Did Alaska native people develop farming before the arrival of Europeans?

• A. Yes, they farmed extensively.
• B. No, too cold.
• C. They farmed only in southern coastal areas.
• D. They adopted farming after Europeans arrived.

Answer: (B)

The main factor here is climate and seasonality. In Alaska’s Arctic and subarctic regions, long winters, short growing seasons, permafrost, and often rocky soils make large-scale crop farming impractical. Native communities built sophisticated subsistence systems around hunting, fishing, gathering, and seasonal storage, drawing on salmon, marine mammals, caribou, berries, and wild tubers rather than farming. In the milder southern coastal areas, there were some small-plot gardens and limited cultivation, but it wasn’t extensive farming on a broad scale. After Europeans arrived, new crops were introduced and some gardening occurred, but before contact farming wasn’t a central part of Alaska Native lifeways.