Which AK natives lived in the Anchorage area?

• A. The Yupik
• B. The Inupiat
• C. The Aleut
• D. The Dena'ina

Answer: (D)

The Anchorage area sits in the Cook Inlet region, where the Dena’ina people have lived for centuries. The Dena’ina—often called Tanaina in older English usage—are an Athabascan-speaking group whose traditional homeland includes the Cook Inlet and its river valleys, with villages along Turnagain Arm and near present-day Anchorage, such as Eklutna. Their traditional lifeways centered on salmon and other fishing, hunting, and seasonal movement between riverine and coastal sites, shaping a deep connection to the region.

The other groups come from different parts of Alaska: the Yupik people inhabited the southwestern coast and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta; the Inupiat (Inupiaq) people live in Arctic North Alaska; and the Aleut (Unangan) people are from the Aleutian Islands and the Alaska Peninsula. Because those areas are distant from the Anchorage region, the Dena’ina are the group historically associated with Anchorage.