The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related

Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are composed of many nations and tribal affiliations, each with distinctive cultural and political identities. They share certain beliefs, traditions and practices, such as the centrality of sal ...

, living in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British Nor ...

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, for ...

and the U.S. states of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. They speak one of the Coast Salish languages. The Nuxalk (Bella Coola) nation are usually included in the group, although their language is more closely related to Interior Salish languages. The Coast Salish are a large, loose grouping of many nations with numerous distinct cultures and languages. Territory claimed by Coast Salish peoples span from the northern limit of the Salish Sea on the inside of

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

and covers most of southern Vancouver Island, all of the

Lower Mainland The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 Cana ...

and most of

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 m ...

and the

Olympic Peninsula The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a ...

(except for territories of now-extinct Chemakum people). Their traditional territories coincide with modern major metropolitan areas, namely Victoria,

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

, and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

. The Tillamook or Nehalem around Tillamook, Oregon are the southernmost of the Coast Salish peoples. Coast Salish cultures differ considerably from those of their northern neighbours. They have a

patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritan ...

and

matrilineal Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...

kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

system, with inheritance and descent passed through the male and female line. According to a 2013 estimate, the population of Coast Salish numbers at least 56,590 people, made of 28,406 Status Indians registered to Coast Salish bands in British Columbia, and 28,284 enrolled members of federally recognized tribes of Coast Salish in Washington State.

Peoples

Below is a list of some, but not all, of the Coast Salish-speaking tribes and nations located in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon. * Chehalis *

Chimakum The Chimakum, also spelled Chemakum and Chimacum are a near extinct Native American people (known to themselves as Aqokúlo and sometimes called the Port Townsend Indians), who lived in the northeastern portion of the Olympic Peninsula in Washin ...

* Cowichan **The Cowichan designation is derived from the name of one of several groups forming the

Cowichan Tribes Cowichan Tribes ( hur, Quw’utsun) is the band government of the Cowichan, a group of Coast Salish peoples who live in the Cowichan Valley region on Vancouver Island. With over 3,800 registered members, it is the single largest First Nations ban ...

band government, the Quwutsun. In the 19th century this term, or the variant "Cowidgin," was applied to all Halkomelem-speaking groups and certain others, such as the Skwxwu7mesh and Semiahmoo. On Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, other "Cowichan" groups include the Penelakut, Lyackson and Lamalcha. * Cowlitz Tribe * Duwamish *

Esquimalt The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esqui ...

Halalt The Halalt First Nation (Halkomelem Language: xeláltxw) is a First Nations tribe located on a reservation near Chemainus in southeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The historical territory of the Halalt people is the lower Chem ...

* Homalco * Klallam * K'omoks (Comox) *

Klahoose The ƛoʔos Klahoose are one of the three groups comprising the ''ʔayʔaǰuθəm'' Tla'Amin or Mainland Comox. The other two divisions of this once-populous group are the χʷɛmaɬku Homalco and Sliammon (which is a corruption of "Tla A'min") ...

* Lamalcha (Hwlitsum) * Lummi (Lhaq'temish) * Lyackson * Muckleshoot * Musqueam (x^wməθk^wəy̓əm) * Nisqually * Nooksack (Noxwsʼáʔaq) * Penelakut * Pentlatch *

Puyallup Puyallup may refer to: * Puyallup (tribe), a Native American tribe * Puyallup, Washington, a city ** Puyallup High School ** Puyallup School District ** Puyallup station, a Sounder commuter rail station ** Washington State Fair, formerly the ...

New Westminster Indian Band The New Westminster Indian Band is modern creation, an Indian Act band government based at suite 105 - 3680 Rae Avenue in Vancouver, British Columbia. The band administration uses the unofficial name "Qayqayt First Nation" in its public communicati ...

* Qualicum * Quileute * Saanich (W̱SÁNEĆ) ** MÁLEXEŁ -

Malahat First Nation Malahat First Nation is a Coast Salish First Nations community of W̱SÁNEĆ (Saanich People) representing approximately 350 members with two reserve lands located on the western shore of Saanich Inlet, Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Cana ...

** BOḰEĆEN – Pauquachin ** SȾÁ,UTW̱ –

Tsawout The Tsawout First Nation is a First Nations government located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. They are a member of the Sencot'en Alliance. In the 1850s they were signatories to the Douglas Treaties. They speak the SENĆOŦEN la ...

** W̱JOȽEȽP –

Tsartlip The Tsartlip First Nation is a First Nation located on the Saanich Peninsula, in Saanich territory on Vancouver Island. They are a member of the Sencot'en Alliance fighting for Native rights. In the 1850s they were signatories to one of the D ...

** W̱SÍḴEM – Tseycum First Nation * Samish * Sawhewamish (Sʼəhiwʼabš) *

Scia'new First Nation The Sc'ianew First Nation or Beecher Bay First Nation is a First Nations group, governed by a band governmental body of the same name. They are a party involved in the Douglas Treaties and are negotiating a modern treaty as a member of the Te'mex ...

(Beecher Bay) * Semiahmoo (SEMYOME) * Shishalh (Sechelt) *

Shoalwater Bay Tribe Shoalwater Bay Tribe is a Native American tribe in western Washington state in the United States. They are descendants of the Willapa Chinook, Lower Chehalis, and the Northern Athabaskan speaking Willapa (Kwalhioqua). The Shoalwater Bay tr ...

* Siletz * Skagits ** Lower Skagit (Whidbey Island Skagits) ** Upper Skagit * Skokomish (Twana) * Sliammon (Tla'amin) * Snaw-naw-as (originally this term was used for both the Snuneymuxw/Nanaimo and the group that today uses this name, at Nanoose Bay) * Snohomish (Sduhubš) *

Snokomish The Snokomish were a Halkomelem-speaking Coast Salish people whose territory was primarily located across the Boundary Bay area. The Snokomish were also known as the Derby people, as their territory included a portion of the Fraser River, near De ...

* Snoqualmie (Sduqwalbixw) * Snuneymuxw (Nanaimo) * Songhees (Lekwungen) * Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw) *

Squaxin The Squaxin Island Tribe are the descendants of several Lushootseed clans organized under the Squaxin Island Indian Reservation, a Native American tribal government in western Washington state. Historically, the ancestors of the Squaxin Island T ...

* Stillaguamish * Stó꞉lō ** Aitchelitz ** Chawathil ** Cheam ** Kwantlen ** Kwikwetlem ** Katzie ** Leq' a: mel ** Matsqui ** Popkum ** Salish ** Seabird Island ** Skawahlook (Tait) ** Shxw'ow'hamel ** Skway (Shxwhá:y) ** Skowkale ** Skwah ** Soowahlie ** Sts'Ailes (Chehalis, BC) ** Sumas ** Tzeachten ** Yakweakwioose
Stz'uminus First Nation
(Chemainus + Ladysmith) * Suiʼaẋbixw * Suquamish (Suqwabš) * Swinomish *

Tsawwassen Tsawwassen ( ) is a suburban, mostly residential community on a peninsula in the southwestern corner of the City of Delta in British Columbia, Canada. It provides the only road access to the American territory on the southern tip of the peninsul ...

* Tsleil-Waututh *

T'Sou-ke Nation The T'sou-ke Nation of the Coast Salish peoples, is a band government whose reserve community is located on Vancouver Island, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. In February 2013, the T'sou-ke Nation had 251 registered members, with tw ...

* Tulalip (dxwlilap) * Xacuabš

History

The history of Coast Salish peoples presented here provides an overview from a primarily United States perspective. Coast Salish peoples in British Columbia have had similar economic experience, although their political and treaty experience has been different—occasionally dramatically so. Evidence has been found from c. 3000 BCE of an established settlement at X̱á:ytem (Hatzic Rock) near

Mission, British Columbia Mission is a city in the Lower Mainland of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It was originally incorporated as a district municipality in 1892, growing to include additional villages and rural areas over the years, adding the original To ...

. Early occupancy of ''c̓əsnaʔəm'' ( Marpole Midden) is evident from c. 2000 BCE – 450 CE, and lasting at least until around the late 1800s, when

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

and other diseases affected the inhabitants. Other notable early settlements that record has been found of include prominent villages along the

Duwamish River , their children would be brought under the protection of surviving brothers and sisters, out of fear of mistreatment by stepparents. The Salish Sea region of the Northwest coast has produced ancient pieces of art appearing by 4500 BP that feature various Salish styles recognizable in more recent historical works. A seated human feature bowl was used in a female puberty ritual in Secwepemc territory; it was believed to aid women in giving birth. Salish-made bowls in the Northwest have different artistic designs and features. Numerous bowls have basic designs with animal features on the surface. Similar bowls will have more decorations including a head, body, wings, and limbs. A seated figure bowl is more complex in design, depicting humans being intertwined with animals. For thousands of years, Northwest coast Salish people demonstrated valuing material possessions. They believe that material wealth included land, food resources, household items, and adornments. Material wealth not only improved one's life but it enhanced other qualities such as those needed to acquire high status. Wealth was required to enhance their status as elite born, or through practical skills, and ritual knowledge. An individual could not buy status or power, but wealth could be used to enhance them. Wealth was not meant to be hidden. It has been publicly displayed through ceremony.

Recreation

Games often involved gambling on a sleight-of-hand game known as slahal, as well as athletic contests. Games that are similar to modern day

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

and forms of

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preser ...

also existed.

Beliefs

Belief in guardian spirits and shapeshifting or transformation between human and animal spirits were widely shared in myriad forms. The relations of soul or souls, and conceptions of the lands of the living and the dead were complex and mutable. Vision quest journeys involving other states of consciousness were varied and widely practised. The Duwamish had a soul recovery and journey ceremony and legends. They also had many ceremonies and celebrations. The Quileute Salish people near the Port Townsend area had their own beliefs about where souls of all living things go. The shamans of these people believed everything had five components to its spirit; the body, an inner and outer soul, its life force, and its ghost.Jay, Miller, Shamanic Odyssey (Menlo Park California: Ballena Press, 1988). It is believed that an individual becomes ill when their soul is removed from their body and is followed by death when it reaches the underworld. It is the job of the Shaman to travel to the underworld to save the individual by recovering the soul while it is travelling between the two worlds. The Shamans believed that once the individual's body is dead it is able to connect with its soul and shade in the underworld. It is believed that the spirits are able to come back amongst the living and cause family members to die of sickness and join them in the afterlife. Living individuals were terrified of the intentions of the spirits who only appear during the night, prompting Salish people to travel during the day and staying close to others for protection. Coastal Salish beliefs describe the journey to the underworld as a two-day adventure. The individual must walk along a trail passing through bushes and a lake to reach a valley that is divided by a river where they will reside. Salish belief of the afterlife very closely resembles the past life they lived often assigning themselves to jobs to keep busy, hunt for animals and game, and live with their families. Coastal Salish people believe that through dances, masks, or ceremonies they express themselves through the spiritual powers that they are given. Spirit powers define a community's success through leadership, warriordom, healing, or artistry. Spirit dancing ceremonies are common gatherings during the winter for members of the community to show their spirit powers through song, or dance.5. Bill, Angelbeck, "localized Rituals and individual Spirit Powers: Discerning Regional Autonomy Through Religious Practices in the Coast Salish Past," ''Journal of Northwest Anthropology'' 50 (2016). The powers they acquired were sought after individually after going through trials of isolation where their powers relate to spirit animals such as a raven, woodpecker, bear, or seal. Oftentimes members of the community will get together to show their powers at the longhouse floor, where the spiritual powers are for the individual alone for each member to share and display various songs.

Architecture

Villages of the Coast Salish typically consisted of Western Red Cedar split plank and

earthen floor An earthen floor, also called an adobe floor, is a floor made of dirt, raw earth, or other unworked ground materials. It is usually constructed, in modern times, with a mixture of sand, finely chopped straw and clay, mixed to a thickened consiste ...

longhouses A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from timber and often re ...

providing habitation for forty or more people, usually a related extended family. Also used by many groups were

pit-house A pit-house (or ''pit house'', ''pithouse'') is a house built in the ground and used for shelter. Besides providing shelter from the most extreme of weather conditions, these structures may also be used to store food (just like a pantry, a lard ...

s, known in the Chinook Jargon as ''kekuli'' (see Quiggly holes). The villages were typically located near navigable water for easy transportation by dugout

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

. 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 from 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 wealthy built extraordinarily large longhouses. The Suquamish Oleman House ( Old Man House) at what became the Port Madison Reservation was 152 x 12–18 m (500 x 40–60 ft), c. 1850. The gambrel roof was unique to Puget Sound Coast Salish.Suttles & Lane (1990), p. 491 The Salish later took to constructing rock walls at strategic points near the Fraser River Canyon, along the Fraser River. These Salish Defensive Sites are rock wall features constructed by Coast Salish peoples. One was excavated by Kisha Supernant in 2008 at

Yale, British Columbia Yale is an unincorporated town in the Canadian province of British Columbia, which grew in importance during the gold rush era. Located on the Fraser River, it is generally considered to be on the dividing line between the Coast and the Inter ...

. The functions of these features may have included defense, fishing platforms, and creation of house terraces. House pits and stone tools have been found in association with certain sites. Methods used include use of a

total station A total station (TS) or total station theodolite (TST) is an electronic/optical instrument used for surveying and building construction. It is an electronic transit theodolite integrated with electronic distance measurement (EDM) to measure ...

for mapping the sites as well as the creation of simple test pits to probe for

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers ( strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

and artifacts. Native groups along the Northwest coast have been using plants for making wood and fiber artifacts for over 10,500 years. Anthropologists are searching for aquifer wet sites that would contain ancient Salish villages. These sites are created by a series of waters running through the archaeological deposits creating an environment with no oxygen that preserves wood and fiber The wet sites would typically contain perishable artifacts that were used as wedges, fishhooks, basketry, cordage, and nets.

Ethnobotany

The Coast Salish use over 100 species of plants. Salal is the source of multiple tinctures and teas, and its berries are often eaten during feasts. They use the leaves of Carex to make baskets and twine.

Diet

Coast Salish peoples' had complex land management practices linked to ecosystem health and resilience. Forest gardens on Canada's northwest coast included crabapple, hazelnut, cranberry, wild plum, and wild cherry species. There is also documentation of the cultivation of great camas, Indian carrot, and Columbia lily. Anthropogenic

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

s were maintained. The south Coast Salish may have had more vegetables and land game than people farther north or among other peoples on the outer coast. Salmon and other fish were staples; see Coast Salish people and salmon. There was ''kakanee'', a freshwater fish in the Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish watersheds.

Shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environ ...

were abundant. Butter clams, horse clams, and cockles were dried for trade. Hunting was specialized; professions were probably sea hunters, land hunters, fowlers. Water fowl were captured on moonless nights using strategic flares. The managed

s not only provided game habitat, but vegetable sprouts, roots, bulbs, berries, and nuts were foraged from them as well as found wild. The most important were probably

bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family (biology), family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produ ...

and camas; wapato especially for the Duwamish. Many, many varieties of berries were foraged; some were harvested with comblike devices not reportedly used elsewhere. Acorns were relished but were not widely available. Regional tribes went in autumn to the Nisqually Flats (Nisqually plains) to harvest them. Salish groups such as Muckleshoot were heavily reliant on seasonal foods that included animals and plants. In January, they would gather along the river banks to catch salmon. By May, Salmonberry sprouts would be eaten with salmon eggs. Men would hunt deer and elk, while women gathered camas and clams from the prairies and beaches. By the summer, steelhead and king salmon appeared in masses along the rivers, and berries were abundant in the forests. This harvesting cycle is referred to as the Seasonal Rounds.

In literature and TV

''Legends of Vancouver'' by Canadian author E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake) is a collection of Coast Salish "as told-to" narratives, stemming from the author's relationship to Squamish Chief Joe Capilano. It first appeared in 1911, now available online from UPenn Digital Library.

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

author Stanley Evans has written a series of mysteries featuring a Coast Salish character, Silas Seaweed, from the fictitious "Mohawt Bay Band," who works as an investigator with the Victoria Police Department. In the third episode of the first season of the 2017's ''Taboo'', Tom Hardy's character James Delaney visits the grave of his mother, whose name is "Salish." In 2022, filmmaker Ryan Abrahamson of the Spokane Tribe created a supernatural thriller featuring the Coast Salish language.

Terminology

The use of the term Coast Salish, and its association with an attribute of nationhood, has increasingly become resisted, as that notion of a 'national' grouping is not a traditional part of the culture of Salish communities in this area, and as the term derives more from anthropology than community self-description. The phenomenon replacing this terminology is increasingly to indicate the specific tribe in question, or otherwise to use terms not given by non-Indigenous entities.

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Amoss, Pamela. ''Coast Salish Spirit Dancing: The Survival of an Ancestral Religion''. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1978. * Blanchard, Rebecca, and Nancy Davenport. ''Contemporary Coast Salish Art''. Seattle: Stonington Gallery, 2005. * * Porter, Frank W. ''The Coast Salish Peoples''. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989. * Pugh, Ellen, and Laszlo Kubinyi. ''The Adventures of Yoo-Lah-Teen: A Legend of the Salish Coastal Indians''. New York: Dial Press, 1975. * Suttles, Wayne, and Barbara Lane (1990). 'Southern Coast Salish.' In ''The Handbook of Northamerican Indians'', Vol. 7. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. * Thom, Brian David (2005). ''Coast Salish senses of place: Dwelling, meaning, power, property and territory in the Coast Salish world''. Ph.D. dissertation, McGill University (Canada), Canada. Retrieved: http://hdl.handle.net/10613/32

External links

Coast Salish Collections: Archaeology and Ethnology of the Gulf of Georgia, Province of British Columbia, 2000, part of Digital Collections
* Brian Thom'
Coast Salish Homepage
presents a bibliography of Coast Salish related works with links to Open Access versions where available. {{authority control Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast First Nations in British Columbia Native American tribes in Oregon Native American tribes in Washington (state)