Laich-kwil-tach (also spelled Ligwilda'xw), is the Anglicization of the Kwak'wala autonomy by the "Southern Kwakiutl" people of

Quadra Island Quadra Island is a large island off the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Discovery Islands, in the Strathcona Regional District. Etymology In 1903, the island was named after the Peruvian Spanish n ...

and Campbell River in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. There are today two main groups (of perhaps five original separate groups): the Wei Wai Kai (Cape Mudge Band) and

Wei Wai Kum Wei or WEI may refer to: States * Wey (state) (衛, 1040–209 BC), Wei in pinyin, but spelled Wey to distinguish from the bigger Wei of the Warring States * Wei (state) (魏, 403–225 BC), one of the seven major states of the Warring States per ...

just across on the

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

"mainland" in the town of Campbell River. In addition to these two main groups there are the Kwiakah (Kwiakah Band / Kwiakah First Nation) originally from Phillips Arm and Frederick Arm and the

Discovery Islands The Discovery Islands are a group of islands located at the northern end of the Salish Sea and the eastern end of Johnstone Strait, between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada. Most of these islands have very few ...

, the Tlaaluis (Laa'luls) between Bute and

Loughborough Inlet Loughborough Inlet is one of the lesser principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. It penetrates the Coast Mountains on the north side of the Discovery Islands archipelago, running about from its head at the mouth of the Stafford River to ...

s—after a great war between the Kwakiutl and the Salish peoples they were so reduced in numbers that they joined the Kwiakah—and the Walitsima / Walitsum Band of Salmon River (also called Hahamatses or Salmon River Band). So great was the power of the Southern Kwakiutl that the Comox people of the Courtenay- Comox came to speak Kwak'wala instead of K'omox, which today remains spoken by their kin the

Sliammon The Tla'amin First Nation (Comox language: ɬəʔamɛn), formerly Sliammon Indian Band or Sliammon First Nation, is a First Nations self governing nation whose lands and traditional territories are located on the upper Sunshine Coast in southwes ...

and Homalhko on the other side of

Georgia Strait The Strait of Georgia (french: Détroit de Géorgie) or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada and the extreme northwestern mainland coast ...

around Powell River. Many of the Wewaykum in Campbell River are of Comox descent, while the Weewaikai of the Cape Mudge Band retain noble lineages and ceremonies going back centuries to their roots in the

Queen Charlotte Strait , image = Canadian pilot, near Port Hardy BC.jpg , alt = , caption = A pilot boat plies Queen Charlotte Strait near Port Hardy , image_bathymetry = Locmap-QCS-Hecate-Dixon.png , alt_bathymetry = ...

. The great potlatches of the Cape Mudge chiefs are celebrated in the book ''Chiefly Feasts: The Enduring Kwakiutl Potlatch'' (A. Donaitis, U. Wash Press). The Southern Kwakiutl remain politically separate from their distant kin, the Kwakwaka'wakw, whose name means ''speakers of Kwak'wala'' who remained in the

. The Kwagu'ł or Northern Kwakiutl of

Fort Rupert Fort Rupert is the site of a former Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) fort on the east coast near the northern tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The unincorporated community on Beaver Harbour is about by road southeast of Port Hardy. Coal & fo ...

are more closely allied and related to the Southern Kwakiutl than are the Kwakwaka'wakw. The term "Kwakiutl" has different political and historical associations with each of these groups, and has associations with one band in particular over all others, which is one reason why Kwakwaka'wakw evolved as the collective name for the main group of

Kwak'wala-speakers. The Southern Kwakiutl have always called themselves ''Laich-kwil-tach'', at least since moving into the

. Laich-kwil-tach raids on the southern

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

, and even up the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

and out into the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...

, and northwards, are described in the annals of the early non-First Nations explorers and traders. There was one notable incident shortly after the founding of

Fort Langley Fort Langley is a village community in Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada. It has a population of approximately 3,400 people. It is the home of Fort Langley National Historic Site, a former fur trade post of the Hudson's Bay Company. ...

in which the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

(HBC) staff repelled a siege by the Euclataws (i.e. the Laich-kwil-tach) with cannonades (much earning the appreciation of the beleaguered local Kwantlens). Despite the presence of

the Laich-kwil-tach continued to raid other Sto:lo communities farther up the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

Notable Ligwilda'wx people

* Sonny Assu, interdisciplinary artist * Chief Billy Assu

References

*''Chiefly Feasts: The Enduring Kwakiutl Potlatch'' Aldona Jonaitis (Editor) U. Washington Press 1991 (also a publication of the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

) *''Bancroft-Hunt, Norman. People of the Totem: The Indians of the Pacific Northwest'' University of Oklahoma Press, 1988

Notable Ligwilda'wx people

References

See also