FOUR DIRECTIONS INSTITUTE

Kutchin Tribes

 

 

Ethnie: KUTCHIN TRIBES (GWITCHEN)
Language: Han-Kutchin
Family: Athapaskan
Stock: Nuclear Na-Dene
Phylum: Na-Dene
Macro-Culture: Northwest

 

 

 

 

      The Kutchin language group were several arctic hunter tribes. They ranged generally inland but above the Arctic Circle from north central Alaska to the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories. They suffered severely from disease, even though they had little early White contact. The name "Loucheaux" is preferred in Canada.
Aboriginal Locations (Villages)
AK    Dihai-kutchin, Kutcha-kutchin, Natsit-kutchin, Tennuth-kutchin, Tranjik-kutchin, Vunta-kutchin
Present Locations
AK   Doyon Limited, Fairbanks
         Eagke Village
Year History
1789 Met by Mackenzie
1806 Fort Good Hope established
1847 Fort Yukon established
185X Epidemics, smallpox [?]
1860 Contact with Catholic and Church of England missionaries
1897 Scarlet fever epidemic
1898 Klondike gold rush opened territories
1904 Measles epidemic
1921 Influenza epidemic
1928 Influenza epidemic
Year Total AK Population   Source
1700 2,900   NAHDB calculation
1740 2,900   Mooney estimate
1800 2,500   NAHDB calculation
1850 5,400   Kretch (Kutchin and Loucheaux)
1860 1,000   Kretch (Kutchin and Loucheaux)
1900 500   NAHDB calculation
1968 2,150   Slobodin (Kutchin and Loucheaux)
2000 1,400   NAHDB calculation
Other speakers of the same language:
None
Kutchin Sites
Doyon Limited  http://www.doyon.com/
Eagle Village  http://www.beringsea.com/communities/index.php?community=98
Kutchin Authors  http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/t174
Gwich'In  http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/g/gw/gwichin1.htm
Gwich'In Laguage  http://www.native-languages.org/gwichin.htm
History of Eagle Village  http://www.explorenorth.com/library/communities/alaska/bl-EagleVillage.htm
Kutchin Indain Ready to Hunt  http://collections.ic.gc.ca/heirloom_series/volume2/section5/52-56link3.htm
Kutchin Indian Tribe History  http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/canada/kutchinindianhist.htm
Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation  http://www.yfnta.org/community/Profile.asp?First_Nation=19

Last updated 10/26/05  Copyright © 2005 by Four Directions Press