Xwlemi | |
|---|---|
 Lummi Nation citizen operating a canoe in tribal waters (2008) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Washington, United States | |
| Languages | |
| Lummi, English | |
| Religion | |
| Indigenous folk religion, Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Central Coast Salish peoples |
The Lummi ( Lummi dialect : Xwlemi or Lhaq'temish) are a Central Coast Salish people Indigenous to western Washington, namely parts of the San Juan Islands and the mainland near what is now Bellingham, Washington.
There are two names that are used by the Lummi to describe themselves: Xwlemi and Lhaq'temish. The name "Lummi" is an anglicization of one of the Lummi endonyms, Xwlemi. Xwlemi is spelled several ways, including Xwlemey' and Nexwlemey'. The name is said to be derived from Xwlalemes, the name of a Lummi longhouse at Gooseberry Point, meaning "L-shaped." [1] [2] The name possibly came to refer to the Lummi as a people after the Lummi concentrated around that area in the 19th century. [3]
The name in English has been recorded many ways. The first attested recording was in 1824, as Lummie. Other spellings include Lummi, Nuglummi, [3] Holumma, Whullumy, Wholerneils, Whellamay, and Noohlummi. [1]
The Lummi are a Central Coast Salish people. The Central Coast Salish are a group of culturally related peoples in the Salish Sea, including the Squamish, Nooksack, Halkomelem-speaking peoples, the Klallam, and the other Northern Straits-speaking peoples. [4] The Lummi are part of the North Straits peoples, who are a group of related peoples in the San Juan Islands, as well as on parts of Vancouver and Fidalgo islands. [5]
The Lummi were not a historically unified people. According to their oral history, the Lummi are composed of the descendants of the last Klalakamish and Swallah peoples. The Klalakamish were a group who were located on northern San Juan Island, while the Swallah were a people whose land was at Eastsound, on Orcas Island. These peoples are said to have joined with their Lummi relatives after they moved to the mainland, following the destruction of their villages by smallpox. [5]
There are several pieces of the oral history of the Lummi which explain the origin of the Lummi people. In one, the First Man fell from the sky in northern San Juan Island, becoming the first Klalakamish. Another story tells of how the Klalakamish were threatened with extinction, with only one remaining. The last man gave his house to another who lived at Flat Point on Lopez Island, who arranged his (now two) houses in an L-shape, calling his home Xwlalemes, which eventually turned into Xwlemi. As the Lummi settled the mainland, the man moved his Xwlemi house to Gooseberry Point, which became the center of Lummi society in the modern era. [2]
Another history tells of how, around 1725, a man of the Swallah murdered the Skalakhan as revenge for the murder of his brother. The man had gained a powerful spirit power that enabled him to kill almost all of the Skalakhan, who were a (possibly Nooksack-speaking) [5] group living at the mouth of the Nooksack River, and after doing so, the last surviving Skalakhan ceded their territory to the Lummi. Thereafter, the rest of the Lummi settled on the mainland after the removal of the Skalakhan. [2]
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Lummi were recovering from devastating waves of smallpox which devastated their lands. The epidemics wiped out or nearly wiped out three villages in the San Juan Islands, and past their destruction, the islands no longer were used as winter spots, only summer gathering grounds. [2] Not only that, but the Lummi were suffering from large-scale slave raids on their villages from northern peoples. The surviving Lummi abandoned their villages on the islands and moved to the mainland. There, they defeated the Skalakhan and Hulwhaluq peoples and absorbed their villages. [3] From that point on, the center of power for the Lummi was on the mainland. [6] They built large stockades to fortify their new villages on the mainland. [3]
In 1853, ethnologist George Gibbs reported that there were two Lummi "bands" on the mainland, one in the south and one in the north. The northern band was led by a man named Chilleuk, while the southern band was led by a man named Chowitsoot. [7]
- Chowitshoot
- Sehlekqu
- S'h'chehoos (a.k.a. "General Washington")
- Whailanhu (a.k.a. "Davy Crockett")
- Sheahdelthu
- Kwultseh
- Kwullethu
- Hwnlahlakq (a.k.a. "Thomas Jefferson")
- Chtsimpt
- Tsesumten
- Klthahlten
- Kuttakanam (a.k.a. "John")
- S'hoolkkanam
- Chloksuts
On January 22, 1855, the Lummi were party to the Treaty of Point Elliott. Thirteen Lummi leaders signed the treaty, led by the American-appointed Chowitsoot. [6] The Lummi ceded their lands, roughly 107,000 acres, [8] to the United States, in return for guaranteed hunting and fishing rights, as well as retaining reservation lands as established in the treaty. The treaty established the Lummi Reservation, to which the Lummi and several other local peoples (including the Nooksack and Samish) were scheduled to be removed. Many who moved to the reservation left, and in the end, it was majorly inhabited by Lummis. [9]
In 1857, the Indian agent of the Lummi Reservation reported that there were three Lummi bands, each located at the forks of the mouth of the Nooksack River. Each acknowledged Chowitsoot as their leader. [7]
In the 1980s, the fishing rights of the Lummi were attacked. Private canneries built salmon traps at traditional Lummi fishing sites, depriving the Lummi of their reef-netting fishing locations. They also lost access to fishing in Bellingham Bay due to a large log jam. Not only that, but they continually lost land on their reservation due to the sale of land to private individuals. [10]
In the 1930s, the Lummi built a dike on the Nooksack River, allowing them to acquire and cultivate new land along the river delta. [10]
The mid-to-late 1900s marked a push to regain Lummi treaty rights, especially in the case of fishing.
In the 1960s, the Lummi began a new aquaculture project, creating a fish hatchery and a salmon-rearing facility. Throughout the 70s and 80s, the Lummi fishing fleets continued to increase, and by the 1980s, around one-quarter of all fish caught in Washington state were caught by the Lummi. [11]
The Lummi also fought to restore the hold over the land on their reservation, and revitalize it in other ways. The Lummi Nation reacquired around 10 percent of reservation land into trust, and in the 1980s, the Lummi Nation opened a restaurant-boating complex, processing plant, and several education facilities. [11]
The historical core of Lummi territory was in the San Juan Islands only, where they controlled about half of the archipelago. The Lummi controlled all of Orcas Island, Shaw Island, and their environs, as well as the north-western half of Lopez Island and the north-eastern half of San Juan island. The borders of Lummi territory was well-known by both the Lummi people and other neighboring peoples. [2]
Sometime in the 18th century, the Lummi began moving to the mainland, which became the center of Lummi society. Prior to the treaties, the Lummi controlled the shoreline from Point Whitehorn to Chuckanut Bay. Their holdings extended inland as far as Lake Terrell and what is now Ferndale. [2]
Some of their lands were historically cooperatively owned by the Lummi and one or more neighboring peoples. For example, the area from Whatcom Creek to Chuckanut Bay was shared by the Lummi with the Nuwhaha and the Nooksack. [2]
The Lummi speak the Lummi language, which is a variety of the Northern Straits Salish language. Although it is typically classed as a dialect, it is traditionally viewed as its own language. Varieties of Northern Straits are spoken by the Lummi, the Semiahmoo, the Samish, Songhees, Saanich, and the Sooke peoples. [2] [5]
The Lummi did not traditionally have "chiefs," nor were they arranged in organized "tribes," as has been commonly posited by both contemporary and modern writers. Rather, the highest unit of social organization in traditional Lummi society was the autonomous village and the household. Although there was a sense of identity even past the village level, there was no centralized means of power or authority that one village held over another. Rather, social cohesion was based upon kinship, alliances, community, and a shared culture and dialect between families and villages. [2]
"Chiefs," as they have been called in literature, were traditionally people whose prestige gave them sway over others. However, there was by no means any formalized authority that one such leader had over other members of their community, or other communities. Generally, these people were leaders of their respective families and households. They could exercise authority over members of their family, including those in other houses or villages, but had no authority over a village itself. [2]
The Lummi had a stratified society of three classes: high-class, low-class, and slave. [2]
Like other peoples of the Northwest Coast, Lummi society was shaped by extensive intermarriage and alliance with other nearby peoples, both locally and abroad. The Lummi often intermarried the Klallam and some northern Lushootseed-speaking peoples, but were commonly hostile to the Cowichan peoples. [12] In addition, the Lummi were subject to slave raids from the north, which forced them to migrate to the mainland, abandoning their settlements in the San Juans. Despite past conflicts, the Lummi today maintain relations with peoples they historically were hostile to. [3]
Since the colonial period, the Lummi have both traded and fought with European settlers and Catholic missionaries. A mission was established shortly after the treaty signing, by reverends Chirouse and D'Herbomez. The United States opened Fort Bellingham in 1856 near the Lummi Reservation, which was operated for four years until 1860. The Lummi themselves traded at forts and settlements nearby, including at Victoria and along the Fraser River. Much of the modern history of the Lummi has been marked by their struggle against the American government and White fishermen for their treaty rights, which have been violated many times since the treaty's signing. [7]
Most Lummi are enrolled in the federally-recognized Lummi Nation (officially known as the Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation), who are the political successors to the aboriginal Lummi who signed the treaty. [13] The Lummi Nation formally adopted a constitution in 1970, and is run by the Lummi Business Council, a democratically-elected eleven-member council which governs the tribe. [9]
Whatcom County is a county located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington, bordered by the Lower Mainland of British Columbia to the north, Okanogan County to the east, Skagit County to the south, San Juan County across Rosario Strait to the southwest, and the Strait of Georgia to the west. Its county seat and largest population center is the coastal city of Bellingham, comprising the Bellingham, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area, and as of the 2020 census, the county's population was 226,847.
The Squaxin Island Tribe is a federally recognized tribe located in Mason County, Washington. They are descended from several Southern Coast Salish peoples, including the Squaxin, Sahewamish, T'Peeksin, Squiaitl, Stechass, and Nusechatl.
The Duwamish are a Lushootseed-speaking Southern Coast Salish people in western Washington, and the Indigenous people of metropolitan Seattle.
The Sauk-SuiattleIndian Tribe is a federally-recognized tribe of Sauk people located in western Washington state. The tribe historically lived along the banks of the Sauk, Suiattle, Cascade, Stillaguamish, and Skagit rivers, in the area known as Sauk Prairie at the foot of Whitehorse Mountain in the North Cascade Range.
The LummiNation is a federally-recognized tribe of primarily Lummi people. The Lummi Nation also includes some Nooksack, Samish, and other local tribes which were removed to the reservation. It is based in the coastal area of the Pacific Northwest region of Washington state in the United States, and is located within the Bellingham Metropolitan Area
The Swinomishpeople are a Lushootseed-speaking people Indigenous to western Washington state.
The Coast Salish languages, also known as the Central Salish languages, are a branch of the Salishan language family. These languages are spoken by First Nations or Native American peoples inhabiting the Pacific Northwest, in the territory that is now known as the southwest coast of British Columbia around the Strait of Georgia and Washington State around Puget Sound. The term "Coast Salish" also refers to the cultures in British Columbia and Washington who speak one of these languages or dialects.
The Snohomish people are a Lushootseed-speaking Southern Coast Salish people who are indigenous to the Puget Sound region of Washington State. Most Snohomish are enrolled in the Tulalip Tribes of Washington and reside on the reservation or nearby, although others are enrolled in other tribes, and some are members of the non-recognized Snohomish Tribe of Indians. Traditionally, the Snohomish occupied a wide area of land, including the Snohomish River, parts of Whidbey and Camano Islands, and the nearby coastline of Skagit Bay and Puget Sound. They had at least 25 permanent villages throughout their lands, but in 1855, signed the Treaty of Point Elliott and were relocated to the Tulalip Reservation. Although some moved to the reservation, the harsh conditions, lack of land, and oppressive policies of the United States government caused many to leave.
The Chimakum, also spelled Chemakum and Chimacum Native American people, were a group of Native Americans who lived in the northeastern portion of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state, between Hood Canal and Discovery Bay until their virtual extinction in 1902. Their primary settlements were on Port Townsend Bay, on the Quimper Peninsula, and Port Ludlow Bay to the south.
The Samish are a Native American people who live in the U.S. state of Washington. They are a Central Coast Salish people. Through the years, they were assigned to reservations dominated by other Tribes, for instance, the Swinomish Indians of the Swinomish Reservation of Washington and the Tulalip Tribes of the Tulalip Reservation. They are also enrolled in the Samish Indian Nation, formerly known as the Samish Indian Tribe, which regained federal recognition in 1996.
Northern Straits Salish is a language composed of several mutually-intelligible dialects within the Coast Salish language family spoken in western Washington and British Columbia. The various dialects of Northern Straits Salish are often referred to as separate languages, both in historic and modern times, and although their similarities are recognized by its speakers, there is no word for the language as a whole.
Lummi Island lies at the southwest corner of Whatcom County, Washington, United States, between the mainland part of the county and offshore San Juan County. The Lummi Indian Reservation is situated on a peninsula east of the island, but it does not include Lummi Island. The island has a land area of 23.97 square kilometres and had a population of 822 as of the 2000 census. The population nearly doubles in summer when second-home owners from Canada and the U.S. arrive for the summer months.
The Coast Salish are a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coast Salish languages. The Nuxalk nation are usually included in the group, although their language is more closely related to Interior Salish languages.
The Samish Indian Nation is a federally-recognized tribe of Samish people located in Skagit County, Washington. The Samish Indian Nation is a signatory to the Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855 and has a government-to-government relationship with the United States of America. The Samish are a Northern Straits branch of Central Coast Salish peoples. The Samish Nation is headquartered in Anacortes, Fidalgo Island, in Washington, north of Puget Sound.
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, also known as the Swinomish Tribe, is a federally recognized tribe located on Puget Sound in Washington state. Swinomish is a legal successor to signatories of the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott. Its Reservation is located 65 miles North of Seattle, Washington on Fidalgo Island.The tribe's population is primarily composed of Swinomish, Lower Skagit, Kikiallus, and Samish peoples and their descendants. Other populations on the reservation include the Suquamish and Upper Skagit.
The Snoqualmie people are a Lushootseed-speaking Southern Coast Salish people indigenous to the Snoqualmie Valley, located in east King and Snohomish counties in the state of Washington.
The Mitchell Bay Band of the San Juan Islands is an Indigenous Coast Salish community based in the San Juan Islands of Washington, United States. The community was first referred to as the Mitchell Bay Tribe by Office of Indian Affairs agent Charles Roblin in his 1919 Census of Unenrolled Indians, in reference to one of several bays with historically significant indigenous populations.
Chuckanut Bay is a crescent-shaped bay about three miles (4.8 km) long in southwestern Whatcom County, directly south of Bellingham, Washington, United States. The bay was formed along the axis of a plunging syncline during the formation of the Chuckanut Mountains. It is situated on the eastern shore of the Salish Sea at the southeast end of Bellingham Bay. The bay was named Puerto del Socorro by Lieutenant Juan Francisco de Eliza in 1791. The present name was chosen by Captain Henry Roeder on December 1, 1852. Natural features include Pleasant Bay located south of Chuckanut Bay, Mud Bay to the north, and Chuckanut Island and Chuckanut Rocks to the west. Other natural features include Teddy Bear Cove, Governors Point and Clark Point. Several creeks drain into the bay, including Chuckanut Creek and Fragrance Lake Outlet. The bay is home to tafoni formations found in the area.
The Interurban Trail is a rail trail in Whatcom County, Washington. Built for bicycle and hiking recreation, the trail runs 6.6 miles (10.6 km) between Fairhaven and Larrabee State Park in the Bellingham area.
The Nuwhaha were a historical Lushootseed-speaking people in the Skagit River valley of Washington. The Nuwhaha primarily lived along the Samish River, as well as the coastal areas between Bay View and Bellingham.