Haida people

Haida (pron'haɪdə, X̱aayda, X̱aadas, X̱aad, X̱aat) 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 (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. Haida history begins with the arrival of the primordial ancestresses of the Haida matrilineages in Haida Gwaii some 14,000 to 19,000 years ago. These include SGuuluu Jaad (Foam Woman), Jiila Kuns (Creek Woman), and KalGa Jaad (Ice woman). The Haida canon of oral histories and archaeological findings agree that Haida ancestors lived alongside glaciers and were present at the time of the arrival of the first tree, a lodgepole pine, on Haida Gwaii. For thousands of years since Haida have participated in a rigorous coast-wide legal system called Potlatch. After the Island's wide arrival of red cedar some 7,500 years ago Haida society transformed to centre around the coastal "tree of life". Massive carved cedar monuments and cedar big houses became widespread throughout Haida Gwaii. The first recorded contact between the Haida and Europeans was in July 1774 with Spanish explorer Juan Pérez, who was sailing north on an expedition to find and claim new territory for Spain.