Chipewyan

The Chipewyan (/ˌtʃɪpəˈwaɪən/ CHIP-ə-WY-ən, also called the Dënesųłı̨né [tènɛ̀sũ̀ɬìné]), are a Dene group of Indigenous Canadian people belonging to the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified with the Taltheilei Shale archaeological tradition. They are part of the Northern Athabascan group of peoples, and hail from what is now Western Canada.

The name Dënesųłı̨né, also written Denésoliné or Dënë Sųłınë́, means "the original/real people". The term Chipewyan (ᒌᐯᐘᔮᐣ) is an exonym from the Cree language meaning 'pointed hides', referring to the design of their parkas.

The French-speaking missionaries to the northwest of the Red River Colony referred to the Chipewyan people as Montagnais in their documents written in French. Montagnais simply means 'mountain people' or 'highlanders' in French and has been applied to many unrelated nations across North America over time. For example, the Neenolino Innu of northern Quebec are also called Montagnais.

Historically, the Denesuline were allied to some degree with the southerly Cree, and warred against Inuit and other Dene peoples to the north of Chipewyan lands.

An important historic Denesuline is Thanadelthur ("Marten Jumping"), a young woman who early in the 18th century helped her people to establish peace with the Cree, and to get involved with the fur trade.

The Sayisi Dene of northern Manitoba are a Chipewyan band notable for hunting migratory caribou. They were historically located at Little Duck Lake and known as the "Duck Lake Dene". In 1956, the government forcibly relocated them to the port of Churchill on the shore of Hudson Bay and a small village north of Churchill called North Knife River, joining other Dene and becoming members of "Fort Churchill Chipewyan Band". In the 1970s, the "Duck Lake Dene" opted for self-reliance, a return to caribou hunting, and relocated to Tadoule Lake, legally becoming "Sayisi Dene First Nation (Tadoule Lake, Manitoba)" in the 1990s.

The Chipewyan used to be largely nomadic, organized into small bands and temporarily lived in tepees. They wore one-piece pants and moccasin outfits. However, their nomadic lifestyle began to erode in 1717 when they encountered English settlers. The Chipewyan subsequently became important in the subarctic trade by exchanging furs and hides for metal tools, guns and cloth.

Modern Chipewyan are either fluidly sedentary or semi-nomadic in lifestyle. Many still practice their traditional lifestyle for subsistence including fishing or caribou hunting although this process is modernized with the use of modern nets, tools, transportation and more.