Description
Haida are an Indigenous group who have traditionally occupied Haida Gwaii, an archipelago just off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, for at least 12,500 years. The Haida are known for their craftsmanship, trading skills, and seamanship. They are known to have frequently carried out raids and to have practised slavery. The Haida have been compared to the Vikings of Scandinavia by Diamond Jenness, an early anthropologist at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. In Haida Gwaii, the Haida government consists of a matrix of national and regional hereditary, legislative, and executive bodies including the Hereditary Chiefs Council, the Council of the Haida Nation (CHN), Old Massett Village Council, Skidegate Band Council, and the Secretariat of the Haida Nation. The Kaigani Haida live north of the Canadian and U.S. border which cuts through Dixon Entrance south of Prince of Wales Island (Tlingit: Taan) in Southeast Alaska, United States; Haida from K'iis Gwaii in the Duu Guusd region of Haida Gwaii migrated north in the early 18th century.
Language
Haida, or Xaat Kíl, is the ancestral language of the Haida people.
Culture
Traditional Haida economics were based on fishing (primarily of salmon, halibut, and cod) and hunting; the annual salmon run offered the Haida and other Northwest Coast Indians a very productive and reliable resource that required relatively little investment on their part, thus supporting the tribe’s artistic and ceremonial pursuits. The Haida were widely known for their art and architecture, both of which focused on the creative embellishment of wood. They decorated utilitarian objects with depictions of supernatural and other beings in a highly conventionalized style. They also produced elaborate totem poles with carved and painted crests.