Miluk people
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Coos people are an
indigenous people of the Northwest Plateau Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau, also referred to by the phrase Indigenous peoples of the Plateau, and historically called the Plateau Indians (though comprising many groups) are indigenous peoples of the Interior of British Columbia ...
, living in
Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
. They live on the southwest Oregon Pacific coast. Today, Coos people are enrolled in the following federally recognized tribes: * Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians of Oregon * Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon *
Coquille Indian Tribe The Coquille Indian Tribe ( ) is the federally recognized Native American tribe of the Coquille people who have traditionally lived on the southern Oregon Coast. History Pre-contact through the mid-19th century Beginning in 1847, following th ...
.


Language

The Coos language is dormant. It belongs to the Coosan language family, and is divided into two dialects: Hanis language and Miluk language. The
Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw The Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians of Oregon are a federally recognized Native American tribe of Hanis Coos, Miluk Coos, Lower Umpqua (or Kuitsh), and Siuslaw people in Oregon.


Culture

There were 40–50
village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...
s in the Coos tribes (they lived around the Coos bay and North Bend area). Most of them were hunters, fishermen, and gatherers. For entertainment, they held foot races, canoe races, dice (bone or stick) games, target practice, and also shinny (
field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...
).


Namesakes

Several Oregon landmarks are named after the tribe, including
Coos Bay Coos Bay is an estuary where the Coos River enters the Pacific Ocean, the estuary is approximately 12 miles long and up to two miles wide. It is the largest estuary completely within Oregon state lines. The Coos Bay watershed covers an area of abou ...
, the city of
Coos Bay, Oregon Coos Bay ( Coos language: Atsixiis) is a city located in Coos County, Oregon, United States, where the Coos River enters Coos Bay on the Pacific Ocean. The city borders the city of North Bend, and together they are often referred to as one ent ...
, and Coos County.


Notable Coos people

*
Annie Miner Peterson Annie Miner Peterson (1860–1939) was a Coos Indian from the U.S. state of Oregon who was a cultural and linguistic consultant to Melville Jacobs, an anthropologist at the University of Washington. Personal life Annie was born in 1860 of a Co ...
(1860–1939), last speaker of the Miluk language


See also

*
Coosan languages The Coosan (also Coos or Kusan) language family consists of two languages spoken along the southern Oregon coast. Both languages are now extinct. Classification * Hanis ''†'' * Miluk ''†'' ( Lower Coquille) Melville Jacobs (1939) says tha ...


Notes


References

* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.


Further reading

* Leo J. Frachtenberg, "Coos," in Franz Boas (ed.)
''Handbook of American Indian Languages, Part 2.''
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1922; pp. 297–430.


External links


Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw
official website

collection of origin myths and lore by Leo J. Frachtenberg (1913), on
Internet Sacred Text Archive The Internet Sacred Text Archive (ISTA) is a Santa Cruz, California-based website dedicated to the preservation of electronic public domain religious texts. History The website was first opened to the public on March 9, 1999 by John Bruno Hare ...
{{authority control Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau Native American tribes in Oregon Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians