The Taku are an

Alaskan Native Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a numb ...

people, a ''ḵwáan'' or geographic subdivision of the

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

, known in their own language as the ''Tʼaaḵu Ḵwáan'' or "Geese Flood Upriver Tribe".Map of Tʼaaḵu ḵwaan territories
/ref> The Taku 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 ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, and on the lower basin of the

Taku River The Taku River (Lingít: ''T'aaḵu Héeni'') is a river running from British Columbia, Canada, to the northwestern coast of North America, at Juneau, Alaska. The river basin spreads across . The Taku is a very productive salmon river and its dra ...

of the adjoining

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

mainland above that river's mouth.

History

The main village of the Taku people was located up the

in what is now the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

province of

. From this main winter village they dispersed to their clan subsistence areas during the spring, summer, and fall. Having a keen appreciation of the advantages of their position for trade, the Taku held possession of the main river in the area that is now

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 ...

and compelled the natives of the interior territories to use them as middle-men, instead of allowing trade directly with the white settlers. In the early 1840s, the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

established a trading post called

Fort Durham Fort Durham, also known as Fort Taku, Taku, Taco, and Tacouw, is an archaeological site near Taku Harbor, Alaska, within the limits of Juneau City and Borough and Tongass National Forest. It was one of three Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) posts s ...

in Taku Harbor. This fort was built to take advantage of the trade route up and down the Taku River. With the establishment of the fort, the Taku people abandoned their traditional winter village and moved to the area around the fort. Although Fort Durham was abandoned by 1843 as unprofitable, the Taku stayed in the area of the fort until 1880 when

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 ...

was discovered in Juneau. The Taku people then moved to the area around

Sheep Creek Sheep Creek is a geographical place name. With variations, the name is given to hundreds of bodies of water, roads, canals, reservoirs and populated areas in the United States and other countries. It is the name of a tributary to Lockyear Creek in ...

to work with the miners for wages.

Divisions and houses of the Clans or Moieties of the Taku people

Raven Moiety

*G̱aanax̱.ádi (People of ''G̱aanaax̱'') **Ishka Hít (Salmon Hole House) **Yanwulihashi Hít (Drifted Ashore House) **Yéil Hít (Raven House) *Ishkahittaan (Salmon Hole(house) People) *Kooḵhittaan (Pit House People) *Tooḵa.ádi (Needlefish (house) People)

Wolf/Eagle Moiety

*Yanyeidí **Hit Tlein (Big House) **Chʼaalʼ Hít (Willow House) *Tsaateeneidí **Xóots Hít (Brown Bear House) **Yayuwaa Hít (Between The River Fork House) *Sʼeetʼḵweidí

History

Divisions and houses of the Clans or Moieties of the Taku people

Raven Moiety

Wolf/Eagle Moiety

See also