|
Tsimshian |
Haida
| Bella Coola |
Kwakiutl |
Nootka |
Salish
The Haida or Xa'ida
people occupy a distinctive geographic area known as the
Queen Charlotte Islands and the south end of Prince of
Wales Island in Alaska. The Haida are related to the
Tlingit through social organization and language
similarities. Legend tells of the original settlements
of the Haida as being on the East coast of the Queen
Charlotte Islands and later on settling on the west side
of the Islands also. The southern Islands are
mountainous and rugged while the northern Island
is flatter and only slightly rolling. About 1710 - 1750
the Haida drove the Tlingit from the southern part of
Prince of Wales Island and settled there also.
In 1774 the Spanish
corvette Santiago visited the Charlottes and Ensign Juan
Perez names the northern point of the Islands Cabo de
Santa Margarita. The following year saw the return of
the Spanish under Captain Bodega and they names a few
more features in the Islands. Although captain Cook had
sailed these waters at about the same time, he id not
take note of the Islands. In 1787 the great British
explorer of the west coast, Captain Dixon arrived and
named the Islands after his ship the HMS Queen
Charlotte. Although Captain George Vancouver also
visited these Islands, the real contact with the Haida
was due to their possession of Sea Otter Furs. Trade for
these valuable pelts resulted in an influx of European
products and trade items entering the Haida social and
commercial circles and impacting their traditional
customs and traditions.
Contact with the
Europeans resulted in the introduction of various
diseases including smallpox which ravaged the Haida
population.
The majestic totem
poles of the Haida and their Longhouses were some of the
most impressive of any along the west coast and their
sense of community has managed to survive many
challenges from outside influences including the
migration of many to the mainland to work in the salmon
canneries and the departure of many children for
boarding schools where using their own language was
discouraged. A Hudson Bay Trading post was established
at Masset which is at the Northeast side of the northern
Island.
The large cedar canoes
which they carved enabled them to not only cruise the
shores of the Islands, but to also explore and raid
islands and coastal areas of the mainland. One of the
ceremonies which they held was called the potlatch which
was an event whereby a member of the group would gather
almost all of their valuable belongings and distribute
them to other members of the band. This process was
meant to show the ability of the person holding the
potlatch to accumulate material wealth and hence in the
eyes of others, his power.
When a member of the
band died they were placed in mortuary boxes or placed
inside of carved totem poles and it was believed that
they would then begin their journey back to the band
through reincarnation. \their population was estimated
to be about 8,328 in 1836-41 but by 1880 that had
dropped to about 1,700 - 2,000. By 1894 that number had
dropped to 639 and by the following year 593. The number
has risen considerable since that time but needless to
say the outside influence had traditionally not been
kind to the Haida.
\the different Haida
groups are known by different names. The Alaska Haida
are know as Kaigani or Kets-hade, those around Masset as
inlet people or Gao xa idagai, those in the southern
point as Gunghet haidagai and those that settled in
towns as Ninstints. |
