The correct answer is c) Alaska was not allowed to claim land held by Native Americans.
Alaska Natives have traditionally used and occupied the land of Alaska for thousands of years. According to archaeologists, anthropologists, and their own oral histories, each Alaska Native group used only those areas traditionally controlled by them. Land was generally held by the group as a whole, with perhaps the exception of individual hunting or fishing camps.
These boundaries of control were not based on written documents or maps, but on actual traditions and practice. Native leaders, in 1966, formed a state-wide organization called the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN). AFN pressed Congress towards settling the un-resolved issue of Alaska Native land ownership.
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed by President Nixon on December, 1971. The act settled the issue of what lands Alaska Natives owned by right of traditional use and occupancy. The phrase "traditional use and occupancy" means that the land was used for subsistence and occupied for a very long time. The Act was based on the right of Alaskan Natives to the land they had used and occupied for generations and generations. Congress would settle Native land rights on the basis of how much money and land Alaska Natives needed.
The principal parties that shaped the compromise of ANCSA were the federal and state governments, the oil companies, conservationists and the Alaska Federation of Natives.
The date the Act actually passed is crucial to many portions of ANCSA. The issue of "New Natives," the protections of Native corporation shares and other issues are based on this date.
