A Tluwulahu costume - Qagyuhl - Edward S Curtis - LC-USZ62-52211

Kwaguʼł are a

Kwakwakaʼwakw The Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw (), also known as the Kwakiutl (; "Kwakʼwala-speaking peoples"), are an indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, indigenous group of the Pacific Northwest Coast, in southwestern Canada. Their total population, ...

tribe of the

Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast The Indigenous peoples of the Americas, 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 prac ...

from central

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, on northern

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 ...

. Their main community is called Tsax̱is or

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 & ...

. The ancestral language is

Kwakʼwala Kwakʼwala or Kwak̓wala (), previously known as Kwakiutl (), is a Wakashan language spoken by about 450 Kwakwakaʼwakw people around Queen Charlotte Strait in Western Canada. It has shared considerable influence with other languages of the ...

, a language that is a part of the

Wakashan Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As is typical of the Nor ...

language group. In their language, Kwaguʼł translates to ''Smoke-Around-the-World'' referring to the smoke that exited from the many bighouses in their villages. The

band government In Canada, an Indian band (), First Nation band () or simply band, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subject to the ''Indian Act'' (i.e. status Indians or First Nations). Bands are typically small groups of people: the largest in ...

of the Kwaguʼł is the

Kwakiutl First Nation The Kwakiutl First Nation is a First Nations government based on northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, focused on the community of Port Hardy, British Columbia in the Queen Charlotte Strait region, and also known as the Fort Rupert ...

. The anglicization " Kwakiutl" and other forms of this group's name was for a long time used to describe all the Kwakwakaʼwakw peoples, but properly refers only to this group. The term "Kwakiutl" is also used by the

Laich-kwil-tach Laich-kwil-tach (also spelled Liǧʷiłdaxʷ), is the Anglicization of the Kwak'wala autonomy by the "Southern Kwakiutl" people of Quadra Island and Campbell River in British Columbia, Canada. There are today two main groups (of perhaps five ...

or Lekwiltok (Euclataws or Yucultas, historically) who migrated from the vicinity of what would become Fort Rupert to what is now the City of Campbell River and adjoining islands at the start of the 19th century; they identify as the Southern Kwakiutl.

Notable members

*Artist

Mungo Martin Chief Mungo Martin or ''Nakapenkem'' (lit. ''Potlatch chief "ten times over"''), ''Datsa'' (lit. ''"grandfather"''), was an important figure in Northwest Coast style art, specifically that of the Kwakwaka'wakw Aboriginal people who live in the ...

and his descendants, many of whom are also prominent artists. * Tony Hunt, chief of the Kwaguʼł and a carver/sculptor * Hawinipologwa or Qualicum Annie as she is better known as, was Walas Kwagulh, and she likely carried the killer whale crest.

References

Johan Adrian Jacobsen Johan Adrian Jacobsen (1853 in Risøya, Tromsø – 1947) was a Norwegian ethnologist and adventurer. He is mainly known as a collector of ethnographical objects, and a recruiter of indigenous peoples for the ethnographical shows organized by ...

: ''Alaskan Voyage, 1881-1883: An Expedition to the Northwest Coast of America'', University of Chicago Press; Auflage: Reprint (April 1983),

External links

U'mista Cultural Society
{{Kwakwaka'wakw Kwakwaka'wakw