Colville
The Colville (sometimes called Scheulpi , Chualpay or Swhy-ayl-puh , where the French traders named them Les Chaudières after Kettle Falls ) are a sub-tribe of the Spokane , a tribe of the inland Salish in northeast Washington and southern British Columbia . Thus they belong to the cultural area of the plateau, but also share characteristics of the coastal Salish .
The Colville ( Swhy-ayl-puh ) form together with the inland Salish-speaking Nespelem , Sanpoil , Sinixt (also: Lakes or Arrow Lakes Band ), Wenatchi , Chelan , Entiat , Methow , Sinkaietk (also: Lower or Southern Okanagon ), the Sinkiuse-Columbia and the Sahaptian-speaking Palus (also: Palouse) and the Nez Perce of Chief Joseph's Band the twelve historical tribes of today's Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Okanogan County in east Washington; The tribes also own a small piece of land in Chelan County as trust land . There are also family ties to what is now known as the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation . They have a total of around 9,000 members.
history
Like all Salish tribes, the Colville followed seasonal migrations to get their staple foods based on availability. They lived on the fish of the rivers, on berries and game, but also moved upstream to the plateau, where they mainly found roots. Their traditional area includes not only the lower Columbia, but also the Sanpoil River , the Nespelem , the Okanogan , the Snake River and the Wallowa River .
Across the rivers and along the coast, the Colville took part in the trade with the coastal tribes, which was expanded by the appearance of the Europeans from around 1811. Some tribes even preferred to move closer to the coast in order to preferentially participate in the trade around the forts.
The Hudson's Bay Company
With the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1805, the first news of the Indian tribes in the far northwest came to Washington. As early as 1807, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) established a trading post called Kettle Falls . The first HBC employee to appear in what is now Spokane was David Thompson . He visited the Columbia River in 1811 and found a waterway upstream via Astoria , which soon led across the Great Lakes to the east of the continent. In the years that followed, the fur trade was extremely profitable, with the Company buying furs valued at £ 11,000 from the Colville area alone.
Fort Colville was built in 1825 , named after Lord Andrew Colville, a senior member of the HBC. The fort quickly became a shopping center for the hides offered by the Indians, in accordance with the HBC's everywhere trade strategy. In order to make themselves more independent of the supply of the Indians, the employees built a large farm, which is now under the waters of Lake Roosevelt , just like the fort. Around 1840 the fort was processing around 18,000 furs per year.
United States
But with the border treaty of 1846, with which the 49th parallel became the border between the USA and the British part of North America, the HBC withdrew to Victoria on Vancouver Island .
The Washington Territory was established in 1853 and the War Department decided in 1859 to build a military post northeast of what is now Colville. First it was called Harney's Depot, then Fort Colville, which must not be confused with the other Fort Colville. It was not until the fort was abandoned in 1882 that Colville, whose school still exists today, came into being.
Reservation policy
Major Isaac Stevens , Commissioner of Indian Affairs , proposed the establishment of reservations in the Washington Territory. In 1854, a reservation was established for the Colville and other tribes in the region, named after John Colville of the US Army, who worked as a local agent. The government wanted to ensure that enough land for the expected settlers was free. This immigration led to the Yakima War from 1856 to 1859. Superintendent McKenny realized in 1865 that the settlement pressures and the aggressive approach would inevitably lead to new wars, especially since the Indians made it clear that they did not want to give up their land. On April 9, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant ordered the establishment of a reservation, the Colville Indian Reservation .
This moved the reserve to the west side of the Columbia and reduced it to 2,852,000 acres or 11,540 km². In addition, the most fertile areas on the Okanogan, Methow Valley, Columbia and Pend d'Oreille and the Colville Valley were drawn in. But American reservation policy went further. In 1892 she bought the northern half of the reserve for one dollar per acre, and in 1900 5,865 km² were released for house and farm construction. In 1914 the southern half was also converted.
Current situation
Today's reserve covers 5,482.5 km². It consists of tribal property that is held in federal trust, of individual property of the tribal members, which is also predominantly subject to fiduciary management, plus free property. In 2000 the reservation had 7,587 residents, around half of the tribal members lived in the reservation. The most important places are Omak, Nespelem, Inchelium, Keller and Coulee Dam, each with its own district.
The Confederated Tribes and the Colville Indian Reservation are governed by the Colville Business Council , based in Nespelem. Four council members are elected every two years.
Each place in the reserve has its own school. The next high school is Coulee Dams Lake Roosevelt High School , plus Inchelium School District. Post secondary education is currently only available at Inchelim and Big Bend Community College . There are also the Northwest Indian College's Nespelem Campus and the Wenatchee Valley College North Campus in Omak. The Omak Heritage College offers additional courses in the WVC North Campus building. The universities in the area remain to study, especially Eastern Washington University , Washington State University , Central Washington University and Gonzaga University as well as the University of Washington .
In order to bring the scattered Colville - the reservation comprises four electoral districts alone - more in contact with each other, a social internet system was installed in March 2008, which works similarly to MySpace , but is only open to status Indians. It is called One Heart for the People and was initiated by Ben-Alex Dupris, who also intends to include the elderly and those who have left the reservation. In addition, a language program should be accompanied with the help of Moodle .
literature
- Robert H. Ruby / John A. Brown: A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest , University of Oklahoma Press 1992, pp. 37-39.
See also
- History of the Coastal Salish
- History of British Columbia
- History of Washington
- List of Indian tribes recognized in Canada
- United States Indian Policy
Web links
- Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation website
- Voyages of discovery in the northwest of the USA
- Colville Tribal Enterprises Corporation
- Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation website
Remarks
- ↑ On his journey, see: Archive link ( Memento of the original from November 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ on the homepage of the city of Colville until today (July 2011) local tribes are not mentioned by name and only incidentally
- ↑ History of the city of Colville ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Jack McNeel, Colville members have 'One Heart for the People ", in Indian Country, March 5th of 2008.
