Samish people
This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2023) |
Xws7ámesh | |
---|---|
Total population | |
1,440 (2010) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Coast Salish peoples |
The Samish (
Name
The name "Samish" is an Anglicization of the Samish name, Xws7ámesh, meaning "people who are there/who exist."[1][3]
History
Pre-Contact with Europeans
The Samish fished in the islands and channels off the coast of
Post-Contact with Europeans
Though 113 Samish were present at the treaty negotiations and signing, no Samish signed the Point Elliott Treaty. The Samish were attached to the treaty by the signature of the Lummi chief Chow-its-hoot. Lacking a reservation of their own, many Samish were sent to live on the reservations of the Lummi or the
However, many Samish refused to go to the reservations and stayed in their traditional territory. They were often confused with the Skagit, and when they went to the Swinomish Reservation, they received only six household land allotments for the entire Tribe.
Many members went to Guemes Island to establish New Guemes (now referred to as "Potlatch Beach"), where they built a longhouse that housed more than 100 people. By 1912, the Samish had either moved onto the Swinomish Reservation or into other communities. They had been pushed off the island by white settlers, as the Samish had occupied the land with the only fresh water.[5]
In 1926, a formal constitution was written by the Samish. They later altered it, but included a plan for electoral government. In 1971, in settlement of their land claim against the federal government, the Tribe was awarded US$5,754.96 for lands taken by the Point Elliott Treaty. The judgment deemed that they had exclusively occupied 9,233 acres (37 km2) of land at the time of the treaty.[5]
In 1996, the Samish were officially re-recognized by the U.S. government. In 1998, they changed their official name to the Samish Indian Nation.
Language
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The Samish language is a dialect of the Northern Straits Salish (Lkungen) language; a close sister language is Southern Straits Salish (Clallam or Klallam. Both are in the Central Coast Salish branch of Coast Salish, itself a branch of the large Salish(an) language family (Tim Montler 1999: "Language and dialect variation in Straits Salishan". Anthropological Linguistics 41 (4): 462–502, Kuipers, Aert H. Salish Etymological Dictionary. Missoula, MT: Linguistics Laboratory, University of Montana, 2002.
In 1990, the Canadian Museum of Civilization published A Phonology, Morphology, and Classified Word List for the Samish Dialect of Straits Salish, by
Notes
- ^ a b "Language". Samish Indian Nation. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
- ^ "Treaty Rights, Recognition, and Territory." Samish Indian Nation. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-8061-3598-4. Retrieved April 10, 2011.
- ^ a b Edson, Lelah Jackson. The Fourth Corner: Highlights From the Early Northwest, Bellingham, WA: Whatcom Museum of History and Art, 1968.
- ^ ISBN 0-8061-2479-2.
- ^ Microsoft Word - Boldt Decision8.5x11 layout for web.doc Archived September 23, 2006, at the Wayback Machine