N O R T H W E S T P ARCTI C S U B A R C T I C C O A S T C A L I F O R N I A L A T E A U G R E A T B A SIN ST E W H T U O S P L A I N S T S A E T H S NORT A E H SOUT NORTHWEST REGION OF NORTH AMERICA CULTURAL REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA Plateau Northwest Coast California Plains Southeast Southwest Great Basin Northeast Subarctic Arctic Other Cultural area border International border State province border
INTRODUCTION R aven was lonely He flew over the ocean and landed on the sand He looked all around him He didn't see life anywhere Suddenly he heard strange noises He discovered a large clamshell in the sand Inside Raven saw some tiny strange-looking creatures They didn’t have fur or feathers like him They looked scared and they made noises Raven could not understand But Raven was excited to have some company He wanted to help these creatures Raven bent down and spoke to them He wondered how they could survive He asked them to come out of the shell It took a long time but slowly they began to come out These were the first humans They were the Haida HIGH-duh The Haida are one of many groups of native peoples living in the Northwest The region is a thin strip of land and islands along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Northern California It is only 150 miles 240 kilometers wide It covers parts of what are now Alaska British Columbia Washington Oregon and California The Pacific Ocean is to the west The Coast Range and Cascade Range are to the east This region gets a lot of rain and has mild temperatures 5
PEOPLES OF THE NORTHWEST The Northwest is the traditional homeland of many American Indian nations This map shows the areas where some of them lived before Europeans arrived in the region Tlingit Haida Tsimshian Tsimshian Bella Coola Comox Pentlatch Nuu-chah-nulth Makah Chinook Tillamook Kwakwaka’wakw Kwakwaka’wakw Lushootseed Lushootseed CULTURAL AREAS Arctic Northwest Coast Plateau Plains Northeast Subarctic Other Cultural area border International border State province border More than thirty nations lived in this region They spoke many different languages from different language families These language families are called Wakashan wah-KA shehn Coast Salish SAY-lish Chinook shi-NOOK and Tsimshian CHIM-shee-un Some nations spoke languages that no other nations spoke These languages were Tlingit KLINK-it or TLING-kit and Haida Among the better-known Northwest nations are the Tlingit Haida Tsimshian Kwakwaka’wakw KWAK-walk-ya-walk Nuu-chah-nulth NEW-chah-nulth Makah mah-KAW and Chinook Coast Salish is a language family But the term is often used to describe the many nations 6
that spoke Coast Salish languages The Coast Salish region is broken up into North Coast Salish which includes the Bella Coola beh-la-KOO-la nation Central Coast Salish which includes the Comox KOH-muhks Pentlatch PENT-latch and Lushootseed LUH-shoot-seed and South Coast Salish which includes the Tillamook TILL-ah-muhk In the United States these peoples are known as American Indians or Northwest Indians But in Canada these nations are referred to as indigenous aboriginal or First Nations peoples The region is filled with lakes rivers and trees The landscape and weather allow for abundant resources So the MEANING OF NATIONS NAMES NATION Makah MEANING Cape dwellers Nuu-chah-nulth Among the mountains Tlingit People Tsimshian People inside the Skeena River 7
