Makah
The Makah are a Native American tribe in Washington state . They belong to the Nuu-chah-nulth tribal group , who otherwise only live on Vancouver Island in Canada . In 2003, according to information from the US Department of the Interior, 2,492 people were registered as members of the Makah tribe.
The Makah call themselves "Kwih-dich-chuh-ahtx" (Qwidiččaʔa · tx̌), which means "The people who live on the rocks and with the seagulls". The name Makah was given to them by their neighbors, the Klallam, and means "generous with food".
The Makah used to live exclusively from fishing and whaling, plus berries and roots. In 1855 they signed a treaty with the US government ("Treaty with the Makah"), which restricted their land ownership to their present size and assigned them a reservation, but also guaranteed them the right to seal and whale hunt.
language
The Makah used to speak a now-extinct Wakash language . The last person to be fluent in this language died in August 2002 at the age of 100.
Legend
The Makah have numerous legends and myths, one of which is that of the three most important animals:
- “The three most powerful animals in our mythology are thunderbird , wolf and whale. The orcas are the wolves of the seas and their call is the echo of the wolves' calls. Thunderbird was the first whaler. It was a huge bird, so big that its wings flapped thunder and storm, and when its eyes closed and opened it made lightning. One day an orca, a killer whale, appeared and brought great suffering to people. Then the thunderbird left its cave and grabbed the orca when it came to the surface to breathe and carried it away. They fought three times, the earth shook three times. But the bird defeated the predator of the sea. "
Another story tells of the copper woman from whom the ancestors of the Makah descended. They believed that the wisdom of a people must always be passed on through women because they have the courage to hold onto the truth. Copper ladies' daughters can be recognized by their red hair and green eyes. The green eyes are the sign of an old soul that was 'newborn'.
Peculiarities of the culture compared to the other Nuu-chah-nulth
Face-painting was widespread among all Nuu-chah-nulth tribes. But the Makah, considered unusually “wild” at the end of the 18th century, also tattooed their children. The girls received tattoos on their calves, forearms and hands, the boys only on their hands.
Makah basketry was still in full bloom around 1900.
history
Early history
The Makah inhabited five places permanently before 1800. Those places along the coast were Waatch, Sooes, Deah, Ozette, and Bahaada. Their tribe was comparatively large, although the estimates at 2,000 to 4,000 are far apart. Many places were only inhabited in summer, such as Kidickabit, Archawat, Hoko, Tatoosh Island , the Ozette River, and Ozette Lake.
The excavations in Ozette , which was overrun by a mudslide 300 years ago, show that there was trade along the west coast to the north of Vancouver Island and as far as Oregon and California . The excavation campaigns from 1966/70 to 1981 unearthed around 55,000 artefacts. There is also a certain concentration of petroglyphs, which occur unevenly in the Nuu-chah-nulth area . After all, the oldest surviving sculpture comes from the Makah area (around 800 BC), although it is unclear whether the Makah had already displaced their predecessor culture by this time.
It is unclear how long before about 1500 the Makah, who came from Vancouver Island, settled around Cape Flattery. Their comparatively isolated situation meant that they developed a stronger self-confidence as a cohesive group - therefore they never enslaved members of the Makah - and that among the ethnic groups in the northwest of the USA they came closest to the European idea of a tribe .
Fur trade, conflict, smallpox
At the end of the 18th century, the entire northwest coast became the most important area for European fur traders. The first contact was through the British trader Charles Duncan, in the Makah village of Classet, and John Meares in 1787 and 1788. At that time, Tatoosh (Tutusi) was the chief of the Makah. The Spaniards tried to set up a trading post in Neah Bay , but these plans were abandoned after 1790 and the trading post abandoned in 1792. Meares' ship was received unkindly by Makah on June 29, 1788. They were dressed in otter skins, their faces painted with red and yellow ocher. Their canoes carried 20 to 30 warriors who were armed with bows and arrows, but also with lances. Chief Tatoosh had them come ashore and he impressed Meares with his shiny black face. He informed him that the power of Chief Wickaninnish ends here and his territory begins, at the same time he refused the usual counter-gifts. A few days later there was an attack on one of the boats. Trade did not take place under these circumstances.
Robert Haswell from Boston appeared in 1789 and first described the place Neah Bay, the name of which goes back to the Makah village of Deah . In 1790 the Makah traded with the Spaniard Manuel Quimper , with whom there was a dispute over an attack on a Makah woman. Allegedly, a show of force by the Spaniards caused Chief Tutusi to maintain peaceful relations with the Spaniards. The following year Francisco de Eliza appeared with the Makah, and he traded 20 children for 33 pieces of copper.
In terms of trade, the Americans in the Makah region played a considerably larger role than the British, Spaniards or Russians. Robert Gray and John Kendrick were probably the first fur traders in 1788, 15 US ships reached the region around Clayoquot Sound in 1788–94, 50 in 1795–1804 and even from 1805 to 1814 there were 40, during the last two decades only 9 or 3 British ships showed up here.
But in 1792 the Spaniards, who had established a small trading colony at "Núñez Gaona" (Neah Bay), under the leadership of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, succeeded in gaining a great reputation among the Nuu-chah-nulth. It was thanks to his diplomatic skills that England refrained from colonizing the north-west coast for decades. In Neah Bay itself, however, there were conflicts with the Spanish commander Salvador Fidalgo, who already summed up the judgment repertoire of most Europeans by describing the Makah as "warlike, devious and thieving" - apparently without any sense of the perspective of their harsh military action affected.
At the end of the 18th century, however, the epidemics introduced by Europeans also reached the Makah, the number of which fell dramatically. 1805–1806 their number was estimated at around 2,000, in 1853 the anthropologist George Gibbs estimated their number only at 500. The Observer of Indians James Swan counted exactly 654 Makah in 1861, in 1905 there were only 435, in 1937 only 407. In 1950, however, there were again 550. This roughly corresponds to the experiences of other groups, in which the first smallpox epidemics initially killed at least every second person, after which social disintegration caused the population to decline further. In 1853 they had to give up the village of Bahaada because of a particularly violent smallpox epidemic . This epidemic was brought in by Makah from California .
However, they came into contact with the deadly disease relatively late, which is due to the fact that the otter, the commodity so sought after by Europeans, was practically exterminated. As a result, Europeans and Americans stopped visiting after just a few years. It was only with the establishment of Fort Nisqually at the southern end of Puget Sound (1833) that Makah traded again with Europeans, this time with the British of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC).
When three shipwrecked Japanese, the only survivors of a 14-man crew who had been caught in a typhoon , landed off the coast in January 1833 , they were nursed to health by the Makah, but kept there as slaves. When the captain of a merchant ship of HBC heard this, he reported it in Fort Vancouver . A ship fetched the three Japanese and tried to bring them back to Japan, but Japan refused to allow any foreign ship to land, so the three had to live in China. Around 1840 a Russian ship ran aground with the Makah.
Treaty of Neah Bay, reservation, proselytizing
In 1846 the border treaty between the United States and Great Britain granted the Makah territory to the United States. On January 31, 1855, they negotiated the Treaty of Neah Bay with Washington Territory Governor Isaac Ingalls Stevens . In return for preserving their rights to live, hunt and collect, they forego 300,000 acres of land. Their reserve now comprised 27,265 acres , that of the Ozette around Cape Alava 709 acres . In 1859, Congress ratified the agreement. As early as 1862 the Indian agent of Neah Bay, Henry A. Webster, extended the reservation for a limited period, in 1869 he called for permanent expansion. In 1871, former employees began staking claims on the reservation. On October 26, 1872, as well as on January 2 and October 21, 1873, the reserve was enlarged. Yet the Makah successfully resisted plans to turn them into farmers. Also, there was now and then to military conflicts with neighboring tribes, but speaking with the likewise Southern Wakashan Ditidaht (Nitinaht) and the Northern Straits Salish counting T'sou-Ke Nation (Sooke) in the Canadian Vancouver Iceland . The Ozette, who live further south, were not given a reservation until 1893.
Similar to the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) in Canada, the Makah were proselytized, their children placed in schools that deprived them of the use of their language and the basics of their culture. Therefore, the Makah language is almost extinct. A police force existed on the reservation and in 1882 an Indian court was established. The local Indian agent Harry A. Websteer had to travel to the capital Washington in 1869 to counter the allegation that he had traded in the store in furs and fat from cat sharks (dogfish oil), a type of lubricant, on his own account .
Economic successes, road connections, fishing bans
Initially, the Makah managed to hire white ship owners and hunt seals (from around 1880), but at the end of the 19th century the tribe owned their own ships and hired white seal hunters. Privatization of the tribal area didn't begin until 1907, with each Makah getting 10 acres .
In 1931 the relative isolation was lifted by the completion of a coastal road. In the 1950s, disputes with the government over fishing and seal fishing rights followed, and the Makah were also deprived of their rights since the countries bordering the Pacific had imposed fishing bans to protect certain species without providing compensation. In 1984 the Makah got Waadah and Tatoosh Island back instead.
Indian Reorganization Act, redress
In 1934 a majority of the Makah voted in favor of the Indian Reorganization Act , which provided for limited self-government under elected leaders. The main reason the Makah accepted the law was to keep the trust land safe from alienation. In this way, they were able to prevent the best properties and trapping sites from being sold to financially strong whites. In 1936 and 1937 they were given a constitution and a charter. Its first chairman was Maquinna Jongie Claplanhoo. The tribal council, the Makah Tribal Council , consisted of five members who were each elected for three years with overlapping terms of office.
The tribe sued the United States because in 1912 they had reached an agreement with Canada, Japan and Russia that provided for the protection of seals and otters. This meant that they were forbidden from catching these animals, which they had been guaranteed in the Treaty of 1855. In 1924, the USA also agreed with Canada on a program to protect halibut . The Supreme Court took the position that every citizen of the United States must accept such interference in order to protect nature. On April 15, 1959, the Indian Claims Commission , which was responsible for the claims of the Indians, followed this position. The Court of Claims came to the same verdict. In addition, the judges also warned that the question of whether the contract of 1855 had been breached had not come up, although the promised fishing gear had never been delivered.
Against the decision of 15 October 1976 which the Makah for 29,734.60 dollars had conceded complained the trunk and on May 4, 1977, came to a retrial. Now the Makah got the islands of Waadah and Tatoosh Island back as compensation (May 14, 1984).
Current situation
In the 1990s, whaling companies and lobbyists, especially the Japanese, tried specifically to strengthen the Makah's rights to whale hunting in order to pursue their own goals. However, after a whale was killed in 1999, US courts banned the hunt. In May 2005, the Makah received a whale quota from the IWC . On September 8, 2007, five Makah killed a gray whale with a large-caliber weapon - albeit without permission and contrary to tradition. The coast guard intervened, but the gray whale died. The tribal council condemned the actions of the five men. They face jail sentences of up to a year and a fine of $ 100,000. In January 2008, the perpetrators stood before a tribal court, in March before a state court. The tribal council feared that the almost-obtained whale hunting permit would be put on hold. However, Chief Micah McCarty, who was elected at the end of 2007, is optimistic that the whale quota will be reassigned in late 2009 or early 2010, which will allow the killing of 20 animals in five years. In June 2008 three of the five whale hunters were given suspended sentences and the two leaders were sentenced to three and five months in prison, respectively.
As early as 2006, the Washington government, the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and representatives of four tribes on the Northwest Coast, namely the Quinault , Hoh , Quileute and Makah, signed a treaty that was supposed to establish a council. This body was supposed to put the administration of the coastal waters on a new basis between the governments of the tribes and the Washington.
From an economic point of view, fishing continues to be of great importance, although the tribe now operates its own fish factory. The region was repeatedly affected by oil flooding, so that the beaches had to be cleaned. Logging no longer plays a significant role in the area of the reserve, as the majority of the forests have long been cleared.
The National Park Service supports the Makah in trading the rare olivella clams, which in the past were only worn on special occasions.
As early as the summer of 1952, some of the elders had founded a school in which traditional techniques such as working with canoes could be learned. The Makah have been teaching their own language since the early 1920s.
literature
- Patricia Pierce Erikson, Helma Ward, Kirk Wachendorf, Janine Bowechop: Voices of a Thousand People: The Makah Cultural and Research Center. University of Nebraska Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-8032-6756-5 .
- Alan D. McMillan: Since the Time of the Transformers. The Ancient Heritage of the Nuu-chah-nulth, Ditidaht, and Makah. Vancouver 2000, ISBN 978-0-7748-0701-2 .
- Robert H. Ruby, John A. Brown: A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest. University of Oklahoma Press 1992, pp. 125-128.
See also
List of North American Indian tribes
Web links
- Official website of the Makah Nation. ( Memento from February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- Ann M. Renker: The Makah Tribe: People of the Sea and the Forest. University of Washington Libraries. Digital collections.
- Makah Tribal Journeys Paddle to Lummi 2007. Video, 7 min 25 sec.
- Makah whaling. Video, 9 min 44 sec.
- Makah Nation receives Whaling Quota from IWC. Video, 9 min 54 sec.
- Tatoosh Island.
- Makah - Those who catch the whale. Cinema documentary: photos and reviews.
Individual evidence
- ↑ US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Tribal Services: American Indian Population and Labor Force Report 2003, p. 28.
- ↑ Washington Post, March 31, 2003, p. A03.
- ↑ Quotation from: Antje Babendererde: “The song of the orcas”. Arena Verlag, Würzburg 2004.
- ^ Curtis, Vol. 11, p. 11.
- ↑ Makah basketry. An illustration of baskets from 1915. Curtis, Vol. 11, opposite p. 16.
- ^ Statement by the Makah Tribal Council. The reaction of the tribal council.
- ↑ Tribe members indicted in Whale Hunt.
- ↑ Eric Rosenberg: Makah hopeful about whaling again by 2010. In: SeattlePi.com. January 13, 2008.
- ↑ Two Makah Indians get jail time for illegal hunt. In: Seattle Post. June 30, 2008.
- ↑ See Tribal Partnership a Model for Ocean Governance. Website of the National Marine Sanctuaries.