Meneelghaadze' T'oh

The Koyukuk country lies in interior Alaska, where the Koyukuk River flows through forest and wetlands to join the Yukon. Dene communities use salmon, other fish, game and gathered plants in a seasonal economy. Rivers provide routes in warmer months, while winter journeys follow snow and ice. Food storage and cooperation help households through times when resources are harder to obtain.

Indigenous networks of trade, kinship and diplomacy connected the wider Yukon basin. Interior communities exchanged goods with neighbours from different environments, linking the forests with northern and coastal regions. Russian commercial expansion approached Alaska's western rivers during the eighteenth century, although sustained outside influence in many inland districts developed gradually. Waterways had long connected fishing places, camps and travel routes.