Ninilchik Village

The Ninilchik Village Tribe traces its roots to the ancient indigenous people of the southern Kenai Peninsula. Original settlements in tribal lands were made by Dena’ina people, the Athabaskan culture of the south-central area and Cook Inlet of Alaska. More predominant theories suggest that the Dena’ina came to be from among the first waves of indigenous people traveling from East Asia and Siberia to settle the North American continent via the Bering Land Bridge. Other Athabaskan cultures of North America include those from areas in Alaska’s interior, alpine Canada, the Pacific Northwest’s plateau region, northern California, the American southwest, and north-central Mexico. While this large group of cultures is made up of distinct identities, they share various commonalities from one tribe to the next. Among Athabaskan cultures in Alaska, Dena’ina is unique because it is the only one to have made permanent coastal settlements and developed prominent maritime traditions. This is evident in traditional subsistence and trade patterns which valued the rich sources of the sea as well as those of the inland elevations, and the culture evolved sophisticated methods of ocean harvest and travel.

Today’s name of both the tribe and town of Ninilchik is derived from the Russian derivation of the Dena’ina name Niqnalchint, which means “A place were a lodge is built.” The Dena’ina language name of the tribe is Niqnalchint Qayeh Kenu (literally “Ninilchik Village Tribe”). Additionally to riverine sites and barabaras in the Ninilchik and Deep Creek area, ancient settlements and camps were created as far as Kasilof, Tustumena Lake, the Caribou Hills, Anchor Point, Homer, and in the Mt. Iliamna coast area of the western Cook Inlet.