Plateau peoples
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| Plateau peoples | |
|---|---|
| Group | Plateau peoples |
| Regions | Interior Plateau, Columbia Plateau |
| Languages | Interior Salish, Sahaptian, Kutenai, Chinookan |
| Religions | Indigenous religions, Christianity |
Plateau peoples are Indigenous inhabitants of the Interior Plateau and Columbia Plateau region of western North America whose diverse societies developed along the Columbia River, Fraser River, and tributaries between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains. Their ancestral territories span what are now British Columbia, Washington (state), Oregon, and Idaho, and their histories intersect with neighboring groups such as the Coast Salish, Kootenai, Nez Perce, Nisga'a, and Shuswap.
Overview and Geography
The Plateau region encompasses river valleys, sagebrush steppe, montane forests, and canyonlands centered on the Columbia River Basin, Okanagan Valley, Yakima River, Snake River, and Kootenay River, with key sites at Celilo Falls, Omak Lake, Wenatchee, Kamloops, and Spokane. Plateau territories abut the Coast Mountains, Monashee Mountains, Blue Mountains (Oregon), and the Selkirk Mountains, producing varied resources that supported distinct groups such as the Sinixt, Syilx (Okanagan Nation)],] Entiat, Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs, Kalispel, Coeur d'Alene, Colville, Cayuse, and Palus.
History and Pre-contact Societies
Before sustained European contact, Plateau societies maintained seasonal rounds anchored at salmon fishing and root harvesting sites like Celilo Falls and Kettle Falls and engaged in interregional trade along routes linking the Great Plains, Pacific Northwest, and Great Basin. Archaeological sequences from sites associated with the Windust phase, Cascade phase, and St. Mungo phase indicate long-term continuity in lithic industries, pit-house architecture, and mortuary practices observed among groups including the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council peoples and the Interior Salish. Oral histories reference events comparable to movements recorded in accounts of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Hudson's Bay Company fur trade, and the spread of horse culture tied to Plains contacts with the Blackfeet Confederacy.
Languages and Linguistic Classification
Plateau languages belong to several families including Interior Salishan languages (e.g., Secwepemctsín, Nlhý̓x̌pmx, St̓át̓imcets), Sahaptian languages (e.g., Nez Perce language, Umatilla language, Yakima language), the isolate Kutenai language, and remnants of Chinookan languages upstream. Historical linguists compare sound correspondences among Interior Salish languages, examine areal features shared with Algonquian languages via trade networks, and study loanwords documented in journals by explorers such as David Thompson and officials of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Culture, Subsistence, and Material Life
Material culture includes fishweirs, woven basketry, dugout canoes, pit houses, and trade goods such as obsidian, copper, and shell ornaments obtained through networks linking the Pacific Coast, Plateau, and Great Plains. Subsistence economies combined seasonal salmon harvests at places like Celilo Falls with camas and bitterroot root digging, elk and deer hunting in the Columbia Basin, and trade in horses and buffalo products following contact with Plains groups like the Cree and Blackfoot. Ceremonial life incorporated songs, dances, potlatch-like gift exchanges influenced by interactions with the Coast Salish and Plateau-specific practices attested in ethnographies by scholars associated with institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Social Organization and Political Structures
Social organization varied from kin-based bands and lineage groups among the Nez Perce and Palus to more stratified communities with wealth leaders and generous sponsors at major fishery sites among the Yakama and Colville Confederated Tribes. Political structures often emphasized consensus decision-making in winter councils, inter-band alliances for resource stewardship, and dispute resolution practices recorded in treaty negotiations with entities like the United States Department of the Interior and colonial administrations of the Colony of British Columbia.
Contact, Colonization, and Treaties
Contact with European and Euro-American actors accelerated during the early nineteenth century with incursions by the Hudson's Bay Company, the North West Company, and exploration by David Thompson and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, followed by missionary activities linked to Methodist missionaries and Roman Catholic missionaries. Epidemics of smallpox and other diseases dramatically reduced populations, leading to shifts in settlement patterns and negotiated instruments such as the Treaty of 1855 agreements in the Washington Territory (including the Yakama Treaty), reservation establishments like the Warm Springs Reservation and Colville Reservation, and legal contests before bodies like the U.S. Supreme Court and Canadian courts concerning aboriginal rights to fisheries enshrined in decisions invoking the Marshall Decision precedents.
Contemporary Communities and Issues
Today Plateau-descended nations and bands including the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Shuswap Nation Tribal Council, Splatsin, Okanagan Nation Alliance, Coast Salish partners, Kalispel Tribe, and Coeur d'Alene Tribe engage in co-management of fisheries, legal claims for water and land rights, cultural revitalization of languages such as N'hy'a'em and Hinono'eitiit, economic development through casinos and tourism, and environmental advocacy addressing hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River and habitat restoration at sites like Kettle Falls. Contemporary litigation and agreements involve agencies including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, provincial ministries in British Columbia, and transboundary negotiations with the International Joint Commission.