The Duwamish (, ) are a Lushootseed-speaking Southern Coast Salish people in western Washington, and the Indigenous people of metropolitan Seattle.
Prior to colonization, the center of Duwamish society was around the Black and Duwamish rivers in Washington. The modern Duwamish primarily descend from two separate groups: the , or Duwamish, and the , a group of peoples whose traditional territory extends around Lake Washington. Although the primary language used by the Duwamish today is English, the Duwamish historically spoke a subdialect of the southern dialect of Lushootseed, a Coast Salish language spoken throughout much of western Washington.
For centuries, the Duwamish have lived in at least 17 villages around the Seattle area. In 1855, the Duwamish were among the signatories of the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott, in which they ceded their land to the United States government and in return would remove to reservation lands established by the treaty. Two reservations were created for the Duwamish: the Muckleshoot and Suquamish reservations. However, no reservation was ever created directly in the Duwamish homeland. Since then, although many Duwamish did move to the reservations, many others did not, preferring to remain in their homelands, creating a schism between Duwamish descendants. Today, the Duwamish, including the modern tribes descended from the aboriginal Duwamish such as the Suquamish Nation, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, and the unrecognized Duwamish Tribe, have been a large part of the modern history of the Seattle area, continuing to advocate for their treaty rights and the preservation and revitalization of their culture, language, and land.
Duwamish people today are enrolled in several different tribes. These include the unrecognized Duwamish Tribe and the federally recognized tribes: Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation Muckleshoot Indian Tribe Suquamish Indian Tribe of the Port Madison Reservation Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Tulalip Tribes of Washington
Name and etymology The name "Duwamish" is an anglicization of the Lushootseed name . The name means "people inside the bay." The name refers to the Cedar River, which is called in Lushootseed, and means "inside the bay." The name references the way the Duwamish villages were located inland, rather than along Puget Sound.
The name is composed of the prefix , meaning "toward, to," the suffix , meaning "people," and the root word , a variant form of , meaning "inside something relatively small." has also been spelled variantly as .
Classification The Duwamish are a Southern Coast Salish people. The Southern Coast Salish are a group of related peoples who share similar culture, history, and customs. Included in this classification are the many Lushootseed-speaking peoples and the Twana (who speak the Twana language). The broader Coast Salish are a group of related peoples who have elements of shared history and culture and speak related languages.
Prior to colonization, "Duwamish" () originally referred to just those from Elliott Bay and the Duwamish, Black, and Cedar Rivers. However, beginning around 1855, the word "Duwamish" was used to also include the Green and White river peoples and the . The were composed of several related peoples whose villages were located along Lake Washington and the Sammamish River; the , whose villages were located around Lake Union, and the Shilshole (), whose village was located on Salmon Bay. At the time of initial major European contact, these peoples considered themselves wholly distinct from the Duwamish.
Territory The center of Duwamish territory was historically the area at the confluence of the Black and Cedar Rivers, called the Lake Fork.
History
Prehistory and early contact period
Western Washington has been permanently inhabited for at least 12,000 years, to the Pleistocene epoch and the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Although it is possible that humans lived in the region before that time, the landscape was highly volcanic and unstable, leading to vast alteration of the coastline and rivers over time. Archaeological sites at the former village at West Point () date back at least 4,200 years. Villages at the mouth of the Duwamish River such as and had been continuously inhabited since the 6th century CE.
In the first half of the 19th century, the Duwamish began facing extreme raiding from the Lekwiltok and Kwakwaka'wakw, who raided much of the Puget Sound area for slaves and loot. Food resources varied, and resources were not always sufficient to last through to spring. There is evidence that an extensive trade and potlatch network evolved to help distribute resources to areas in need that varied year to year, and was potent and effective until European diseases arriving in the 1770s and ravaged the region for more than a century.
By 1851, the Duwamish had 17 villages with at least 93 buildings, including longhouses, around the present-day Seattle area. There were four prominent villages on Elliott Bay and the lower Duwamish River. Before modern civil engineering, the area at the mouth of Elliot Bay had extensive tidelands which were abundantly rich in marine life and a plentiful source of food for the Duwamish.
Duwamish contact with Europeans was sporadic until the 1850s. From the early 19th century, the maritime fur trade in the Puget Sound–Strait of Georgia regions greatly accelerated the pace of social and organizational change. American settlements at Alki Point () and what is now Pioneer Square in Downtown Seattle were established in 1851 and 1852. From this point on, Americans settled the region at ever-increasing rates, eventually leading to the Treaty of Point Elliot in 1855.
In 1854, American ethnologist George Gibbs conducted a survey of the Indigenous peoples of Puget Sound. In this survey, he recorded 162 Duwamish people living at Lake Fork and along the Duwamish River, and 189 Duwamish and their relatives living on Lake Washington and along the Green and White rivers, for an estimated total of 351.
Treaty of Point Elliott and the Puget Sound War
The Duwamish attended and took part in the signing of the Treaty of Point Elliot on January 22, 1855, at (Point Elliott, now Mukilteo, Washington). The treaty was drawn up hastily and negotiations were conducted only in English and Chinook Jargon, a trade language which was not spoken by many attending and later deemed not suitable for diplomatic processes. This poor diplomacy created several misunderstandings and disputes between the parties that persist into the modern day. The treaty was signed by then-territorial governor Isaac Stevens and representatives from the Duwamish (led by Chief Seattle) and 14 other treaty tribes. It would not be ratified until 1859, four years after the negotiations. During that time, the unsigned treaty was used as justification for many illegal encroachments on Duwamish territory.
Due to the American government's policy of consolidating many smaller peoples into large treaty tribes and Stevens' personal political motivations, prominent leaders were designated as chiefs for the purposes of the treaties. Signatories were appointed more or less at the behest of the Americans, bypassing what they saw as the maddening fluidity of tribal leadership. Four people represented the Duwamish on the treaty: Seattle, Ts'huahntl, Nowachais, and Hasehdooan. Seattle signed the treaty under for the Duwamish, Suquamish, and twenty-one other tribes designated as "allied tribes" under the Duwamish, creating the notion that he was the leader of a large confederation of tribes. This did not reflect the reality of Duwamish political organization at the time. Hasehdooan/Keokuck was one of the leaders of the Black River settlements, and his signature was likely intended to serve as a signature for all the people in the core area of the Duwamish. Seattle's signature was intended to serve for all Suquamish and Duwamish as well.
The Duwamish signed away the title to more than 54,000 acres, which today includes the cities of Seattle, Renton, Tukwila, Bellevue, and Mercer Island. Among other things, the treaty guaranteed both hunting and fishing rights, and reservations for all signatory tribes. As part of that guarantee, the Port Madison, Snohomish, Swinomish, and Lummi reservations were established as temporary reservations, and it was promised by the American side that other reservations would soon be expanded and new reservations established for other tribes. It was originally planned by the treaty commission that all tribes west of the Cascades would eventually locate to the Tulalip Reservation, including the Duwamish, and some Duwamish did indeed move to the Tulalip Reservation at the time. The then-believed temporary Port Madison reservation was established for use primarily by the Duwamish, Suquamish, and several other tribes. While many Duwamish later moved to the Port Madison reservation, including Seattle, many did not, and either never left or returned to their homelands along the Duwamish watershed to await a reservation of their own. This was due to several reasons. The Port Madison Reservation was not large enough to sustain the 1000+ individuals estimated to be assigned there, the reservation was too far from their usual and accustomed areas, and the mainland Duwamish were not on friendly terms with the Suquamish of the Port Madison area at the time.
Later that year, due to dissatisfaction with the established reservations, lack of follow-through on promises, abuse of power, and murder of Indigenous people at the hands of settlers, the Puget Sound War began. The Stkelmish village of , south of modern-day Bellevue, was used as a staging ground in the 1856 Battle of Seattle. The Duwamish took part in the battle on both sides, with many of the Hachuamish fighting against the Americans, and Chief Seattle aiding the settlers in the siege.
In August 1856, the Fox Island Council was held to address the grievances held by people after the treaty. There, Isaac Stevens agreed to establish a reservation, the Muckleshoot reservation, for the Duwamish and other tribes living along the Duwamish watershed, including the White and Green rivers, in hopes that the remaining Duwamish would move to the reservation. The reservation was understood by the Indigenous people at the meeting to consist of a wedge of land between the White and Green rivers, however the official documents only include the area of today's reservation. It was created in 1857 by executive order.
Reservation era (late 19th century)
In the years following, most of the remaining Duwamish moved from their historical homelands along Lake Washington and along the Duwamish and Cedar Rivers to the Suquamish Reservation, with others moving to the Muckleshoot and Tulalip reservations, although some still stayed behind, refusing to move. Some of those who remained assimilated into white society. This period led to the modern split between the Duwamish descendants: the Muckleshoot, Suquamish, and eponymous Duwamish tribes. The remaining Duwamish were expelled from the town of Seattle following the passage of Town of Seattle Ordinance No. 5.