Kivalina 1939

HISTORY

The first recorded history of the community occurred in 1847 when Lt. L.A. Zagoskin of the Imperial Russian Navy recorded the name Kivualinamut for a village at the north end of the Kivalina Lagoon.  The original population of the current city consisted of survivors of aboriginal Kivalinarmiut Society as well as refugees from the Shishmaref area, the Noatak Valley, and the Kotzebue Region.  The City was founded at its present location when the Federal Government constructed a school on the island in 1905.  It was speculated that the ship delivering material for the construction of the school saw some people on the island and said the island was as good a place as any to build a school and unloaded there.

In the 1800's, Kivalina (Kivalinagmiut), which is an 8-mile barrier reef, was a stopping point for those traveling by land and sea.  According to elder knowledge, Kivalina, which was originally located North of the island, became of one of three villages that formed when some residents decided to leave the Tikigaq village and make permanent residence in their respective choices on main lands.  Because many of the original inhabitants lived inland, they made camp at the island to gather food.  That could be the reason why the ship with the supplies to build a school unloaded on the island; they saw people who were probably camping on the island while gathering food and mistook it for the village.

There was confusion about the first name of the area.  The original place where the people lived was located on the mainland North from the island across the Northside channel which was called Kivalliik.  When the people were forced to move to the island, they took the name Kivalinagmiut with them.  The island was called Sinigaqmiut, the channel place.  That name is not used but is remembered as the original name of the island.

Religion by denomination was introduced to the village in the early 1900's through the missionaries sent to Kivalina although the Inupiaq had their own form of beliefs and practiced in their own ways.  Bishop William Gordon was head of the Episcopal  Church and was a revered man amongst the many villages in the Northwest Region of Alaska.  He owned a private plane and used it to travel to all the villages.  Under the Bishops guidance, the first Inupiaq in Alaska to become an ordained minister was the Reverend Milton Swan.  Milton’s younger brother Clinton E. Swan followed in his footsteps and became the second one to be ordained in Alaska.

In 1904-05, according to the elders, the Bureau of Indian Affairs decided that all children should attend school.  As was mentioned in the second paragraph, the material for a school was dropped off at the island because they saw people there.  When the BIA came to the area to build a school, the inhabitants were told that if they don't send their children to school, they would be jailed.  That led the people who were living inland and down the coasts to migrate to the island so their children can attend school.  That is why the people now live on the island of Kivalina.