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Description
Tlingit, northernmost of the Northwest Coast Indians of North America, living on the islands and coastal lands of southern Alaska from Yakutat Bay to Cape Fox. They spoke the Tlingit language, which is related to Athabaskan. According to their traditions, some of their ancestors came from the south and others migrated to the coast from the Canadian interior. Traditional Tlingit society included three levels of kinship organization. Every individual belonged to one of two moieties, the largest kin group. Each moiety comprised several clans, and the members of a given clan attributed their origin to a common legendary ancestor.

The most basic and important organizational level was the lineage, an extended family group related through maternal descent. Each lineage was essentially self-sufficient: it owned a specific territory, could conduct ceremonies, was politically independent, and had its own leaders.

There was rarely a leader or authority over the entire tribe; lineages might cooperate during periods of war and choose a temporary leader for that purpose, but there was no compulsion to join such alliances. During the historic period there was a tendency for two or more lineages to consolidate into unified villages, but before contact with Europeans each lineage probably had its own village.

Description
Tlingit, northernmost of the Northwest Coast Indians of North America, living on the islands and coastal lands of southern Alaska from Yakutat Bay to Cape Fox. They spoke the Tlingit language, which is related to Athabaskan. According to their traditions, some of their ancestors came from the south and others migrated to the coast from the Canadian interior. Traditional Tlingit society included three levels of kinship organization. Every individual belonged to one of two moieties, the largest kin group. Each moiety comprised several clans, and the members of a given clan attributed their origin to a common legendary ancestor.

The most basic and important organizational level was the lineage, an extended family group related through maternal descent. Each lineage was essentially self-sufficient: it owned a specific territory, could conduct ceremonies, was politically independent, and had its own leaders.

There was rarely a leader or authority over the entire tribe; lineages might cooperate during periods of war and choose a temporary leader for that purpose, but there was no compulsion to join such alliances. During the historic period there was a tendency for two or more lineages to consolidate into unified villages, but before contact with Europeans each lineage probably had its own village.