Tagish

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Tagish or Tagish Khwáan are a group of Athabaskan First Nation people that lived around Tagish Lake and Marsh Lake, in the Yukon Territory of Canada. Tagish people intermarried heavily with Tlingit people from the coast and the Tagish language is almost extinct. Today Tagish people live mainly in Carcross or Whitehorse, Yukon and are members of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation or the Kwanlin Dün First Nation.

Members of the Tagish First Nation made the gold discovery that led to the Klondike Gold Rush: Keish (Skookum Jim Mason), Shaaw Tláa (Kate Carmack) and Káa goox (Dawson Charlie).

The word Tagish also refers to the Tagish language, an Athabaskan language spoken by the ancestors of these people.

Tagish means "it (spring ice) is breaking up" and also gave its name to Tagish Lake.

[edit] External links

• Yukon Native Language Centre
• Carcross/Tagish First Nation

First Nations in the Yukon
Peoples: Gwichʼin | Kaska | Hän | Northern Tutchone | Southern Tutchone |Tagish | Tlingit | Upper Tanana
Governments: Carcross/Tagish First Nation | Champagne and Aishihik First Nations | First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun | Kluane First Nation | Kwanlin Dün First Nation | Liard River First Nation | Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation | Ross River Dena Council | Selkirk First Nation | Ta'an Kwach'an Council | Teslin Tlingit Council | Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation | Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation | White River First Nation

Tagish has Swans that come every spring to wait out the opening of the more Northern Lakes.