 Nr.5 Upper Kuskokwim homeland | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 100[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 United States ( Alaska) | |
| Languages | |
| Upper Kuskokwim, American English (Alaskan variant) | |
| Religion | |
| Shamanism (largely ex), Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Alaskan Athabaskans Especially Tanana Athabaskans |
The Upper Kuskokwim people or Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskans, Upper Kuskokwim Athabascans (own native name Dichinanek' Hwt'ana), and historically Kolchan, Goltsan, Tundra Kolosh, and McGrath Ingalik are an Alaskan Athabaskan people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. First delineation of this ethnolinguistic group was described by anthropologist Edward Howard Hosley (who has specialized in the study of Alaskan Athabaskan cultures) in 1968, as Kolchan. According to Hosley, "Nevertheless, as a group possessing a history and a culture differing from those of its neighbours, the Kolchan deserve to be recognized as an independent group of Alaskan Athapaskans."[2] They are the original inhabitants of the Upper Kuskokwim River villages of Nikolai, Telida, and McGrath, Alaska. About 25 of a total of 100 Upper Kuskokwim people still speak the language.[1] They speak a distinct Athabaskan language (as Upper Kuskokwim language or Dinak'i) more closely related to Lower Tanana language than to Deg Xinag language (formerly Ingalik), spoken on the middle Kuskokwim.[3] The term used by the Kolchan themselves is Dina'ena (lit. 'the people' as Tenaynah by Hosley), but this is too similar to the adjacent Tanana and Tanaina (today Dena'ina) for introduction into the literature.[2] Nowadays, the term used by the Kolchan themselves is Dichinanek' Hwt'ana (lit. 'Timber River people'). Their neighbors also knew them by this name. In Tanaina they were Kenaniq' ht'an while the Koyukon people to the north referred to them as Dikinanek Hut'ana.[3] The Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskan culture is a hunter-gatherer culture and have a matrilineal system. They were semi-nomadic and lived in semi-permanent settlements.
Their neighbors are other Athabaskan-speaking peoples: Koyukon (north and northeast), Holikachuk (northwest), Deg Hit'an (south and southwest), and Dena'ina (south and southeast).[4]
- ^ a b Alaska Native Language Center : Alaska Native Languages / Population and Speaker Statistics
- ^ a b Edward Hosley 1968. The Kolchan: delineation of a new Northern Athapaskan Indian group Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Raymond L. Collins 2000. Dichinanek' Hwt'ana: A history of the people of the Upper Kuskokwim who live in Nikolai and Telida, Alaska. Edited by: Sally Jo Collins McGrath, Alaska September 2000, Revised January 2004
- ^ The Map of Indigenous Peoples and Languages of Alaska
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