Northwest Coast Indian

Introduction & Top Questions
Traditional culture patterns
- Linguistic and territorial organization
- Stratification and social structure
- Subsistence, settlement patterns, and housing
- Technology and the visual arts
- Kinship and family life
- Religion and the performing arts
Cultural continuity and change

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Map showing the traditional territories of Indigenous peoples along the Northwest Coast of North America, from southern Alaska through western Canada and down the Pacific coast of the United States to northern California. Tribal names such as Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl, Nuu-chah-nulth, Chinook, and Hupa are labeled along the coastline.

Discover wood-carving traditions handed down from past generations of the Northwest Coast Indian peoples

Several brightly painted totem poles from various British Columbia First Nations stand on grassy ground surrounded by dense green trees at Brockton Point in Stanley Park, Vancouver.

At a Glance

Northwest Coast Indian summary

Related Questions

How could members of a Northwest Coast Indian house group influence a chief’s decisions?
How did Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian artistic styles differ?
How did Kwakwaka’wakw winter ceremonies use masks and dances to tell traditional stories?
How did Northwest Coast Indian artists make wooden boxes from cedar boards?
How did Northwest Coast Indian house groups share fishing and hunting rights?
How did Northwest Coast Indian peoples use trade to gain wealth and manufactured goods?
How did Northwest Coast Indian peoples weave cedar bark into useful objects?
How did Wakashan peoples transport parts of their houses between seasonal sites?
How did animal images on a totem pole represent a family lineage or crest?
How did clothing and body modification show social status on the Northwest Coast?
How did first-salmon ceremonies honor salmon among Northwest Coast peoples?
How did hereditary rank shape social life in Northwest Coast Indian communities?
How did people become enslaved in Northwest Coast societies?
How did potlatches publicly confirm names, titles, and social rank?
How did salmon support Northwest Coast Indian communities?
How did settlers and government policies affect Northwest Coast Indian lands in Washington and Oregon?
How did smallpox, measles, and other introduced diseases affect Northwest Coast peoples?
How did the designs of Northwest Coast dugout canoes vary by region?
How did the practice of head flattening work among some Northwest Coast peoples?
How did the sea otter fur trade affect Northwest Coast Indian communities?
How did vision quests influence Coast Salish spiritual practices?
How did winter villages differ from summer settlements on the Northwest Coast?
How were lower Columbia River houses built to stay warm and dry?
What are the different types of Northwest Coast totem poles?
What happened during a Northwest Coast potlatch?
What responsibilities did a Northwest Coast Indian chief have?
What role did shamans have in Northwest Coast Indian religions?
What roles did songs, dances, and masks have in Northwest Coast ceremonies?
What were Northwest Coast Indian houses made from?
What were Northwest Coast totem poles meant to record?
Where did Northwest Coast Indian peoples traditionally live?
Which European powers first contacted the Tlingit, Haida, and Nuu-chah-nulth peoples?
Which important life events could be marked with a potlatch?
Which other fish and sea animals were important foods on the Northwest Coast?
Which present-day states and Canadian provinces were part of the Northwest Coast culture area?
Why did Canadian officials outlaw potlatches between 1884 and 1951?
Why did Northwest Coast Indian families move among several sites during summer?
Why did Northwest Coast Indian peoples make dugout canoes?
Why did Northwest Coast Indian populations decline so sharply between 1780 and 1900?
Why did many Northwest Coast peoples return salmon bones or remains to the water?
Why were red cedar and redwood important materials for Northwest Coast Indian technology?
Why were some Northwest Coast canoes large and reinforced?
Why were waterways important to Northwest Coast Indian communities?
Which Native American peoples lived in the Pacific Northwest?
Where did the Northwest Coast Indian people live?
What was the social structure of Northwest Coast Indian society?
How did the Native Americans of the Northwest Coast get their food?
What kind of homes did the Northwest Coast Indians live in?
What are some traditional foods the Inuit eat?
How do the Inuit adapt to the cold Arctic climate?
How have Inuit cultures and traditions changed over time?

Geography & Travel Human Geography Peoples of the Americas North American Peoples

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External Websites

University of Washington - Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest - Indians and Europeans on the Northwest Coast: Historical Context
The Canadian Encyclopedia - Northwest Coast Indigenous Peoples in Canada
Canada A Country by Consent - Native Peoples - Northwest Coast

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Northwest Coast culture area - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
Northwest Coast culture area - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Northwest Coast Indian

people

Also known as: Pacific Northwest Indian

Written by

Elizabeth Prine Pauls

Elizabeth Prine Pauls was Associate Editor, Anthropology and Languages, at Encyclopædia Britannica. She was State Archaeologist of Iowa from 2002 to 2006. She coedited Plains Earthlodges: Ethnographic...

Elizabeth Prine Pauls

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

Northwest Coast Indian, member of any of the Native American peoples inhabiting a narrow belt of Pacific coastland and offshore islands from the southern border of Alaska to northwestern California. The Northwest Coast was the most sharply delimited culture area of native North America. It covered a long narrow arc of Pacific coast and offshore islands from Yakutat Bay, in the northeastern Gulf of Alaska, south to Cape Mendocino, in present-day California. Its eastern limits...

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