Washington contains more than 20 Native American reservations,
including one of the largest in the country, belonging to the Yakima peoples. Native
American groups comprise 1.7 percent of the population of Washington State.
Learn more about:
Washington State Native
Americans.
Tribal Events
What's
in a name?
Cayuse The Cayuse,
Umatilla and Walla Walla Tribes make up the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation. For over 10,000 years, we have lived on the Columbia River Plateau.
Specifically, our homeland is the area now known as northeastern Oregon and southeastern
Washington
Umatilla
Indian Nation
Chehalis Located along the Chehalis River in
Lewis County,the Chehalis tribe used the river as their primary trading route.In 1855,
5000 Chehalis lived along the Chehalis River. Today the majority of the tribe live on the
Chehalis Reservation near Grays Harbor.
Chehalis
History Economic History
Chinook The
most important tribe of the Chinookian linguistic family, formerly living along the
Columbia River on the Pacific coast. Nearly extinct today, the Chinook numbered about
16,000 in the early 1800s. They were noted as traders, salmon fishers, and hunters. Other
tribes from as far away as the Great Plains traded their articles for the Chinooks' dried
salmon, seashells, and slaves. A simple Chinook language—called Chinook
jargon—was known to traders from Alaska to California. Although some early-19th
century visitors grouped all of the Indians of the lower Columbia River together as
Chinook, most observers before 1850 described the Chinook as a tribe or band which was
separate from the Clatsop, Wahkiakum, and Kathlamet bands along that part of the Columbia.
Language
Colville Sprawling across more than
1,000,000 acres (AID, 38) or 2,300 square miles of northeast Washington State is the
Colville Reservation - that is larger than the state of Rhode Island. The reservation is
named after Fort Colville, a British outpost established in the 1820s. ("Who are the
Colville Indians, Colville Tribal Museum, Grand Coulee, WA). It was established as a
reservation in 1872 by Executive Order of President Ulysses S. Grant, but was not fully
populated until the 1880s.
Colville
History
Cowlitz Name for the
Indian nation and the river drainage which is the aboriginal home of the Cowlitz Indian
Tribe located in the interior southwest of what is now the State of Washington. The
Cowlitz are a Salish language speaking people. The tribe of 2000 members incorporates four
historical divisions which contribute to the rich cultural heritage of the people.
Cowlitz Tribe
Duwamish The city of Seattle is named the settlement Seattle after the friendly chief of the Duwamish Indians-
Chief Sealth. This tribe fished and hunted on the shores of Elliott Bay and Puget Sound.
Seattle and the Suquamish-Duwamish people had moved -- after the
signing of the treaty -- to a reservation across Puget sound from the city later named
after him, on the east shore of Bainbridge Island. Today -- its landbase diminishd as
usual -- it is the Port Madison Suquamish
Reservation.
Chief
Sealth Renton Museum
Hoh Tribe On the coast of Washington
near Forks, this tribe subsisted on the fish and berries of the forest. See credits for pictures of members of the Wolf Clan of the Hoh
Tribe.
Klallam The
Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal offices are located in Blyn, Washington at the head of Sequim
Bay (approximately 6 miles southeast of the city of Sequim). The Tribe has 375 enrolled
Tribal members. The S'Klallam Tribe, whose name means the "Strong People,"
belong to a Salish cultural and linguistic group related to British Columbia Tribes as
well as to most Tribes in the Puget Sound area.
Klallam History
Klallam Tribe
Kalispel The Kalispel Tribe of Washington is located in the northeast corner of the
state.
Kalispel
Tribe Online Resources Catholic Encyclopedia
Lower Elwha Klallam This tribe lives on the 572-acre Lower Elwha reservation which is
located six miles (10km) west of the city of Port Angeles at the mouth of the Elwha River.
As members of the Klallam tribe, the Lower Elwha many villages dotted the Strait of
Juan de Fuca along the northern coast of present-day Washington State, neighboring the
Makah lands in the west and the Skokomish tribe
of Puget Sound in the east.
Location
History
Tribal Page
Lummi The Lummis, a strong and
enduring Salish tribe, once inhabited the San Juan Islands, but now resides on the Lummi
Reservation West of Bellingham.The local Lummi, Semiahmoo and Nooksack
Indians utilized resources of Puget Sound and local rivers, as well as materials of
Western Washington forests, to fulfill their basic needs and for the development of their
sophisticated culture. They lived in substantial wooden houses of permanent cedar frames
covered with hand-split cedar planks. They traveled in dugout canoes on the open waters of
the rivers and sound. They harvested fish, shellfish and wild plants and animals to
provide them a good living from their Northwest homeland. Populations were never large,
probably less than 3000 people.
Games
History
Makah The
"Kwih-dich-chuh-ahtx" or "people who live by the rocks and seagulls".
The name "Makah", which was given to us by our neighboring tribes, means
"Generous with food". The Makah have lived at the most northwestern point in
what is now the contiguous United States since the beginning of time. For thousands of
years they have hunted whales and seals, and fished in the great waters which cradle our
home.
Makah
Tribal Council
Muckleshoot Located in King County,
Washington, the same county that claims Seattle as its biggest city, is the 1,275 acre
(NAA, 285) Muckleshoot Reservation, the home of the Muckleshoot Indian Nation. The
Muckleshoot, like many of the tribes found in western Washington State, are members of the
Coastal Salish family of nations. These people made a living in the far west for over a
thousand years relying upon the vast number of salmon that filled the rivers far beyond
the needs of the local inhabitants.
Tribal
Council Muckleshoot Library
Tribal Flag
Nez Perce Indians of the Plateau, the
Nez Perce are famous for the Apaloosa horse and made warring forays into other tribal
territory. The Nez Perce territory was approximately 17 million acres. This covered
portions of Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. The Nez Perce would travel with the seasons.
The seasons would guide the Nez Perce where to locate foods. At times, they would go as
far east as the Great Plains to hunt buffalo and fish for salmon at Celilo Falls on the
Columbia River. The Nez Perce were well known to breed the Appaloosa horse.
Nez
Perce History Spalding-Allen
Collection
Nisqually For generations the
Nisqually Indian people lived and thrived in the Nisqually River Basin of Puget Sound.
They occupied the entire watershed from its marine waters to the foothills of the great
mountain they called Ta-co-bet. During summer and early fall they ranged upriver to hunt
the deer, elk and bear and gather huckleberries. From the early spring runs to the late
winter catches, they netted salmon, their most basic food item. Last but not least, the
sandy saltwater beaches of lower Puget Sound provided the Nisquallies with seasonal clams
and oysters.
Nisqually People
Nooksack The Nooksack Indians utilized
resources of Puget Sound and local rivers, as well as materials of Western Washington
forests, to fulfill their basic needs and for the development of their sophisticated
culture. They lived in substantial wooden houses of permanent cedar frames covered with
hand-split cedar planks. They traveled in dugout canoes on the open waters of the rivers
and sound. They harvested fish, shellfish and wild plants and animals to provide them a
good living from their Northwest homeland. Populations were never large, probably less
than 3000 people.
Tribal
Council
Port Gamble S'Klallam The Nisqually, Squaxin Island, Chehalis, Shoalwater Bay and Skokomish - and
the Port Gamble S'Klallam tribes with a combined population of about 7,500, are
mostly found in a four-county area of South Puget Sound.
Puyallup a tribe in Pierce County,
Washington, derives its name from the Lushootseed term for "curving or winding
river"
River Map
Quileute The
tribal lands on the Olympic Peninsula near La Push, Washington, overlook the Pacific Ocean
about 40 miles (64km) south of Cape Flattery,the state's most northwesterly tip, home of
the Makah. The islands, A-KA-Lat, or James Island and Little James Island, are a central
focus ofthe village, lying just offshore of the ocean at the mouth of the Quileute River.
A-KA-Lat has one of the oldest village sites. The island was used a burial site for the
chiefs and as fortress
History
Tribal School
Quinalt Located on the Olympic
Peninsula,the western boundary of the Quinalt tribe is 28 miles of wide driftwood strewn
beach on the Pacific Ocean while the easternmost angle encompasses beautiful Lane
Quinault, home of the famed "Blueback" sockeye salmon. The Quinalt depend upon
salmon fishing for a living. Includes Quinault, Queets, Quilaeut, Hoh, Chehalis,
Chinook, and Cowlitz tribal peoples
Quinault
Tribe Constitution Quinault
Page Quinault
Story about Origin of the Salmon Quinault Nation
- Samish
- Whatcom County was home to Northwest Coast Indians, the Lummi,
Nooksack, Samish and Semiahmoo
NARF
- Sauk-Suiattle
-
- Sauk-Suiattle Tribal
Council
Shoalwater Bay The Nisqually, Squaxin
Island, Chehalis, Shoalwater Bay and Skokomish - and the Port Gamble S'Klallam
tribes with a combined population of about 7,500, are mostly found in a four-county area
of South Puget Sound.
Tribal
Council Tribe
Chinook
Skokomish
The Nisqually, Squaxin Island, Chehalis, Shoalwater Bay and Skokomish - and the
Port Gamble S'Klallam tribes with a combined population of about 7,500, are mostly
found in a four-county area of South Puget Sound.
Skokomish
Tribal Council
Snohomish Snohomish County was inhabited by
Native Americans long before the advent of white exploration and settlement. The area had
two principal tribes - the Snohomish (who inhabited western Snohomish County as well as
parts of Skagit and Island counties) and the Snoqualmie
Snoqualmie Snohomish County was inhabited by
Native Americans long before the advent of white exploration and settlement. The area had
two principal tribes - the Snohomish (who inhabited western Snohomish County as well as
parts of Skagit and Island counties) and the Snoqualmie. Snoqualmies
resided in 96 long houses in 14 permanent winter villages. With 30 to 40 people in each,
the population could have been 3,000 to 4,000 -one of the largest Puget Sound tribes.
Timeline
Spokane The Spokane Indians are of the
Interior Salish group which has inhabited northeastern Washington, northern Idaho, and
western Montana for centuries. The native language spoken by the Spokanes is common to
other Salish tribes with only a slight variation in dialect. Generally speaking, the
Spokanes can converse easily in their native tongue with the Kalispels, Coeur d' Alenes,
and Flatheads.
History
Spokane
Tribe Spokane Myth
Squaxin Island The Nisqually, Squaxin Island, Chehalis, Shoalwater Bay and Skokomish - and
the Port Gamble S'Klallam tribes with a combined population of about 7,500, are
mostly found in a four-county area of South Puget Sound.
Steilacoom
Tribal Museum
Stillaguamish Located near Arlington.
Museum
Suquamish
Suquamish Tribal
Council
Swinomish Located in LaConner,this fishing
tribe
Tulalip Members of the Snohomish tribe, the
Tulalips are located near Marysville. The Tulalip depended on salmon for food and
Upper Skagit Located in the Skagit
Valley,this tribe re
Language
Stories
Walla Walla The
Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla Tribes make up the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation. For over 10,000 years, we have lived on the Columbia River Plateau.
Specifically, our homeland is the area now known as northeastern Oregon and southeastern
Washington.
Umatilla
Indian Nation
Yakima Indians of the Plateau, the
Yakima used horses for transportation as they travelled the land from the Cascade
mountains to the Columbia River. The Yakima Nation consisted of several tribes
(Klickitat,Palouse, Pisquouse, Yakama, Wenatchapa, Klinquit and others). Located
in southwestern Washington State is the 1,130,000 acres
Yakima Tribal
Council
Yakima Nation Museum
Yakima Flag
