The Kitasoo are one of the 14 tribes of the

Tsimshian The Tsimshian (; ) are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace, British Columbia, Terrace and ...

people in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, who inhabit, along with the Xai'xais, the village of

Klemtu Klemtu is an unincorporated community on Swindle Island in the coastal fjords of British Columbia, Canada. It is located on Kitasoo Indian Reserve No. 1. Klemtu is the home of the Kitasoo tribe of Tsimshians, originally from Kitasu Bay, and ...

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 ...

. The name ''Kitasoo'' derives from the Tsimshian name ''Gidestsu'', from ''git-'' (people of) and ''disdzuu,'' which refers to a large, tiered house-depression. The Kitasoo, along with the Gitga'ata Tsimshians at

Hartley Bay Hartley Bay is a First Nations community on the coast of British Columbia. The village is located at the mouth of Douglas Channel, about north of Vancouver and south of Prince Rupert. It is an isolated village accessible only by air and wa ...

, B.C., are often classed as " Southern Tsimshian," their traditional language being the southern dialect of the

Tsimshian language The Tsimshianic languages are a family of languages spoken in northwestern British Columbia and in Southeast Alaska on Annette Island and Ketchikan. All Tsimshianic languages are endangered, some with only around 400 speakers. Only around 2,170 ...

. Their band government is the

Kitasoo/Xaixais First Nation The Kitasoo/Xaixais First Nation, also known as the Kitasoo/Xaixais Nation, is the band government of the First Nations people of Klemtu, British Columbia, Canada. The band comprises two ethnic groups who share an ancient alliance, the Kitasoo, ...

, a member government of the Wuikinuxv-Kitasoo-Nuxalk Tribal Council. The anthropologist

Marius Barbeau Charles Marius Barbeau, (March 5, 1883 – February 27, 1969), also known as C. Marius Barbeau, or more commonly simply Marius Barbeau, was a Canadians, Canadian ethnographer and folklorist who is today considered a founder of Canadian anthr ...

recorded in 1947 that John Starr was of the "Klemtu" tribe and held the hereditary name Lagax'niitsk.

Prehistoric culture

Some information is known about the lifestyle and diet of the

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

Kitasoo based upon

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

recovery. For example, the Kitasoo exploited numerous flora and fauna as food sources including the Whitebark Raspberry, ''

Rubus leucodermis ''Rubus leucodermis'', also called whitebark raspberry, blackcap raspberry, or blue raspberry, is a species of ''Rubus'' native to western North America. Description ''Rubus leucodermis'' is a deciduous shrub growing to , with prickly shoots. W ...

''.C.Michael Hogan, ''Whitebark Raspberry'', October 19, 2008, Globaltwitcher, ed. N. Stromber

Notes

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External links

The Kitasoo/Xai'Xais Nation

An Introduction to Klemtu

Bibliography

* Barbeau, Marius (1950) ''Totem Poles.'' 2 vols. (Anthropology Series 30, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 119.) Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. * Miller, Jay (1981) "Moieties and Cultural Amnesia: Manipulation of Knowledge in a Pacific Northwest Coast Native Community," ''Arctic Anthropology,'' vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 23–32. * Miller, Jay (1982) "Tsimshian Moieties and Other Clarifications," ''Northwest Anthropological Research Notes,'' vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 148–164. Tsimshian Central Coast of British Columbia North Coast of British Columbia