The Auke are an Alaskan Native people, whose autonym ''Aakʼw Ḵwáan'' means "Small Lake People."Map of Auke territory and list of clans
They are a subgroup of the Tlingit. The Auke lived along the northwestern coast of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, in the area that is now the

Alexander Archipelago The Alexander Archipelago (russian: Архипелаг Александра) is a long archipelago (group of islands) in North America lying off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, the tops of submerged coastal m ...

and adjoining mainland of the

Alaska Panhandle Southeast Alaska, colloquially referred to as the Alaska(n) Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia (and a small part ...

around

Juneau The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the se ...

. The Auke had a village on Auke Bay just east of Point Louisa, about 13 miles northwest of

. There were seasonal festivals associated with the harvest of herring at spawning season. In 1880, after Joe Juneau and Richard Harris were led to

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

in the Silver Bow Basin, U.S. naval officers encouraged the Auke to move from the area to avoid conflict with miners and prospectors. The census of Alaska at the time listed the Auke population as 640, of whom 300 were on Admiralty Island, 50 on

Douglas Island Douglas Island is a tidal island in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is part of the city and borough of Juneau, just west of downtown Juneau and east of Admiralty Island. It is separated from mainland Juneau by the Gastineau Channel, and contains t ...

, and 290 on Stephens Passage, the latter presumably including those at the Point Louisa village. The Auke people continued to return to what they called Indian Point, for the annual harvest of

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

at spawning time. They have considered this a sacred place, both because of their traditional gathering for subsistence and their historic village and its burying ground. These local peoples have resisted European-American development of Indian Point, which is located past the Juneau Ferry Terminal and before the Auke Recreation Area operated by the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

. Federal agencies including the National Park Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had proposals to build on the site. The Tlingit consider it sacred territory, both because of the burying ground and its place in their traditions of gathering sustenance. The city and state supported recognition of the 78-acre site, which in August 2016 was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. "It is the first traditional cultural property in Southeast Alaska to be placed on the register."Lisa Phu, "Feds designate Juneau's Indian Point as sacred, worthy of protection"
''Juneau Empire,'' 16 August 2016; accessed 21 August 2016

Clans and houses

The Auke were formed around

clans A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

, based on kinship systems. These were traditionally divided into houses. Extended family groups used to live together in large longhouses.

Divisions and houses of the Raven Moiety or Clan

*Lʼeeneidí (Gift Blanket People) **G̱aatáa Hít (Trap House) **Téelʼ Hít (Dog Salmon House) **Yax̱te Hít (Big Dipper House) *Lʼuknax̱.ádi (Coho Salmon People) **Lʼook Hít (Coho Salmon House) *G̱aanax̱.ádi (People of ''G̱aanax̱'') **G̱aanax̱aa Hít (G̱aanax̱ Group House) **Yéil Hít (Raven House)

Divisions and houses of the Wolf/Eagle Clan

*Wooshkeetaan **G̱unakadeit Hít (Sea Monster House) **Hít Tlein (Big House) **Noow Hít (Fort House) **Tóosʼ Hít (Shark House) **Xeitl Hít (Thunder/Thunderbird House) **Xóots Hít (Brown Bear House)

References

{{authority control Alaska Native ethnic groups Tlingit Native American tribes in Alaska