Klamath people
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The Klamath people are a
- Klamath Tribes (Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin (Yahuskin) Band of Northern Paiute Indians), Oregon
- Quartz Valley Indian Community (Klamath, Karuk (Karok), and Shasta (Chasta) people), California.
History
Pre-contact
The Klamath people lived in the area around the Upper Klamath Lake (E-ukshi - “Lake”) and the Klamath, Williamson (Kóke - “River”), Wood River (E-ukalksini Kóke), and Sprague (Plaikni Kóke - “River Uphill”) rivers. They subsisted primarily on fish and gathered roots and seeds. While there was knowledge of their immediate neighbors, apparently the Klamath were unaware of the existence of the Pacific Ocean. Gatschet has described this position as leaving the Klamath living in a "protracted isolation" from outside cultures.[1]
North of their tribal territory lived the
The Klamath were known to raid neighboring tribes, such as the
These natives made southern Oregon their home for long enough to witness the eruption of Mount Mazama. It was a legendary volcanic mountain who is the creator of Crater Lake (giˑw), now considered to be a beautiful natural formation.
Contact
In 1826,
Treaty with the United States
The Klamaths,
Post-treaty history
Since termination of recognition of their tribal sovereignty in 1954 (with federal payments not disbursed until 1961), the Klamath and neighboring tribes have reorganized their government and revived tribal identity. The Klamath, along with the Modoc and Yahooskin, have formed the federally recognized Klamath Tribes confederation. Their tribal government is based in Chiloquin, Oregon.
Some Klamath live on the Quartz Valley Indian Community in Siskiyou County, California.
Culture
Subdivisions
Traditionally there were several cultural subdivisions among the Klamath, based on the location of their residency within the Klamath Basin. Despite this, the five recognized "tribelets" (the Klamath Tribes count six) mutually considered each other the same ethnic group, about 1,200 people in total.[6] Like many Indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest, the Klamath lived a semi-sedentary life. Winter settlements were in permanent locations that were reoccupied annually. Construction of the earth-lodges would begin in Autumn, with materials salvaged from abandoned, dilapidated buildings made in previous years. Leslie Spier has detailed some of the winter settlement patterns for Klamath as follows:
The towns are not isolated, compact groups of houses, but stretch along the banks for half a mile or more. In fact, the settlements on Williamson river below the Sprague river junction form a practically continuous string of houses for five or six miles, the house pits being, in many spots, crowded close together. Informants insisted that many of these were occupied at the same time. When we consider that these earth-lodges may have housed several families, there is strong suggestion of a considerable population.[7]
- Ǎ’ukckni („Klamath Marsh People“ or „Klamath Marsh-Williamson River People“)
- P'laikni (“Sprague River Valley People” or “Upland Klamath”, lit. “highland dwellers”)
- Kowa’cdikni („Agency Lake/Marsh Lake People“)
- Du’kwakni („[Lower] Williamson River People“)
- Gu’mbǒtkni („Pelican Bay People“)
- Iu’laloηkni („Klamath Falls (Link River) People“)
Marriage
Marriage was a unique practice for the Klamath, compared to neighboring cultures found in the borderlands of modern
Ethnobotany
The Klamath use Apocynum cannabinum as a fiber and eat the roots of Lomatium canbyi.[9] They use the rootstocks of Sagittaria cuneata as food.[10] They use Carex, weaving the leaves into mats, using the juice of the pith as a beverage, eating the fresh stems for food and using the tuberous base of the stem for food.[11]
Dentalium
Dentalium shells were common among the Klamath prior to colonization. Compared to other native cultures, dentalium didn't hold as much financial use among the Klamath. However, longer shells were generally held to be more valuable. Nonetheless these shells were esteemed primarily for as jewelry and personal adornment.[12] Septum piercings were commonly given to younger members of Klamath families to allow inserting dentalium. Some individuals wouldn't however use any shells in their septum.[13] Spier gives the following account for their usage:
The septum of the nose is pierced and the ear lobes, the latter twice or even more frequently. Both sexes insert dentalium shells horizontally through the septum ... Ear pendants are a group of four dentalia hung in a bunch by their tips.[14]
The use of dentalium in septum piercings, in addition to other means of ornamentation, was common among the
Classifications
The Klamath people are grouped with the
Language
The Klamath spoke one dialect of the
Both the Klamath and the Modoc called themselves maqlaqs, maqlags or Maklaks meaning "people". When they wanted to distinguish between themselves they added knii ("people from/of"), the Klamath were called ?ewksiknii, "people of the [Klamath] Lake", and the Modoc were called moowatdal'knii, "people of the south".
Notable Klamath people
- Natalie Ball (b. 1980), interdisciplinary artist
See also
Notes
- ^ but in Klamath-Modoc ″enemy″ is shish6kish, and ″alien″ is wennikni or atikni.
Citations
- ^ Gatschet 1890, p. lvi.
- ^ Kroeber 1925, pp. 319–320.
- ^ Spier 1930, p. 25.
- ^ Wheeler-Voegelin 1955, p. 97.
- ^ Spier 1930, p. 1.
- ^ Spier 1930, pp. 2, 5.
- ^ Spier 1930, p. 11.
- ^ Spier 1930, p. 43.
- ^ Coville 1897, pp. 102–103.
- ^ Coville 1897, p. 90.
- ^ Coville 1897, p. 92.
- ^ Spier 1930, p. 216.
- ^ Gatschet 1890, p. XXXVII.
- ^ Spier 1930, pp. 214–215.
- ^ Boyd 1996, pp. 70–71.
- ISBN 978-1-317-61090-8.
Bibliography
- Boyd, Robert (1996), People of the Dalles: The Indians of Wascopam Mission, Lincoln, NE: The University of Nebraska Press
- Coville, Frederick V. (1897), "Notes on the Plants used by the Klamath Indians of Oregon", Contributions from the United States National Herbarium, 5 (2), Washington, D.C.: Department of Botany: 87–110, JSTOR 480624
- Gatschet, Albert Samuel (1890), The Klamath Indians of Southwestern Oregon, Contributions to North American Ethnology. Vol. 2, Part I, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office
- Kroeber, Alfred L. (1925), Handbook of the Indians of California, United States. Bureau of American Ethonology. Bulletin,78, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office
- Spier, Leslie (1930), Kroeber, Alfred L.; Lowie, Robert (eds.), Klamath Ethnography, Berkeley: University of California Press
- Wheeler-Voegelin, Erminie (1955), "The Northern Paiute of Central Oregon: A Chapter in Treaty-Making Part 1", Ethnohistory, 2 (2), Durham, NC: Duke University Press: 95–132, JSTOR 480624
Further reading
- Annual report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the year 1865: Reports of Agents in Oregon Washington: United States Office of Indian Affairs, 1865.
- Hale, Horation (1892). "The Klamath Nation: the country and the people". Science. 19 (465): 6–7. PMID 17813801.
- Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1907.
- Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
- Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York: Checkmark, 1999. ISBN 0-8160-3964-X