Plateau tribes

Plateau tribes
Name	Plateau peoples
Caption	Traditional Plateau basketry and salmon drying frame
Population	Various bands and tribal nations
Regions	Columbia Plateau, Interior Plateau
Languages	Sahaptian, Interior Salishan, Kutenai, Chinookan, Sahaptin
Religions	Indigenous spiritual practices, Christianity
Related	Interior Salish peoples, Wakashan peoples, Nez Perce, Kootenai

Plateau tribes

Plateau tribes are Indigenous peoples of the Interior Columbia Plateau region of western North America, historically occupying territory between the Cascade Range, the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Ocean drainage basins and the Great Plains. They encompass diverse ethnolinguistic groups including Sahaptian, Interior Salishan, Kutenai and Chinookan speakers, with long-standing ties to salmon fishing, camas harvesting and intertribal trade networks such as the Nez Perce and Yakama exchanges. Colonial contact with agents from the Hudson's Bay Company, United States and Spanish Empire introduced new trade goods, diseases and treaties that reshaped social and territorial arrangements.

Introduction

The Plateau peoples form a mosaic of autonomous bands and tribal nations traditionally occupying what are now parts of Washington (state), Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia. Major ethnolinguistic identities include the Nez Perce, Yakama, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Umatilla, Warm Springs Reservation, Coeur d'Alene, Kootenay and Sahaptin-speaking groups. Their histories intersect with major events and institutions such as the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Oregon Trail, the Treaty of 1855 (Walla Walla Treaty), and later federal policies like the Indian Reorganization Act and the boarding school era. Plateau peoples maintained extensive seasonal rounds, ceremonial practices, potlatch-style gift economies and oral histories recorded by ethnographers like Franz Boas and Edward S. Curtis.

Geography and Environment

The Plateau region is defined by river systems including the Columbia River, Snake River, Kootenay River and numerous tributaries that supported anadromous fish runs, notably Chinook salmon. Upland prairies, sagebrush steppe, riparian forests and camas meadows created a patchwork of habitats exploited through controlled burning and plant management practiced by groups such as the Nez Perce and Yakama. Climatic gradients between the rain shadow of the Cascade Range and the lee of the Rocky Mountains produced varied microenvironments that shaped material culture, mobility and trade in objects like tule mats, woven cedar baskets and trade blankets obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company.

History and Cultural Development

Archaeological sequences spanning the Paleo-Indian period, the Archaic and the Late Precontact era document long-term habitation, with megafaunal hunting transitioning to specialized salmon fishing and seed gathering. Ethnolinguistic divergence among Sahaptian, Interior Salishan, Chinookan and Kutenai speakers reflects millennia of population movements and intermarriage; major historic episodes include interactions with the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806), epidemics of smallpox and measles in the early 19th century, and the negotiation of treaties such as the Treaty of Medicine Creek and the Treaty of Point Elliott. Governmental interventions like reservation establishment, allotment under the General Allotment Act, and termination policies substantially altered land tenure and cultural continuity.

Social Organization and Subsistence

Social life was organized around kin-based bands, seasonal villages and ritual proprietorships tied to fishing sites, berry patches and camas grounds. Leadership varied from hereditary chiefs among groups such as the Nez Perce to situational headmen recognized for skill in hunting, diplomacy or trade; ceremonies including salmon dances, renewal rites and memorial potlatches regulated redistribution and social status. Sustenance relied on an integrated economy of salmon fisheries, sturgeon netting, root and bulb harvesting (notably Camassia quamash), camas ovens, deer and elk hunting, and trade in mountain-goat robes and obsidian. Intertribal trade routes connected Plateau peoples to coastal Chinook middlemen, Interior Shoshone groups, and Plains peoples via the Siksika and Blackfoot networks.

Material Culture and Art

Plateau material culture is noted for elaborately woven basketry, root digging tools, netting technology, carved wooden platforms and painted hides. Artistic expressions include geometric designs in basketry, hide painting, quillwork, and beadwork influenced by contact-era trade beads and European textiles supplied by companies like the Hudson's Bay Company. Canoes fashioned from tule and cedar enabled riverine mobility along the Columbia River corridor, while tepees, mat lodges and plank houses reflect regional architectural diversity. Ethnographers and photographers such as Edward S. Curtis documented regalia, oral performance and ceremonial paraphernalia that continue to inform cultural revitalization.

Relations with Neighboring Peoples and Colonizers

Plateau nations maintained complex alliances, rivalries and trade ties with neighboring groups including the Coast Salish, Shoshone, Blackfoot Confederacy, Tlingit traders and Columbia Basin fisher communities. European and American incursions by fur companies, missionary societies like the Methodist Episcopal Church and military expeditions led to contested sovereignty claims, treaty negotiations, and armed conflicts exemplified by the Nez Perce War and skirmishes during the Yakima War. Legal struggles over fishing rights culminated in landmark cases such as United States v. Winans and the affirmation of treaty-protected fishing in decisions like the Boldt Decision, shaping modern co-management regimes for salmon.

Contemporary Issues and Revitalization Efforts

Contemporary Plateau nations address land restoration, fishery co-management, language revitalization, cultural heritage protection and economic development through entities like tribal councils, intertribal organizations, and partnerships with universities such as University of Washington and Washington State University. Language programs target Sahaptin and Interior Salish languages, while cultural projects restore camas prairies, salmon runs via habitat restoration and dam negotiations with agencies like the Bonneville Power Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Activism around tribal sovereignty, repatriation under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and recognition of treaty rights continues through litigation, legislative engagement and community-led cultural education initiatives.

Category:Native American tribes in the United States Category:First Nations in British Columbia