"Koh-klux’ map Chilkaht: [Alaska and Yukon]"

Attribution:

Chilkaht Chief Kohklux

Date:

1869

Description:

Made by Chilkat Tlingit Chief Kohklux in 1869 with assistance from his two wives, these are said to be the oldest known maps of southwest Yukon. They cover a vast area from Klukwan in Alaska to Fort Selkirk in the heart of the Yukon, and illustrate the expansive cultural networks of Indigenous encounter and trade. George Davidson, an English-born geodesist and astronomer, had traveled to Klukwan during a surveying expedition of Alaska to view a total eclipse of the sun. He explained the astronomical event to Kohklux as it happened and demystified what seemed to be Davidson’s ability to predict the darkness that swept over the Chilkat Valley. In return, Kohklux gifted Davidson these unique pencil-sketched maps as a form of knowledge exchange.

Bancroft call number:

G4370 1852 .K6

Digital image courtesy of:

The Bancroft Library