, and the Kiks.ádi returned to Sitka in 1822.
Chilkat Tlingit warriors attacked and burned Fort Selkirk, the Hudson's Bay Company post at the juncture of the Yukon and Pelly Rivers, in 1852. The Chilkat had been middlemen between the company and the Athapaskan people of the interior (on preexisting trade routes), and were unwilling to be excluded from the arrangement.