Syilx

Last updated
Okanagan
Okanagan Family Portrait.JPg
Okanagan (syilx) members, c. 1918. Back Left: Marriette Gregoire. Back Center: Joe Abel. Back Right: Tommy Gregoire. Left: Celestine Lewis (child). Center: Millie Williams. Right: Mary Abel (toddler).
Regions with significant populations
Canada (British Columbia),
United States (Washington)
Languages
English, Okanagan (n̓səl̓xcin)
Related ethnic groups
Colville, Sanpoil, Nespelem, Sinixt, Wenatchi, Entiat, Methow, Palus, Sinkiuse-Columbia, and the Nez Perce of Chief Joseph's band

The syilx (Salishan pronunciation: [sjilx] ) people, also known as the Okanagan, Suknaqinx, orOkinagan people, are a First Nations and Native American people whose traditional territory spans the Canada–US boundary in Washington state and unceded British Columbia in the Okanagan Country region. [1] They are part of the Interior Salish ethnological and linguistic grouping. [2] [3] The Okanagan are closely related to the Spokan, Sinixt, Nez Perce, Pend Oreille, Secwepemc and Nlaka'pamux peoples of the same Northwest Plateau region. [1]

Contents

History

At the height of Okanagan syilx culture, about 3000 years ago, it is estimated that 12,000 people lived in this valley and surrounding areas. The syilx employed an adaptive strategy, moving within traditional areas throughout the year to fish, hunt, or collect food, while in the winter months, they lived in semi-permanent villages of kekulis, a type of pithouse. [4] In nsyilxcn pit house is q̓ʷc̓iʔ. [5]

When the Oregon Treaty partitioned the Pacific Northwest in 1846, the portion of the tribe remaining in what became Washington Territory reorganized under Chief Tonasket as a separate group from the majority of the syilx, whose communities remain in Canada. [1] The Okanagan Tribal Alliance, however, incorporates the American branch of the syilx. The latter are part of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville, a multi-tribal government in Washington state. [6] [7]

The bounds of syilx territory are roughly the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Okanagan River, plus the basin of the Similkameen River to the west of the Okanagan valley, and some of the uppermost valley of the Nicola River. The various syilx communities in British Columbia and Washington form the Okanagan Nation Alliance, a border-spanning organization which includes American-side syilx residents in the Colville Indian Reservation, where the syilx are sometimes known as Colvilles. [8] [1]

The Upper Nicola Indian Band, a syilx group of the Nicola Valley, which was at the northwestern perimeter of Okanagan territory, are known in their dialect as the Spaxomin, and are joint members in a historic alliance with neighbouring communities of the Nlaka'pamux in the region known as the Nicola Country, which is named after the 19th-century chief who founded the alliance, Nicola. This alliance today is manifested in the Nicola Tribal Association. [9]

Language

The language of the syilx people is nsyilxcən. "syilx" is at the root of the language name nsyilxcən, surrounded by a circumfix indicating a language. [10] When writing nsyilxcən, no capital letters are used. [11] nsyilxcən is an Interior Salish language that is spoken across the Canadian and U.S.A. border in the regions of southern British Columbia and northern Washington. [12] This language is currently endangered and has only 50 fluent speakers remaining. [12]

Governments

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okanagan</span> Region of British Columbia, Canada

The Okanagan, also called the Okanagan Valley and sometimes the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part of the Okanagan Country, extending into the United States as Okanogan County in north-central Washington. According to the 2016 Canadian census, the region's population is 362,258. The largest populated cities are Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon, and West Kelowna.

Highway 3A is the designation of two segments of highway in the southern part of British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okanogan River</span> River in North America, through southern British Columbia and north central Washington state

The Okanogan River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 115 mi (185 km) long, in southern British Columbia and north central Washington. It drains a scenic plateau region called the Okanagan Country east of the Cascade Range and north and west of the Columbia, and also the Okanagan region of British Columbia. The Canadian portion of the river has been channelized since the mid-1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Similkameen River</span> River in North America, through southern British Columbia and north central Washington state

The Similkameen River runs through southern British Columbia, Canada, eventually discharging into the Okanagan River near Oroville, Washington, in the United States. Through the Okanagan River, it drains to the Columbia River. The river is said to be named for an indigenous people called Similkameigh, meaning "treacherous waters".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keremeos</span> Village in British Columbia, Canada

Keremeos is a village in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The name originated from the Similkameen dialect of the Okanagan language word "Keremeyeus" meaning "creek which cuts its way through the flats" referring to Keremeos Creek which flows down from the Upper Benchlands to the Similkameen River that flows past the village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cawston, British Columbia</span> Unincorporated community in British Columbia, Canada

Cawston is an unincorporated small community in the south Similkameen Valley, with a 2005 population of 973.

The Interior Salish languages are one of the two main branches of the Salishan language family, the other being Coast Salish. It can be further divided into Northern and Southern subbranches. The first Interior Salish people encountered by American explorers were the Flathead people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thompson Plateau</span>

The Thompson Plateau forms the southern portion of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia, Canada, lying to the west of Okanagan Lake, south of the Thompson River and east of the Fraser River. At its most southern point the plateau is squeezed by the mountainous terrain of the Cascade Range abutting closer to the Okanagan Valley. Its southwestern edge abuts the Canadian Cascades portion of that extensive range, more or less following the line of the Similkameen River, its tributary the Tulameen River, and a series of passes from the area of Tulameen, British Columbia to the confluence of the Thompson River with the Nicoamen River, a few kilometres (miles) east of Lytton, British Columbia, which is in the Fraser Canyon. Its northeastern edge runs approximately from the city of Vernon, British Columbia through the valley of Monte Creek to the junction of the same name just east of the city of Kamloops. Northeast of that line is the Shuswap Highland.

Nicola, also Nkwala or N'kwala, was an important First Nations political figure in the fur trade era of the British Columbia Interior as well as into the colonial period (1858–1871). He was grand chief of the Okanagan people and chief of the Nicola Valley peoples, an alliance of Nlaka'pamux and Okanagans and the surviving Nicola Athapaskans, and also of the Kamloops Band of the Shuswap people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westbank First Nation</span>

The Westbank First Nation is a self-governing First Nations band in the Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada, and is one of eight bands that comprise the Okanagan Nation Alliance of Syilx people. Westbank First Nation (WFN) is governed by one chief and four councillors, elected every three years by WFN membership. As of April 2019, WFN's membership totaled 914 members, and employs more than 200 people.

The Lower Similkameen Indian Band or Lower Smelqmix, is a First Nations band government in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Their office was in the village of Keremeos in the Similkameen region, until 2015 when they moved into their own $7million multi-purpose facility south of Cawston. They are a member of the Okanagan Nation Alliance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osoyoos Indian Band</span> First Nation government in British Columbia, Canada

The Osoyoos Indian Band is a First Nations government in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located in the town of Oliver and Osoyoos in the Okanagan valley, approximately four kilometres north of the Canada–United States border. They are a member of the Okanagan Nation Alliance. The band controls about 32,000 acres of land in the vicinity of the town of Oliver and Osoyoos.

The Penticton Indian Band is a First Nations government in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located next to the city of Penticton in the Okanagan Valley. They are a member of the Okanagan Nation Alliance. It has an accredited High School.

The Okanagan Nation Alliance is a First Nations Tribal Council in the Canadian province of British Columbia, spanning the Nicola, Okanagan and Similkameen Districts of the Canadian province of British Columbia and also the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington state of the United States of America. Their territory covers roughly 69,000 km2 in the Canadian Province of British Columbia and also some area of Washington state in the United States of America. The diverse landscape covers deserts, lakes, forests, and grasslands.

Okanagan, or Colville-Okanagan, or Nsyilxcən, is a Salish language which arose among the Indigenous peoples of the southern Interior Plateau region based primarily in the Okanagan River Basin and the Columbia River Basin in precolonial times in Canada and the United States. Following British, American, and Canadian colonization during the 1800s and the subsequent assimilation of all Salishan tribes, the use of Colville-Okanagan declined drastically.

The Similkameen Country, also referred to as the Similkameen Valley or Similkameen District, but generally referred to simply as The Similkameen or more archaically, Similkameen, is a region roughly coinciding with the basin of the river of the same name in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. The term "Similkameen District" also refers to the Similkameen Mining District, a defunct government administrative district, which geographically encompasses the same area, and in more casual terms may also refer to the Similkameen electoral district, which was combined with the Grand Forks-Greenwood riding by the time of the 1966 election. The Similkameen Country has deep historical connections to the Boundary Country and the two are sometimes considered one region, partly as a result of the name of the electoral district. It is also sometimes classed as being part of the Okanagan region, which results from shared regional district and other administrative boundaries and names. The term "Similkameen District" may also historically refer to the Similkameen Division Yale Land District, which also includes Osoyoos and the Boundary Country to Osoyoos' east.

The Colville people, are a Native American people of the Pacific Northwest. The name Colville comes from association with Fort Colville, named after Andrew Colvile of the Hudson's Bay Company. Okanagan: sx̌ʷyʔiɬpx) Earlier, outsiders often called them Scheulpi, Chualpay, or Swhy-ayl-puh; the French traders called them Les Chaudières in reference to Kettle Falls. The neighboring Coeur d'Alene called them Sqhwiyi̱'ɫpmsh and the Spokane knew them as Sxʷyelpetkʷ.

Olalla is an unincorporated settlement in the South Okanagan region of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located southwest of Penticton and just north of Keremeos. Kaleden, just northeast beyond Olalla along BC Highway 3A, occupies the pass dividing the Okanagan Valley beyond and the Similkameen Country of which Olalla is a part.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nlaka'pamux</span> Ethnic group of British Columbia

The Nlakaʼpamux or Nlakapamuk, also previously known as the Thompson, Thompson River Salish, Thompson Salish, Thompson River Indians or Thompson River people, and historically as the Klackarpun, Haukamaugh, Knife Indians, and Couteau Indians, are an Indigenous First Nations people of the Interior Salish language group in southern British Columbia. Their traditional territory includes parts of the North Cascades region of Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Okanagan—Similkameen National Park Reserve</span> Proposed national park reserve in British Columbia, Canada

South Okanagan—Similkameen National Park Reserve is a proposed national park reserve located in the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen of British Columbia. The goal of the park is to work with the local First Nations to protect a large patch of Okanagan dry forests and part of the northern reach of the Columbia Plateau ecoregion in Canada.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Lozar, Patrick (2018-07-01). ""My Home Is on Both Sides": Indigenous Communities and the US-Canadian Border on the Columbia Plateau, 1880s–1910s". Ethnohistory. 65 (3): 391–415. doi:10.1215/00141801-4451374. ISSN   0014-1801.
  2. ↑ Noonan, Michael; Mattina, Anthony (June 1989). "Colville-Okanagan Dictionary". Language. 65 (2): 433. doi:10.2307/415365. ISSN   0097-8507. JSTOR   415365.
  3. ↑ Peacock, Sandra L. (February 2008). "From complex to simple: balsamroot, inulin, and the chemistry of traditional Interior Salish pit-cooking technologyThis paper was submitted for the Special Issue on Ethnobotany, inspired by the Ethnobotany Symposium organized by Alain Cuerrier, Montréal Botanical Garden, and held in Montréal at the 2006 annual meeting of the Canadian Botanical Association/l'Association Botanique du Canada". Botany. 86 (2): 116–128. doi:10.1139/b07-111. ISSN   1916-2790.
  4. ↑ John D. Greenough, Murray A. Roed, ed. (2004). Okanagan Geology. Kelowna Geology Committee. pp. 71–83. ISBN   0-9699795-2-5.
  5. ↑ "English - Cv-Ok". meltr.org. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
  6. ↑ Dulic, Aleksandra; Thorogood, Miles; Sam, Marlowe; Correia, Maria; Alexis, Sarah; Armstrong, Jeanette (2023-11-20). "Okanagan Waterways Past, Present and Future: Approaching Sustainability through Immersive Museum Exhibition". Sustainability. 15 (22): 16109. doi: 10.3390/su152216109 . ISSN   2071-1050.
  7. ↑ Gooding, Susan Staiger (1994). "Place, Race, and Names: Layered Identities in United States v. Oregon, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Plaintiff-Intervenor". Law & Society Review. 28 (5): 1181–1229. doi:10.2307/3054027. ISSN   0023-9216. JSTOR   3054027.
  8. ↑ Terbasket, Pauline (2019-08-25). "Syilx Perspective on Original Foods: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow". Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development: 1–6. doi: 10.5304/jafscd.2019.091.016 . ISSN   2152-0801.
  9. ↑ Nicholas, George P. (2006). "Decolonizing the Archaeological Landscape: The Practice and Politics of Archaeology in British Columbia". The American Indian Quarterly. 30 (3): 350–380. doi:10.1353/aiq.2006.0031. ISSN   1534-1828.
  10. ↑ Johnson, M. K. (2012). k^sup w^u_sq^sup w^a?q^sup w^a?álx (we begin to speak): Our journey within nsyilxcn (okanagan) language revitalization. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 35(1), 79.
  11. ↑ reporter, Athena Bonneau, Local Journalism Initiative (2021-07-24). "Penticton Museum's new exhibit honours four syilx language keepers". IndigiNews. Retrieved 2024-04-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. 1 2 Johnson, Sʔímlaʔx Michele K. (November 2017). "Syilx Language House: How and Why We Are Delivering 2,000 Decolonizing Hours in Nsyilxcn". Canadian Modern Language Review. 73 (4): 509–537. doi:10.3138/cmlr.4040. ISSN   0008-4506. S2CID   149072885.
  13. ↑ Syilx (Okanagan) Language Names: Upper Nicola Band. “Syilx Place Names.” Facebook, October 5, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1057161971367609.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.