| Total population | |
|---|---|
| assimilated intoCoast Salish | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| southwestern Washington | |
| Languages | |
| Kwalhioqua-Clatskanie |
TheWillapa orWilloopah, also known asKwalhioqua / Kwalhiokwa, were aNorthern Athapaskan-speaking people in southwesternWashington,United States. Their territory was the valley of theWillapa River and the prairie between the headwaters of theChehalis andCowlitz Rivers.[1]
Together with the Clatskanie people (also:Tlatskanai / Klatskanai, according to tradition originally part of the "Suwal/Swaal" subgroup) in theupper Nehalem River Valley and along the headwaters of theKlaskanine andClatskanie River in northwestern Oregon they spoke dialects of the now extinctKwalhioqua-Clatskanie (Kwalhioqua–Tlatskanai) language, the Willapa dialect was the most divergent. The Kwalhioqua lived north of the lowerColumbia River, the Clatskanie (Tlatskanai) to the south, separated by the territory of theLower Chinook-speakingShoalwater Bay Chinook (or Willapa Chinook) orClatsop and theKathlamet (Cathlamet), who spoke anotherChinookan variant. The Kwalhioqua–Clatskanie people were dispersed amongCoast Salish peoples in the 19th century and their language was extinct before the 1930s."[2]
The Willapa or Kwalhioqua had two subdivisions or subgroups:
TheWolfenbarger Site is a protected archaeological site of the Willapa people nearCurtis, Washington. The small parcel is part of a larger residential and agriculture village that existed between the years 1000 and 1499. The exact location is restricted to the public and considered "virtually undisturbed". It has been listed on theNational Register of Historic Places since 1977.[4][5]
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