Figure 1.-- Here Eskimo and American children are pictured in very serious ciats. The photograpgh is belived to have been taken in 1903 at Fort Davis near Nome. Thev children have have their slates and school books. Notice the depthn of the snow thatb has been shoveled out. The phototraphr was a missionary. click on the image to see more of the group. Photographer: S. Hall Young

As in most states, Whites (including Hispanics) are the major ethnic group, nearly 65 percent of the state's populatiion. Alaska is exceptional for the high relatiely high Native American population -- over 15 percent. Some estimates are as high as 20 percent. Alaska has the second highest percentage of any stateof persons who identified themselves as multi-racial. (Only Hawaii has a higher percentage.) Most of those individuals are White or Native American. While Whites and Native Anmericans are the two largest groups, all the various ethnic groups are present in Alaska, althought to varying degrees than the national average. African-Americans have an especially low presence. Natives Americans migrated from Siberia thousands of years ago. The acual dating has in recent years been pushed back, but this was more than 10,000 years ago. This was possible because of the Bearing Sea land bridge created by the last Ice Age. Anthropologists also talk about sea migrations, but the land bridge also facilitated sea migration given the primitive maritime technology. Alaska represents the America potion of the Native American Arctic Cultural Area. Indigenous peoples of Alaska include Aleut, Eyak, Haida, Iñupiat, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Yupik, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures. Native peoples in and outside of Alaska are commonly defined by their language groups. The Alaskan native people are of speecial historical interest because it was through Alasla that all of the Americas was populated by Amero-Indian peoples. This occured in diffent waves, which Anthropologists are still studying. The composition and destination of these waves varied. DNA studies suggest, for examole, that Alskan natives (meaning the migrants that remained in Alaska), are least closely related to native peoples that reached South America. The first Europeans, Vitus Bearing and Alwksey Chirikov, found Alaska (1741). Alaska as a result was colonized by the Russians as part of the fur trade, but the population continued to be almost entirely Native American under Russian control. The United states purchased Akaska fron the the Russiabns (1867). Almost no Russian presenmce remained after the purchase. Americans of all ethnicities did not begin arriving in Alaska in any numbers until the Klondike Gold Rush (1897). People arrived in Akaska by boat. World War II and the building of the Aklakan Highway (1942) ptovided the first land connection with the United States and facilitated the peopleing of Alasla.

Created: 5:11 AM 7/20/2023
Last updated: 5:11 AM 7/20/2023