# 15201's Basement @no15201 - Tumblr Blog

by Astri Lohne

The Alaskan Tlingit and their Chinese coin armor,

The Tlingit are a native people who inhabit the southeastern coast of Alaska and Canada in the Pacific Northwest. An ingenious an resourceful people, the Tlingit were expert weapon and armor makers crafting wooden helmets and suits of armor made from animal skins woven with wooden slats. Originally the Tlingit had relatively advanced metallurgical skills, working tools in copper and rudimentary iron working. After European contact they quickly learned more advanced metallurgical skills such as advanced iron working and steel-making. Along with the neighboring Haida, the Tlingit were noted for crafting high quality iron and steel daggers. They even made swords in excess of 20 inches in blade length, being one of the few Native American cultures with a sword making tradition.

In the 18th century the Russians set up the Pacific Maritime Trade, a trading network in which Russian merchants would acquire furs from the Pacific Northwest and trade them for goods in China, which in turn could be traded in Europe and elsewhere. The Tlingit became active participants in this commercial enterprise, trading furs with the Russians for Chinese goods such as porcelain, silk, and tea. One item that particularly piqued their interest were Chinese coins. Made of bronze the coins typically had a hole in them so that they could be carried on a string that was attached to a sash or belt, since purses and moneybags were never popular in Chinese fashion. For the Chinese and Russians the coins were a form of currency, but for the Tlingit the coins had a entirely different purpose altogether. The Tlingit began sewing the coins onto animal hide vests crafting intricate suits of scale armor. The armor offered excellent protection against arrows, blades, and blunt weapons, and may have offered some modest protection against early firearms. Often these suits of armor were imbued with special mystical and magical properties, giving Tlingit warriors a psychological edge in combat.

In the 19th century British traders began to take up the trade, and finally Americans became dominant in the Pacific fur trade after Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867. Armor crafting from Chinese coins continued well into the late 19th century, being further bolstered by Chinese immigration to the west coast in the mid 1800s with the California gold rush. Today the Tlingit still produce beautiful knives, swords, and suits of armor, keeping alive a tradition which their forefathers had done before them.

risoria

i tried out a new brush for like the first time in my Life……. hence extremely sketchy …..

dynamics-of-an-asteroid

Parts Unknown: Newfoundland

calmandtalented

thebeanestbad

broke: midsommar is a girl power movie

woke: midsommar is a horror movie about a manipulative cult

bespoke: midsommar is a litmus test to tell how easily you could be indoctrinated into a cult and if your first thought after watching it is that it was a girl power movie you’re very susceptible to cult tactics and you should be aware of that

thinkyourhouseshaunted

Midsommar is one of my favorite films of all time 'cause when I heard about it I couldn't believe they used the premise of "weird dangerous group of people" for white folks, not only that, but northen european folks that usually are held as the pinacle of culture and civilization. That is a role that has been only ever given to black and indiginous people (as far as I know). Think about Robinson Crusoé, the King Kong, the whole ideia that's reforced over and over in horror genre of "black magic" or "voodoo" or "evil canibalism". I was so thrilled that finally the bad guys weren't already marginalized ethinicities. I even thought before watching the movie "how will they manage to make these white people, who are always seen as the standard, seem like the dangerous other". Then I watched it and thought "they did it! That's some creep ass cult shit right here". But then I saw the popular opinions and got so sad. Because I was wrong. To white people, other white people will never be evil or cruel or wrong. No matter how dehumane their acts are, they will always be the good guys in each other's eyes. If the exact same story had been in a indiginous tribe you bet everyone would be saying "poor Dani, surrounded by savages" but as they're all blue eyed blonde cultists in the middle of european fields that becomes some "girl power cottagecore dream". And that's white feminism in its prime.