Di’haii – the “Mohicans” of the Circumpolar Alaska

Abstract

The article focuses on the history of Di’haii, a Native American group that inhabited the mountainous area of Alaska in the nineteenth century. Since the area at the time was little explored and little studied, there are very few historical evidences that would allow researchers to produce a reliable account. The article presents a historical reconstruction that has been elaborated in the works of US scholars within the past decades, and that draws on comparative studies of the oral history and folklore of the Eskimo and Dene, archaeological evidences, and available archival data.