Text 11455, 68 rader
Skriven 2008-08-01 00:33:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av DALE SHIPP
Ärende: Re: Alaska Trip Report 6
================================
-=> Quoting Dale Shipp to Jim Weller <=-

 DS> I seem to recall that Dene is a native word meaning "the people".
 DS> Is that right  

Yep.

 DS> From your knowledge of the northern original inhabitants, were they as
 DS> warlike as some of the Plains indian nations seemed to be?  Seems like
 DS> we hear a lot about wars between Sioux, Cree, Blackfoot, etc. but not
 DS> much about wars between native factions in the north.  Is that because
 DS> they did not have them, or because what I hear is USA history?

We have had two instances of hostility.

The Inuit and the northernmost Dene have warred intermittently for
centuries. At one time the Inuit lived at least part of the time
south of the treeline; they were pushed back to the Arctic coast by
the Dene who in turn were under pressure from the Cree to the south
of them. I blame Daniel Boone for this. When he crossed the
Appalachians from the 13 colonies he set off a domino effect of
tribes moving out of his way and pushing back other tribes which was
eventually felt as far away as Texas and here.

Also in the early 1800's the Chipewyan and Dogrib bands had a war
over the land around Yellowknife. The Chipewyan from the south side
of Great Slave Lake had been outfitted by the French Northwest
Company, which was in competition with the Hudson Bay Company, so
that they could act as middlemen between the French and the
Coppermine Inuit in the fur trade. They moved north of the lake and
set up villages in Dettah and N'dilo which were in Yellowknives'
land. Previously these two places had just been summer fishing camps
which all the bands shared. It was also an arena for meeting and
trading. In fact Yellowknife's Dene name is Sombe Ke or Trading
Place. Nobody lived here year round as there was no big game nearby.
As the Chipewyan population grew they began encroaching on Dogrib
traditional hunting land and eventually war broke out. After a bit
the two chiefs made a peace treaty and today one of the many
streams crossing the highway between Yellowknife and Alberta is
named Boundary Creek. The exact nature of that old verbal treaty
wasn't important until 10 years ago. The Dogrib remember it as "we
won the war but generously allow you access to our land" and the
Chipewyan remember it as "we won the war and we own the land as far
west as Boundary Creek". This is important as BHP and Diavik pay out
generous royalties to the native people whose traditional land they
are on as well as the federal government and right now the Dogrib
get all of it.

BTW there are no more Yellowknives per se. They were gradually
assimilated first by the Chips and then by the Dogrib. The members
of the modern Yellowknife Band consider themselves Chip. Until the
diamonds were discovered. 80% of them were of mixed ancestry and
many declared they were really Dogrib when the royalties were being
handed out. [g]






Cheers

YK Jim


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