Yuquot
| Yuquot | |||
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| Location in British Columbia | |||
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| State : |
 Canada
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| Province : | British Columbia | ||
| Coordinates : | 49 ° 36 ′ N , 126 ° 37 ′ W | ||
| Time zone : | Pacific Time ( UTC − 8 ) | ||
Yuquot (sometimes Yukot or Friendly Cove ) is a place on the west coast of Vancouver Island ( Canada ). It is the social, economic and economic center of the local Mowachaht , who are among the First Nations in Canada. They belong again today 16 groups overall ethnicity of the Nuu-chah-nulth , which along the west coast of Vancouver Island live. Yuquot means something like “Where the wind blows from all directions”, which aptly outlines the changing conditions to which the exposed location is exposed.
The importance of the place was explained in December 1997 by the Minister of Canadian Heritage (for example: Minister for the Canadian (cultural) heritage) mainly on the basis of three groups of arguments:
- the village was the center of the 17 tribes that lived in the Nootka Sund region and has been since at least 2300 BC. Settled. It was there that the whaling culture developed, which is still evident today in the Whalers' Washing House , but also in the right to limited, traditional whale hunting .
- the place became the focus of the dispute over the colonial spheres of power in the Pacific between Spain and Great Britain , but also Russia and later the USA . The local First Nations played a decisive role in this. At the same time, the place was briefly Spain's northernmost trading base in the Pacific and the only one in Canada. Ultimately, the First Nations not only managed to participate in the triangular trade between Europe, China and Northwest America for a few decades , but also to develop their own trading system based on the skins of sea otters and later beavers .
- the location was the crucial bone of contention between Spain and Great Britain during the Nootka Sound Controversy from 1789 to 1792, with the Mowachaht playing an important role. It was also the first sea otter skin trading center on Vancouver Island from 1785 to 1795 . This trade ended in 1825 with the visit of the last sea otter dealer.
Due to this previously recognized importance, Yuquot was declared a National Historic Site of Canada by the Canadian government on May 25, 1923 .
The chiefs of the Nuu-chah-nulth tribes regularly gathered in Yuquot. Each tribe had its own house, with the most powerful and influential holding the largest. The wood carvings that adorned the houses and especially the large stakes could only be seen on festive days and during ceremonies, otherwise they were covered. When John Webber , James Cook 's draftsman , tried to draw them after a party, they were covered up again. For a small tribute, however, they were revealed for the duration of his sketching work.
The chiefs who gathered here usually brought tributes with them, with the hosts offering great feasts in return.
The natural harbor, free of rocks and reefs, easy to reach and inhabited by experienced traders, quickly became known in trader circles as the "Friendly Cove". Yuquot became the only point of entry to the sea otter skin “market” until stocks were close to extinction. More than 5000 people lived in the area.
At that time Yuquot had a population of more than 1000, but today only one family lives there all year round. The Mowachaht are little more than 300 people. 1951 they united with the neighboring to Muyaah Bay resident Muchalaht .
In 1881 Canada established an 85 hectare Yuquot Reservation . 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 in the 3.6 hectare area were poor, there were no development opportunities, and the work was unhealthy.
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. Care should be taken not to overwhelm nature by z. For example, the number of visitors is limited on the West Coast Trail . In contrast to the fast motorboats for whale watching, which come from Victoria , for example , to observe the 85 resident orcas , and thereby disrupt the ultrasonic signals of the animals necessary for hunting, the Mowachaht-Muchalaht ensure that the whales are not disturbed by noise . It is particularly important to them that Yuquot itself is not destroyed by the rapidly growing tourism industry - hence the extremely thin settlement.
Now the Mowachaht are trying to bring back the Whalers' Washing House , which was moved to New York City (now in the American Museum of Natural History ) in 1904 . 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 (wooden huts) 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. The latest investigations documented 171 archaeological sites, 92 of them villages and temporary settlements, plus fish traps, burial sites, paths, etc.
literature
- John Dewhirst: The Indigenous Archeology of Yuquot, a Nootkan Outside Village , Ottawa 1980
- Yuquot Agenda Paper. Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nations, in: Nuu-Chah-Nulth Voices. Histories, Objects & Journeys, ed. Alan L. Hoover, Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria 2000, 2nd ed. 2002, 11–32
Web links
- Website about the city (requires Flash , English)
- Yuquot at www.britishcolumbia.com (English)
supporting documents
- ^ Yuquot National Historic Site of Canada. In: Canadian Register of Historic Places. Retrieved October 17, 2013 .