Coast Salish
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Coast Salish is a subgroup of the Salishan language family, but can also refer to First Nations/Native American cultures in British Columbia and Washington who speak one of these languages.
The Coast Salish homeland stretched from the Strait of Georgia north of the Fraser River to the southern end of Puget Sound, encompassing the sites of the modern-day cities of Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington. A branch of the Coast Salish established themselves on the coast of Oregon near present-day Tillamook, Oregon, to the south of the Chinookan peoples whose territory lines the lower reaches of the Columbia River. Archeological evidence indicates that the Coast Salish may have inhabited the area as far back as 9000 B.C.
Villages of the Coast Salish typically consisted of redcedar-planked and earthen-floor longhouses providing habitation for forty or more people, usually related. The villages were typically located near navigable water for easy transportation by dugout canoe. Houses that were part of the same village sometimes stretched for several miles along a river or watercourse.
The interior walls of longhouses were typically lined with sleeping platforms. Storage shelves above the platforms held baskets, tools, clothing, and other items. Firewood was stored below the platforms. Mattresses and cushions were constructed woven reed mats and animals skins. Food was hung to dry from the ceiling. The larger houses included partitions to separate families, as well as interior fires with roof slats that functioned as chimneys.
The staple of their diet was salmon.
The art of the Coast Salish has become a popular idiom for modern art in British Columbia and the Puget Sound area.
Slavery
Unlike the stereotypical hunter-gatherer societies widespread in North America, but like other peoples of the coast of the Pacific Northwest, Coast Salish society was complex, hierarchical, and oriented toward property and status. Slavery was widespread. The Coast Salish held slaves as simple property and not as members of the tribe. The children of slaves themselves became slaves.Peoples speaking a Coast Salish language
- Comox (Courtenay area, Vancouver Island) — K'omox
- T'souke (Sooke) — Halqemeylem
- Snuneymuxw (Nanaimo) Hunquminum
- Saanich (Victoria area) — Northern Straits Salish
- Somena (Cowichan Valley, Vancouver Island)
- Comox (Northern Georgia Strait/Toba Inlet, northern Sunshine Coast) — K'omox
- * Sliammon
- * Homalco
- Shishalh (Sechelt) — Shishalh
- Squamish — Skwxwú7mesh snichim
- Upriver — Halkeymelem — see Halqemeylem (Upper Fraser Valley)
- Downriver — Hulquminum — Halqemeylem (Lower Fraser Valley-Vancouver)
- Tsawwassen — Northern Straits Salish
(excluding Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands)
- Klallam (Strait of Juan de Fuca) — Northern Straits Salish
- Lummi (Northern Puget Sound) — Northern Straits Salish
- Snohomish (Northern Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Skagit(Northern Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Swinomish(Northern Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Duwamish (Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Suquamish (Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Squaxin Island Tribe (Southern Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Nisqually (Southern Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Puyallup (Southern Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Nooksack (Northern Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Skokomish (Western Puget Sound; Portland Canal) Twana
- Chehalis (Chehalis WA) — Chehalis language
See also
References
- Czaykowska-Higgins, Ewa and M. Dale Kinkade (1998) "Salish languages and linguistics" in ibid. (eds.) Salish Languages and Linguistics: Theoretical and Descriptive Perspectives. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 1-71.
- Kroeber, Paul D. (1999) The Salish Language Family: Reconstructing Syntax. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- Thompson, Lawrence C. and M. Dale Kinkade (1990) "Languages" in Wayne Suttles (ed.) Handbook of North American Indians: Volume 7. Northwest Coast. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 30-51.
External links
- Comox (Northern Georgia Strait/Toba Inlet, northern Sunshine Coast) — K'omox
- * Sliammon
- * Homalco
- Shishalh (Sechelt) — Shishalh
- Squamish — Skwxwú7mesh snichim
- Upriver — Halkeymelem — see Halqemeylem (Upper Fraser Valley)
- Downriver — Hulquminum — Halqemeylem (Lower Fraser Valley-Vancouver)
- Tsawwassen — Northern Straits Salish
(excluding Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands)
- Klallam (Strait of Juan de Fuca) — Northern Straits Salish
- Lummi (Northern Puget Sound) — Northern Straits Salish
- Snohomish (Northern Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Skagit(Northern Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Swinomish(Northern Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Duwamish (Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Suquamish (Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Squaxin Island Tribe (Southern Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Nisqually (Southern Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Puyallup (Southern Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Nooksack (Northern Puget Sound) — Lushootseed
- Skokomish (Western Puget Sound; Portland Canal) Twana
- Chehalis (Chehalis WA) — Chehalis language
See also
References
- Czaykowska-Higgins, Ewa and M. Dale Kinkade (1998) "Salish languages and linguistics" in ibid. (eds.) Salish Languages and Linguistics: Theoretical and Descriptive Perspectives. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 1-71.
- Kroeber, Paul D. (1999) The Salish Language Family: Reconstructing Syntax. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- Thompson, Lawrence C. and M. Dale Kinkade (1990) "Languages" in Wayne Suttles (ed.) Handbook of North American Indians: Volume 7. Northwest Coast. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 30-51.
External links
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