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The Haida of the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) have fascinated
all who have visited them, from the first travellers and explorers of the late eighteenth century to the anthropologists of
the present. To early visitors the Haida presented a culture, complex in social organization and rich in artistic expression,
which displayed a fine and fulfilling balance between man and the natural and supernatural worlds. With continued exposure
to the pressures, both spiritual and material, of European culture this balance was disrupted, and the traditional Haida way
of life came close to extinction. Today, however, the Haida regard their future with hope, bolstered by recent developments
that hold great potential for reinforcing their cultural revival.
Haida Gwaii is an archipelago of islands (the Queen Charlotte Islands)
off the northern coast of British Columbia near the province's border with Alaska. The southern islands are mountainous, with
Moresby Island predominating. The large northern island, Graham Island, where the Haida people now live, is mountainous on
its western side but to the east is flat with isolated outcrops of rock. North of Dixon Entrance are the Kaigani Haida, as
the Haida in Alaska are named. Their territory encompasses the southern half of Prince of Wales Island in Alaska.
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Copper was the ultimate symbol of wealth among the Haida
and is associated with Copper Woman of Haida myth. Throughout the coast, shields made of copper were exchanged at ever higher
values between chiefs at potlatch feasts. Among the Kwakwaka'wakw (or Kwakiutl) to the south of Haida Gwaii, coppers were particularly
associated with the distribution of wealth at wedding feasts. The Haida used coppers as a marker and symbol of wealth, and
some wealthy chiefs owned a dozen or more.
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