This is Dena’ina ełnena.

Anchorage is Dena’ina homeland.^[1]

Most of the city of Anchorage, including the University of Alaska Anchorage and the little subdivision in Campbell Park where most of this textbook got written exists on the ancestral homeland of the Dena’ina Athabascans. I don’t say the land “belonged” to them because one concept European settlers brought with them was the idea of land ownership. Instead, the Dena’ina saw land as a resource to be shared, not possessed, and historically made room for the newcomers. Sadly, their generosity was to their detriment, and very few Dena’ina live in Anchorage today.

However, the Native village of Eklutna, just north of the city, still hosts a small population of Denai’ina Athabascans. Aaron Legget, president of the village at the time of this writing, has recorded a video addressing the Athabascan presence in Anchorage. The film was made in partnership with the Anchorage Museum and UAA’s Film Archive. Take a few minutes to watch.

(Video link for offline readers: https://player.vimeo.com/video/427189405.)

Not from Anchorage?

That’s okay. Only about half of the residents of Anchorage were born here. But land acknowledgments can help heal past wounds all over the country. The map below is embedded from the Native Land Digital project. It helps visualize the locations of Indigenous peoples throughout North America. Use the map to browse to your hometown and see who its original inhabitants were before their great displacement by European settlers.