Venetie Vįįhtąįį |
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CDP | |
Location of Venetie, Alaska |
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Coordinates: 67°3′20″N 146°24′58″W / 67.05556°N 146.41611°WCoordinates: 67°3′20″N 146°24′58″W / 67.05556°N 146.41611°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Alaska |
Census Area | Yukon–Koyukuk |
Government | |
• State senator | Click Bishop (R) |
• State rep. | Dave Talerico (R) |
Area | |
• Total | 20.8 sq mi (54.0 km2) |
• Land | 20.8 sq mi (54.0 km2) |
• Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
Population (2000) | |
• Total | 202 |
• Density | 9.7/sq mi (3.7/km2) |
Time zone | Alaska (AKST) (UTC-9) |
• Summer (DST) | AKDT (UTC-8) |
ZIP code | 99781 |
Area code | 907 |
FIPS code | 02-82420 |
Venetie (/ˈviːnᵻtaɪ/ VEEN-i-ty;Vįįhtąįį in Gwich’in), is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census, the population was 202. It includes the Village of Venetie, a Gwich'in tribal entity designated in the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
Gwich'in tribal leader John Fredson achieved federal recognition of the larger area of the Venetie Indian Reserve as Alaska Native territory in 1941, before Alaska was admitted to the union as a state. It was the largest reservation in Alaska, with approximately 1.4 million acres (5,700 km²) when established.
Under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, reservations in Alaska were dissolved and the federal government made payments to tribes for considerable territory, designating areas as tribal lands. The Gwich'in tribal lands were reduced.
The people continued to adapt. In the early 1980s a "unified Venetie/Arctic village tribal government formally codified traditional principles of caribou management into tribal law," an example of Alaska Native subsistence practices. Anthropologist Stephen Langdon lauded this action as a way of combining traditional spirituality with secular law demonstrating "the resiliency of the traditional cosmology and behavior and its ability to be flexibly incorporated into contemporary institutions and practice." A majority of the residents approved limits on the harvest of the Porcupine caribou herd.