Nootkans were a linguistic group of Vancouver Island Indians consisting of more than 22 tribes, confederacies, or sociopolitical local groups. Captain James Cook, who thought it was the native name for what came to be called Nootka Sound, originated the term.
Location Many Nootkans continue to live in or near their aboriginal territory, which was the western half of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, roughly 125 miles north and south of midcoast. The geography features a rocky coast and a coastal plain ("outside") as well as a series of inlets penetrating deep into the hilly interior ("inside"). The climate is wet and moderate with fierce winter storms.
Population The Nootkan population was at least 15,000 in the mid-eighteenth century. In 1984, roughly 4,700 Nootkans lived in the region.
Language Nootka and Nitinaht, together with Makah, constitute the southern or Nootkan branch of the Wakashan language family.
Historical Information
History Nootkan culture changed relatively little during the 5,000 years preceding contact with non-natives. In the late prehistoric period they had acquired iron and other metals through trade and salvage from shipwrecks. In 1778, Captain Cook remained with the Nootkas for a month, acquiring a large collection of sea otter pelts. Cook’s crew later sold the pelts to Chinese merchants at great profit, thereby laying the basis for the northwest maritime fur trade.
A few Nootkan chiefs, such as Maquinna, whose power was maintained in part by the Spanish, became very wealthy by controlling that trade. Partly by means of firearms, they established themselves as intermediaries between whites and other Indian peoples. During that time, Indians began to suffer significant population decline owing to increased warfare (competition over the fur trade) as well as epidemics, including venereal disease. By the end of the century, hunters had so depleted the sea otter stock that the local fur trade was in sharp decline. In its wake, Indians began attacking trade ships, which in turn greatly diminished their contact with non-natives for several decades.
Population decline and general dislocation led to the formation of new tribes and confederacies in the early nineteenth century. Continued Nootkan attacks on trade ships in midcentury brought retaliation from the British navy. Gradually, without being formally conquered, the Nootkans became integrated into the new commercial economy. There was a continuing trade in the furs of animals such as deer, elk, mink, marten, and northern fur seal. Throughout the late nineteenth century, Nootkans were important suppliers of dogfish oil, which was used in the logging industry. They also became involved in the pelagic sealing industry, hunting from canoes as well as schooners. Some Nootkans became wealthy during that period and even purchased their own schooners. Commercial fishing was another important local industry, providing jobs and drawing people to canneries from their villages. Crafts for the tourist trade also became important around that time, as did seasonal hop picking in the Puget Sound area.
When British Columbia joined Canada in 1871, Nootkans became part of the federal Indian reserve system. Villages still in use received small reserves in the 1880s, though without having formally surrendered any land to the government. Missionaries arrived to carry out government health and education programs. Such programs included the establishment of Indian boarding schools, where native culture was ruthlessly suppressed.
A few Nootkan chiefs, such as Maquinna, pictured here in uniform, became very wealthy by controlling the fur trade. The Nootkan population was at least 15,000 in the mid-eighteenth century. In 1984 roughly 4,700 Nootkans lived in the region.
After World War II, further consolidation and centralization of the Nootkan population paralleled similar trends in the fishing industry. Potlatching and other forms of traditional culture continued, despite government opposition. Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, Nootkans focused on fostering a positive self-identity and achieving control over their own destinies. In 1978, a political organization called the West Coast District Council (formerly the West Coast Allied Tribes) proclaimed the name Nuu-chah-nulth ("all along the mountains") for all Nootkan peoples and renamed the organization the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.
Religion Numerous categories of spirit and mythological beings were recognized as ubiquitous. They could be obtained and controlled through rituals or by spirit quests. Rituals, especially as practiced by chiefs, helped to ensure bountiful salmon runs, the beaching of dead whales, and other food resources. Long-haired shamans dived to the bottom of the sea to battle soul-stealing sea spirits. Chiefs also engaged in spirit quests (commoners’ spirit help came through minor rituals and charms). One obtained power from a spirit being by seizing it, rather than by establishing a relation with it as with a guardian spirit. Such power provided special skills, luck, or other achievements.
Nootkans prayed for power to the Four Chiefs of Above, Horizon, Land, and Undersea. They observed two primary winter ceremonies: the Dancing, or Wolf ritual, and the Doctoring ritual (central and southern Nootkans only). Although the former was an initiation and the latter a curing ceremony, the ultimate purpose of both was to confirm the social order. The Wolf ritual, several of which might be held in a village each winter, involved masks and dramatization.
Government Local groups held defined territories, the legitimacy of which came from a particular legendary ancestor. The chiefly line of descent was the group’s nucleus. The highest-ranking man in a local group was its chief; the position was inheritable.
Local groups sometimes united to form tribes, with ranked chiefs and common winter villages and ceremonials. Some northern Nootkan tribes also came together to form confederacies, with each local group retaining its identity, territory, and ceremonies.
Customs Inherited rights formed the basis of social rank and governed the ownership and use of practically everything of value. Inheritance was generally patrilineal. Nootkan social classes consisted of chief, commoners, and slaves. Chiefs did not work; they directed their followers, who in turn supported and were taken care of by them. A chief’s close male relations were secondary chiefs (such as war chiefs and speakers). Chiefs received tribute for the use of resource sites. When goods accumulated, they held a feast or a potlatch. Other occasions for potlatches included life-cycle and public events such as status transfer and confirmation. The participation in all life-cycle rituals and ceremonies was commensurate with social rank.
Pregnancy and birth carried numerous rituals and restrictions, especially regarding twins. Infants’ heads were flattened to achieve an aesthetic ideal. Children were regularly instructed on correct behavior, such as industry, peacefulness, and social responsibility, and on ritual knowledge. For high-status families, the onset of female puberty was the occasion for a great potlatch. It also entailed rituals and seclusion for the woman herself. Along with warfare, marriage was the means by which local groups sought to maximize access to subsistence areas. As such, it was mostly an alliance between families and was accompanied by great ritual, depending on rank. Although divorce was possible, adultery, unless chronic or within the chief’s family, was generally smoothed over.
Corpses were placed in a flexed position and buried away from the village, in boxes or canoes placed in trees or caves. Valuables were also interred, and belongings, including the house, might be burned. Memorial poles were erected to chiefs. Sometimes slaves were killed as companions to the dead.
Dwellings Multifamily cedar houses between 40 and 150 feet long, 30 and 40 feet wide, and 8 and 10 feet high lined the beaches. Planks were removable for use in smaller camp dwellings. Roofs were of both shed (primarily in the south) and gabled style. Individual family areas, each with its own fireplace, were set off from the others by storage chests. Sleeping platforms ringed the walls. Posts and beams were carved with hereditary designs. Local groups had house frames standing at three sites: permanent village, summer fishing and sea hunting areas, and a main salmon stream.
Diet Salmon, smoked and dried, was the staple. Nootkans also ate herring, halibut, cod, snapper, flounder, and other fish. Other important foods included roots, berries, bulbs, ferns, crabapples, and eelgrass; shellfish, mollusks, kelp, and sea cucumbers; waterfowl; and sea mammals such as harbor seals, porpoises, sea lions, sea otters, and whales. The ritual preparation by whalers, who were always chiefs, included bathing, praying, and swimming and began months in advance of the whaling season. Land mammals included deer, elk, black bear, and small mammals. Most food was dried, smoked, steamed in pits, or broiled in wooden boxes with red-hot stones.
Key Technology Fish were taken with dip nets, rakes, floating fences, and weirs; waterfowl with nets, nooses, bow and arrow, and snares; marine invertebrates with yew digging and prying sticks; sea mammals with clubs, harpoons, stakes hidden in seaweed, and nets. Special whaling equipment consisted of harpoons with musselshell blades, two 40- to 60-fathom lines, floats, and lances. Nootkans used six types of canoes, some with cedar bark-mat sails. The uses of wood, a key raw material, included hunting and war tools, canoes, houses, utensils, buckets, and storage boxes. Mattresses and other such items were made of cedar bark.
Trade Nootkans enjoyed a virtual monopoly on dentalia shell, an item highly prized by many peoples along and surrounding the Northwest Coast. They also supplied sea otter pelts and canoes. Their primary trading partners were the Nimpkish Kwakiutl and the Makah. Nootkans received eulachon oil and grease from the Tsimshian, Chilkat goat-hair blankets from the Tlingit, and furs from the Coast Salish (who obtained them from interior peoples).
Notable Arts Music and dance were important Nootkan arts. Vocal music, often containing complicated structures, patterns, and beats, was accompanied by drumming and rattles. Songs were sung for many different occasions, both sacred and secular.
Drama regularly included masks to represent supernatural beings. People told long, complex stories on winter evenings. House posts and fronts and many wooden objects were elaborately carved with crests designs. The decorated conical, onion-domed cedar-bark and spruce-root whaler’s hat was a classic Nootkan basketry item. Painting was highly developed in the historic period.
Transportation Red cedar dugout canoes came in various sizes. Paired canoes bridged with house planks served to move large loads.
Dress Men went naked in warm weather. Women wore shredded cedar-bark aprons, and both sexes wore bark robes and conical rain capes as well as hats (which varied according to social class) of tightly woven cedar bark and spruce root. Long yellow cedar-bark robes were distinctive to Nootkan people. Faces were painted for decoration and sunburn protection. Ornaments of dentalium, abalone, horn, and other items were worn in the nose and ears and as bracelets and anklets.
War and Weapons The Nimpkish Kwakiutl and the Makah were regular objects of Nootkan military attention. War chiefs wore elk hide armor with painted designs. Raiding took place primarily to acquire booty, including slaves. Weapons included bone and horn-tipped clubs, yew-wood bows, arrows with stone or bone points, knives, spears, and slings. Many Nootkans had guns as early as the late eighteenth century.
Contemporary Information
Government/Reservations As of 1995, 15 Nootkan bands lived in their traditional territory in British Columbia. The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council is elected by all Nootkans and funded by most bands. See "Daily Life" for summaries of bands.
Economy Economic activities and band resources are described under "Daily Life." Since the nineteenth century, Nootkans have made baskets for commercial sale.
Legal Status All of the following bands are federally and provincially recognized entities.
Daily Life The following are extant Nookan bands (as of 1995):
Ahousaht Band: The band was formed in 1951 from the Ahousaht and Kelsemaht Bands. It controls 25 reserves on 592 hectares of land. The reserves were allotted in 1889. The 1995 population was 1,415, of whom 487 lived in 105 houses on the reserve. The band is governed under the provisions of the Indian Act and is affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Economic activities and resources include a seabus service, freight services, a bakery, and a campsite. Facilities include a community hall, a church, a cultural center, administrative offices, and two gymnasiums.
Ditidaht Band: The band controls 17 reserves on 727 hectares of land. The reserves were allotted in 1890. The 1995 population was 481, of whom 141 lived in 34 houses on the reserve. The band is governed by custom and is affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Children attend provincial schools. Economic activities and resources include forestry and a gravel pit. Facilities include a community hall, a cultural center, administrative offices, and recreational facilities.
Ehattesaht Band: The band controls nine reserves on 136 hectares of land. The reserves were allotted in 1889. The 1995 population was 193, of whom 91 lived in 21 houses on the reserve. The band is governed by custom and is affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Economic activities and resources include fishing, logging, mining, tourism, and aquaculture. Facilities include a community center.
Hesquiaht Band: The band controls five reserves on 320 hectares of land on the west coast of central Vancouver Island. The reserves were allotted in 1886.
The 1995 population was 543, of whom 149 lived in 24 houses on the reserve. The band is governed by custom and is affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Economic activities include fishing. Facilities include a community hall, a privately owned store, and a sawmill.
Kyuguot Band: The band controls 20 reserves on 382 hectares of land on northwest Vancouver Island. The reserves were allotted in 1889. The 1995 population was 393, of whom 133 lived in 31 houses on the reserve. The band is governed by custom and is affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Economic activities include fishing and logging. Facilities include a community hall.
Mowachaht/Muchalaht Band, formerly the Nootka Band: The band controls 17 reserves on 263 hectares of land at the mouth of Nootka Sound. The 1995 population was 390, of whom 119 lived in 28 houses on the reserve. The band is governed by custom and is affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, which administers its schools. Economic activities include forest products and a boat launch. Facilities include offices, a playground, and a tourist center.
Nuchatlaht Band: The band controls 11 reserves on 92 hectares of land on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island. The reserves were allotted in 1889. The 1995 population was 127, of whom 27 lived in eight houses on the reserve. The band is governed by custom and is affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Economic activities include forestry and fishing. Facilities include offices and a clinic.
Ohiaht Band: The band controls 13 reserves on 816 hectares of land on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. The reserves were allotted in 1882. The 1995 population was 474, of whom 101 lived in 33 houses on the reserve. The band is governed by custom and is affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Children attend provincial schools. Economic resources include a campsite. Facilities include offices, a cemetery, and a recreation hall.
Opetchesaht Band: The band controls five reserves on 215 hectares of land near Port Alberni. The reserves were allotted in 1882. The 1995 population was 206, of whom 90 lived in 33 houses on the reserve. The band is governed under the provisions of the Indian Act and is affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Economic activities and resources include logging and a pulp mill. Facilities include offices, a cemetery, a community hall, and a cultural center.
Pacheenaht Band: The band controls four reserves on 174 hectares of land on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. The reserves were allotted in 1882. The 1995 population was 214, of whom 82 lived in 24 houses on the reserve. The band is governed under the provisions of the Indian Act and, although unaffiliated, is part of the Nuu-chah-nulth people. Children attend provincial schools. Economic activities and resources include a campsite and a ferry service. Facilities include offices and a longhouse.
Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations (formerly called Clayoquot): The band controls ten reserves on 220 hectares of land near Pacific Rim National Park. The reserves were allotted in 1889. The 1995 population was 618, of whom 264 lived in 60 houses on the reserve. The band is governed under the provisions of the Indian Act and is affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Economic activities and resources include fishing and tourism. Facilities include offices, a store, an arts and crafts store, a community hall, a clinic, and a marina.
Toquaht Band: The band controls seven reserves on 196 hectares of land on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. The reserves were allotted in 1882. The 1995 population was 115, of whom 12 lived in eight houses on the reserve. The band is governed by custom and is affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Economic activities and resources include fishing and building supplies. Facilities include offices.
Tsesaht Band: The band controls eight reserves on 584 hectares of land near Port Alberni. The reserves were allotted in 1882. The 1995 population was 735, of whom 406 lived in 115 houses on the reserve. The band is governed by custom and is affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Children attend provincial schools. Economic activities and resources include fishing and forestry. Facilities include a community hall, a recreation building, and a cultural center.
Uchucklesaht Band: The band controls two reserves on 232 hectares of land 30 kilometers west of Victoria. The reserves were allotted in 1882. The 1995 population was 135, of whom 25 lived in 13 houses on the reserve. The band is governed by custom and is affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Economic activities include a water freight service. Facilities include a clinic.
Ucluelet Band: The band controls nine reserves on 199 hectares of land 60 kilometers east of Port Alberni. The reserves were allotted in 1882. The 1995 population was 538, of whom 193 lived in 67 houses on the reserve. The band is governed under the provisions of the Indian Act and is affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Economic activities include fishing, fish processing, a minimall, a laundromat, and a video arcade. Facilities include a community center, a museum, a nursery school, and a marina.
