The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the many First Nations and Alaska Native peoples whose traditional homelands lie along the Pacific coast of northwestern North America. The region is defined as a long, narrow coastal zone from the Alaska Panhandle through to British Columbia, Washington State, Oregon, and Northern California. Each ethnic group has distinct histories, political identities, and languages, but they share cultural and subsistence practices, certain beliefs, ceremonies, traditions, and artistic forms. Salmon is a central resource and spiritual symbol. The term Northwest Coast or North West Coast is used in anthropology to refer to the groups, while the term Pacific Northwest is largely used in the American context.
The environment of the Pacific Northwest supported unusually dense settlement for hunter gatherer societies, with ample salmon runs, shellfish, herring, halibut, sea mammals, cedar forests, berries, roots, and game making possible large permanent or semi-permanent villages, extensive trade, and highly complex political and ceremonial life. At one point, the region had the highest population density of a region inhabited by Indigenous peoples in Canada.Aboriginal Identity (8), Sex (3) and Age Groups (12) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census-20% Sample Data Click to view table notes, BC Retrieved 2009-10-05.Number and percentage of population reporting Aboriginal identity, Canada, provinces and territories, 2006 Retrieved 2009-10-05.Percentage of Aboriginal people in the population, Canada, provinces and territories, 2006 Retrieved 2009-10-05. List of nations
The Pacific Northwest Coast at one time had the most densely populated areas of Indigenous people ever recorded in Canada. The land and waters provided rich natural resources through cedar and salmon, and highly structured cultures developed from relatively dense populations. Within the Pacific Northwest, many different nations developed, each with their own distinct history, culture, and society. Some cultures in this region were very similar and share certain elements, such as the importance of salmon to their cultures, while others differed. Prior to contact, and for a brief time after colonization, some of these groups regularly conducted war against each other through raids and attacks. Through warfare they gathered captives for slavery.
Eyak The Eyak people traditionally inhabit the Copper River Delta region on the northern edge of the Alaska Panhandle. Historically, Eyak communities were located along the coastal areas and river systems of south-central Alaska, where they relied on fishing, hunting, and gathering for subsistence.
Today, most Eyak people live in or near the city of Cordova. Although the Eyak language went extinct in 2008 before being revitalized by a self-taught Frenchman, the community has been involved in efforts to document and revitalize aspects of Eyak language and culture.
Tlingit
The Tlingit ( , ; the latter is considered inaccurate) are one of the furthest north Indigenous nations in the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their autonym is Lingít , meaning "Human being". The Russian name for them, Koloshi, was derived from an Aleut term for the labret; and the related German name, Koulischen, may be encountered in older historical literature.
The Tlingit are a matrilineal society. They developed a complex hunter-gatherer culture in the temperate rainforest of the Alaska Panhandle and adjoining inland areas of present-day British Columbia.
Haida The Haida people ( ) are well known as skilled artisans of wood, metal and design. They have also shown much perseverance and resolve in the area of forest conservation. The vast forests of cedar and spruce where the Haida make their home are on pre-glacial land, which is believed, according to a theory held by Quentin Mackie, an archaeologist from the University of Victoria to be almost 14,000 years old. The Haida were widely known for their art and architecture, both of which focused on the creative embellishment of wood. They decorated utilitarian objects with depictions of supernatural and other beings in a highly conventionalized style.
Haida communities located in Prince of Wales Island, Alaska and Haida Gwaii, British Columbia (previously referred to as the Queen Charlotte Islands) also share a common border with other Indigenous peoples, such as the Tlingit and the Tsimshian. The Haida were also famous for their long-distance raiding and slaving, going often to California for trading.
Tsimshian
The Tsimshian ( ), translated as "People Inside the Skeena River," are Indigenous people who live around Terrace and Prince Rupert on the North Coast of British Columbia, and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are about 10,000 Tsimshian, of whom about 1,300 live in Alaska.
Succession in Tsimshian society is matrilineal, and one's place in society was determined by one's clan or phratry (defined as four equal parts). Four main Tsimshian clans form the basic phratry. The Laxsgiik (Eagle Clan) and Ganhada (Raven Clan) form one half. Gispwudwada (Killer Whale Clan) and Laxgibuu (Wolf Clan) form the other half. Prior to European contact, marriage in Tsimshian society could not take place within a half-group, for example between a Wolf and a Killer Whale. It was considered to be incest even if there was no blood relationship. Marriages were only arranged between people from clans in different halves: for example, between a Killer Whale and a Raven or Eagle.
Gitxsan The Gitxsan or Gitksan, meaning "people of the Skeena River", were known with the Nisga'a as Interior Tsimshian. They speak a closely related language to Nisga'a, though both are related to Coast Tsimshian (the English term for Tsimshian spoken on the coast). Although inland, their culture is part of the Northwest Coast culture area, and they share many common characteristics, including the clan system, an advanced art style, and war canoes. They share an historic alliance with the neighboring Wetʼsuwetʼen, a subgroup of the Dakelh (or Carrier people). Together they waged a battle in the courts against British Columbia known as Delgamuukw v British Columbia, which had to do with land rights.
Haisla The Haisla (also Xaʼislakʼala, X̄aʼislakʼala, X̌àʼislakʼala, X̣aʼislakʼala) are an Indigenous nation living at Kitamaat in the North Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The name Haisla is derived from the Haisla word x̣àʼisla or x̣àʼisəla, "(those) living at the rivermouth, living downriver".
Heiltsuk
The Heiltsuk ( )Dictionary.com are an Indigenous Nation of the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, centred on the island communities of Bella Bella and Klemtu. The Heiltsuk are the descendants of a number of tribal groups who came together in Bella Bella in the 19th century. They generally prefer the autonym Heiltsuk. Anthropology labelled them the Bella Bella, which is how they are more widely known.
Nuxalk The Nuxalk (pronounced ), also known as the Bella Coola, are an Indigenous people of the Central Coast, as well as the furthest north of the Coast Salish cultures. Linguists have classified their Salishan language as independent of both Interior and Coast Salish language groups. It is quite different from that of their coastal neighbours, though it contains a large number of Wakashan loan words. They are believed to have been more connected to Interior Salish peoples, before Athabaskan-speaking groups now inland from them spread southwards, cutting the Nuxalk off from their linguistic relatives.
Wuikinuxv The Wuikinuxv, also known as the Owekeeno or Rivers Inlet people (after their location), speak a language related to Heiltsuk, Wuikyala or Oowekyala (they are dialects of a language that has no independent name; linguists refer to it as Heiltsuk-Oweekyala). Together with the Heiltsuk and Haisla, they were once incorrectly known as the Northern Kwakiutl because of their language's close relationship with Kwakʼwala. Greatly reduced in numbers today, like other coastal peoples they were master carvers and painters. They had an elaborate ritual and clan system. The focus of their territory was Owikeno Lake, a freshwater fjord above a short stretch of river at the head of Rivers Inlet, although they inhabited the inlet proper out to Calvert Island/Koeye.
Kwakwakaʼwakw
The Kwakwakaʼwakw are an Indigenous people, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the mainland. The autonym they prefer is Kwakwakaʼwakw. Their Indigenous language, part of the Wakashan languages family, is Kwakʼwala. The name Kwakwakaʼwakw means "speakers of Kwakʼwala". The language is now spoken by less than 5% of the population—about 250 people. Today 17 separate tribes make up the Kwakwakaʼwakw, who historically spoke the common language of Kwakʼwala. Some Kwakwakaʼwakw groups are now extinct. Kwakʼwala is a Northern Wakashan language, a grouping shared with Haisla, Heiltsuk and Oowekyala.
Daʼnaxdaʼxw Nation The Daʼnaxdaʼxw Nation, or Da'naxda'xw/Awaetlatla Nation is a First Nations government in northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, their main community is the community of Alert Bay in the Queen Charlotte Strait region. There are approximately 225 members of the Daʼnaxdaʼxw Nation. The Nation is a member of the Kwakiutl District Council and, for treaty negotiation purposes, the Winalagalis Treaty Group which includes three other members of the Kwakiutl District Council (the Quatsino First Nation, the Gwaʼsala-ʼNakwaxdaʼxw Nations, and the Tlatlasikwala Nation).
Nuu-chah-nulth The Nuu-chah-nulth ( ; ) are an Indigenous people in Canada. Their traditional home is in the Pacific Northwest on the west coast of Vancouver Island. In pre-contact and early post-contact times, the number of nations was much greater, but as in the rest of the region, smallpox and other consequences of contact resulted in the disappearance of some groups, and the absorption of others into neighbouring groups.
They were among the first Pacific peoples north of California to come into contact with Europeans. Competition between Spain and the United Kingdom over control of Nootka Sound led to a bitter international dispute around 1790, which was settled when Spain agreed to abandon its claim of exclusivity to the North Pacific coast, and to pay damages for British ships seized during the dispute. The Nuu-chah-nulth speak a Southern Wakashan language and are closely related to the Makah and Ditidaht.
Ditidaht The Ditidaht are a Southern Wakashan speaking people related to the Nuu-chah-nulth. Their territory is concentrated in the southern portion of Vancouver Island.
Makah The Makah are a Southern Wakashan people and are closely related to the Nuu-chah-nulth. They are also noted as whalers. Their territory is around the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula.
Coast Salish
The Coast Salish are the largest of the southern groups. They are a loose grouping of many tribes with numerous distinct cultures and languages. Territory claimed by Coast Salish peoples spans from the northern end of the Strait of Georgia, along the east side of Vancouver Island, covering most of southern Vancouver Island, all of the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast, all of Puget Sound except (formerly) for the Chimakum territory near Port Townsend, and all of the Olympic Peninsula except that of the Quileute, related to the now-extinct Chemakum. The Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound were officially united as the Salish Sea in 2010.