BC First Nations Studies – Chp 1 The Northern Interior

Northern Interior - Introduction

Northern Interior – Introduction Cont’d Covers a large part of BC (see pg 21) and extends into the Yukon and as far south as the northern reach of the Okanagan Made up of mountains and plateaus (high flat areas) with many lakes Also a part to the great boreal Taiga (evergreen forest stretching around the world) Dominated by spruce and fir trees Climate is hot in the summer and cold in the winter with low precipitation

Northern Interior - Resources Climate is harsh with little plant diversity Unlike the Northeast region, rivers here drain into the Pacific and have salmon runs every year Moose are the most widespread member of the deer family along with Caribou and mule deer Many smaller fur bearing animals used for food and clothing such as lynx, fisher, muskrat, marten and mink and Beaver

Northern Interior - Resources

Northern Interior - People Athapaskan language family including Gwich’in, Han, Kaska, Nothern and Southern Tutchone, Tagish and Upper Tanana. Tlingit is also spoken in this area but only distantly related to Athapaskan languages The Yinka Dene, ‘the people on the land’ are the largest group of people living in the Northern Interior The Dakelh (people who go around by boat) or ‘Carrier’ people in English live in the central interior The people adapted to the harsh climate by being a very flexible society The extended family (uncles, aunts, grandparents) would move around depending on where game (animals) were. They were always ready to hunt while traveling around the vast territory On the other hand the Dakelh people have a society that is more structured. They used a clan and potlatch system to regulate resource territories. Each territory is a keyoh

Northern Interior - People