Mowachaht-Muchalaht

Traditional territory of the Mowachaht-Muchalaht and today's most populous reserve

The Mowachaht-Muchalaht (spelling: Mowachaht / Muchalaht, or Mowachaht / Muchalaht First Nation) are North American Indians who are referred to as First Nations in Canada . They live on Vancouver Island , off the west coast of Canada. They speak Wakash and belong to the Nuu-chah-nulth . They are mainly represented vis-à-vis the Canadian government by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council . The two eponymous tribes were united into one tribe in 1963 and in April 2010 had 581 (May 2009: 560) registered members.

Reservations

215 of the 581 Mowachaht-Muchalaht live in 18 reservations , mainly in the Nootka District, plus a larger reservation north of the Gold River community (125 ha) with a total of around 385 ha. The main area on Nootka Island is just as extensive as the area at Gold River . The majority of the reserve population lives in the relatively small area at the mouth of the Gold River (Ahaminaquus 12) or on the north bank of the Muchalat Inlet. In April 2010, a total of 215 members of the tribe lived in the reserves, 30 more in other reserves, and 336 lived outside the reserves. A total of 581 people are recognized as Mowachaht-Muchalaht.

history

Early history

Archaeological finds indicate human presence around 2300 BC. BC, but the Mowachaht-Muchalaht assume that they have always lived here. The latest investigations documented 171 archaeological sites, 92 of them villages and temporary settlements, plus fish traps, burial sites, paths, etc.

European influence, fur trade monopoly

The Mowachaht under their chief Maquinna are the first Nuu-chah-nulth who came into more intensive contact with the British, Spanish and Americans who appeared on the coast in the late 18th century.

The first Spaniards appeared in Nootka Sound from 1774 , but it was only with James Cook that the trade in sea otter skins began , which could be sold in China for a high profit. The publication of the journals of James Cook (1784) attracted further fur traders. The summer residence of the Mowachaht, Yuquot , became the first fur trade center on the west coast of North America from around 1785 . In winter, however, the Mowachaht lived in Tahsis .

In 1785 the next expedition, led by James Hanna , reached the region. Apparently Hanna insulted the chief badly, so that the Mowachaht attacked his ship in August of that year, albeit without success.

In the next few years, more and more American ships came to Nootka Sound. The Mowachaht traded with the British captain John Meares in 1788 and even allowed him to build a branch. Their chief Maquinna soon played off the offers of the Spanish, British and US Americans against each other in order to get better prices. On the other hand, he ensured that all furs went through his hand. Around 1792 the Mowachaht ran a trading empire along with the Kwakwaka'wakw at the mouth of the Nimpkish River .

When, in May 1789, a Spanish fleet under Esteban José Martínez claimed the Nootka Sound for Spain and arrested non-Spanish traders, one of the highest placed chiefs was shot. Nevertheless, Maquinna promised to protect the trading post.

James Colnett , who started at Yuquot in January 1791, tried to win Maquinna over to the British cause. Meanwhile, a Spanish captain threatened to destroy the place if the alleged acts of cannibalism were repeated. Maquinna agreed in August to cede the land at Yuquot to the Spaniards. Even so, Colnett received around 1,000 sea otter skins , which he sold in England for almost £ 10,000.

When Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra arrived in Yuquot in 1792 , and a little later George Vancouver , the Mowachaht threatened to get caught between the fronts. It was not until March 1795 that the two opponents, who were on the verge of war, gave up Nootka Sound. The trading post was demolished that same year.

The fur trade had become part of a great triangular trade between Europe, China and Northwest America. Interpreters were soon needed to conduct business. In this triangular trade, a trader's language with a few hundred words, the Chinook, developed .

When the fur merchant ship Boston was in Nootka Sound in March 1803 , an argument broke out between the captain and chief Maquinna. The Mowachaht attacked the ship on March 12, killing all but two of the crew. The report of one of the two survivors shows that the move from Tahsis to the more inland Yuquot took place annually. At the same time, John R. Jewitt describes the Nuu-chah-nulth as a kind of aristocratic society in which the chiefs and their houses dominated the simple tribesmen and the slaves (mostly prisoners of war).

The Mowachaht profited so much from the fur trade that their reputation extended well beyond their tribal territory. They were allied with some of their neighbors, such as the Ahousaht , and were able to achieve a kind of supremacy with the muskets they acquired . Nevertheless, their supremacy was unstable, because the unusually tight chiefs of Maquinna were threatened by attacks and rebellions. In addition, only four whales were caught during the whaling season between late February and May 1804, which was by far not enough for the approximately 1500 people.

At the end of July a war began with at least 400 warriors against the "Ay-charts", 50 miles further south, which are not identical with the Ahousaht ("Ai-tiz-tender"). Their village, which consisted of 15 or 16 houses, was surprised in their sleep and the survivors were enslaved.

When the Lydia sailed off the coast in 1805 , Maquinna wanted to contact the captain in order to be able to sell skins. But the captain took Maquinna hostage to exchange him for the British who had been detained with him for two years. Despite the betrayal, the tjeeh , or king, conducted the trade only through John Jewitt, his ex-prisoner. But this hostage-taking seems to have ultimately destroyed the reputation of the chief.

By 1817 the supremacy of the Mowachaht was apparently broken. The fur trade had shifted its focus, the tribe was impoverished.

Epidemics

In the 1820s to 60s, the region was hit by severe epidemics, especially the smallpox epidemic of 1862. In 1872, Nootka is said to have housed around 600 people.

Reservations

In 1881 the Canadian government established an 85 hectare reserve around Yuquot .

The censuses of 1881 and 1891 showed that the number of Moachaht and Mowachaht around Yuquot had dropped even further, namely from 254 to 217, that of the neighboring Nootchartlet around Nuchatl (today's Nutchatlaht Tribe ) even from 147 to 105. The annual spring parade to the coast to Tsh-sis, Ea-as (Bajo point) - there were still otters here - and Chi-tist was still retained. As recently as 1896/97, 24 small canoes are said to have been used for otter hunting. The summer was still spent in Yuquot in Friendly Cove. The chief in Hisnit was O-meek. Only he was allowed to set up fish traps in certain places, but distributed the booty to the seven families of the place.

In 1966 the Department of Indian Affairs persuaded the tribe to move to Ahaminaquus at the mouth of the Gold River . There was work in the pulp mill there. But the conditions on the 3.6 hectare reserve were poor. For years there was discussion about what to do, but it wasn't until 1996 that the tribe decided to move to Tsaxana, further inland. A new location was created on 40 hectares within the 120 hectare reserve. But fishing and logging soon declined, so that tourism is now the focus.

Todays situation

Norman George and Michael Maquinna are today the chiefs of the double tribe that merged in 1963. There are also three counselors (Councilors). Tyee ha'wilth , the traditional chief, is Mike Maquinna.

Meanwhile, the Mowachaht are trying to bring back the Whalers' Washing House , which was brought to New York in 1904 (now in the American Museum of Natural History ). Since the 80s, the exact location on the island in the lake behind Yuquot (Lake Jerritt) was determined in order to be able to declare the house a World Heritage Site. The return negotiations are still ongoing.

The church near Yuquot, which was used until 1960, has now been converted into a tourist center. In 1995 there were copies of the totem poles that were given to the Royal British Columbia Museum . The old paths have also been restored, the cemetery cleared of rubbish, six cabins allow longer stays in the west of Yuquot. Finally, in 1996, the port was restored so that ships can now dock again.

In August, numerous young Mowachaht come together at the camp and caravan sites, where traditional dances are taught, but also singing and storytelling. At the same time there is an opportunity to make Yuquot the center of the oral tradition of historical transmission.

In November 2009, the Mowachaht / Muchalaht, together with Ahousaht , Ehatteshaht , Hesquiaht and Tla-o-qui-aht , filed for admission to commercial fishing ( Ahousaht Indian Band And Nation v. Canada Attorney General, 2009 BCSC 1494 ).

Literature and Sources

Philip Drucker, The northern and central Nootkan tribes , Washington 1951
Sarah Jane Eustace: An account of our capture and the most important occurences. The textual and cultural construction of John Jewitt in his Journal and Narrative , University of Saskatchewan 1994
RM Galois, Nuu-chah-nulth encounters: James Colnett's Expedition of 1787–1788, in: Nuu-Chah-Nulth Vices. Histories, Objects & Journeys, ed. Alan L. Hoover, Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria 2000, 2nd ed. 2002, 69-91
John R. Jewitt: A journal, kept at Nootka Sound , Boston 1807, reprinted New York 1976
Aldona Jonaitis, The Mowachaht Whalers' Shrine: History Revealed by Carvings, in: Alan L. Hoover (ed.), Nuu-chah-nulth, 292-305
Yvonne Marshall, A Political History of the Nuu-chah-nulth People. A Case Study of the Mowachat and Muchalat Tribes, Diss. At Simon Fraser University 1993
John Meares: Voyages Made in the Years 1788 and 1789 from China to the Northwest Coast of America (Italian: Viaggi Dalla Chine Alla Costa Nord Ouest D'America Fatti Negli Anni 1788 e 1789, Naples 1796)
Jose Mariano Mozino: Noticias de Nutka , translated and edited by Iris Higbie Wilson. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited 1970
June Namias: White Captives: Gender and Ethnicity on the American Frontier . Chape1 Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1993
Camille de Roquefeuil, A voyage round the world, between the years 1816–1819 , London 1823
Wayne Suttles (ed.): Handbook of North American Indians , Vol. 7: Northwest Coast , Washington: Smithsonian Institution 1990
IH Wilson (ed. And translator), JM Moziño Suárez de Figueroa, Noticias de Nutka; an account of Nootka Sound in 1792 , Seattle 1970
White Slaves of Maquinna. John R. Jewitt's Narrativ of Capture and Confinement at Nootka , Surrey / British Columbia, 2nd ed. 2005 ISBN 1-894384-02-4