they are dena'ina people-- a branch of the athabaskan native americans. it was his job to teach me to hunt. i was born in kenai right here in 1923-- born and raised here. [narrator] clare swan is chairperson of the tribe. i just looked back at my roots and began to put them together and realized really how much of that was important to me, and i had tried to, like everyone else, change that because in order to fit-- there was a time when it wasn't fashionable to be native. you were lucky if you were blond and you were light enough that you could pass. no one was allowed to speak the dena'ina language. they didn't allow it in schools, and a lot of the women had married non-native men, and the men said, "you're american now, so you can't speak the language." so we became invisible in the community, invisible to each other, and then because we couldn't speak the language-- what happens when you can't speak your own language is that you have to think with someone else's words, and that's a dreadful kind of isolation. [narrator] today the kenai river has becom

today's inuit and yupik eskimos and inland athabaskan cultures are the successors of native peoples who coexisted with the environment over very long periods. alaska has also been part of the international economy since european ships visited in the 18th century. this is apparent in the range of european place names, but especially in the enduring influence of the russians, who first settled here 200 years ago. the russians first came to alaska to exploit the land for its natural resources. they established trading posts initially to collect the skins of sea mammals, such as seals and sea otters. the russians remained for over a century before selling the state to the united states in 1867. [choir singing] a large number of alaskans are still russian orthodox, and the diverse population is reflected in the congregation at the russian orthodox cathedral in anchorage as easter is celebrated. native alaskans have found ways of blending russian religion with traditional practices. they are also beginning to reclaim their history and their relationship to nature. for the native peoples of al