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Xws7ámesh | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
| 1,440 (2010) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 United States ( Washington) | |
| Languages | |
| English,Samish | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity, Indigenous | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| otherCoast Salish peoples |
TheSamish (Samish:Xws7ámesh)[1] are aNative American people who live in theU.S. state ofWashington. They are a CentralCoast Salish people. Through the years, they were assigned to reservations dominated by other Tribes, for instance, theSwinomish Indians of the Swinomish Reservation of Washington and theTulalip Tribes of the Tulalip Reservation. They are also enrolled in theSamish Indian Nation, formerly known as the Samish Indian Tribe, which regained federal recognition in 1996.[2]
The name "Samish" is anAnglicization of the Samish name,Xws7ámesh, meaning "people who are there/who exist."[1][3]
The Samish fished in the islands and channels off the coast ofSkagit County, Washington.[4] The Samish had villages onSamish,Guemes, andFidalgo Islands,[5] and fished and harvested resources there and in theSan Juan Islands. In 1847, Samish had more than 2,000 members. Epidemics ofmeasles,smallpox, andague, and attacks fromHaida andTsimshian from the north[4] diminished the population to approximately 150 members in one village[5] by 1855, at the time of the signing of thePoint Elliott Treaty. After the Treaty, some Samish moved to the Swinomish or Lummi reservations.[6]
Though 113 Samish were present at the treaty negotiations and signing, no Samish signed the Point Elliott Treaty. The Samish were attached to the treaty by the signature of the Lummi chief Chow-its-hoot. Lacking a reservation of their own, many Samish were sent to live on the reservations of the Lummi or theSwinomish.
However, many Samish refused to go to the reservations and stayed in their traditional territory. They were often confused with the Skagit, and when they went to the Swinomish Reservation, they received only six household land allotments for the entire Tribe.
Many members went toGuemes Island to establish New Guemes (now referred to as "Potlatch Beach"), where they built alonghouse that housed more than 100 people. By 1912, the Samish had either moved onto the Swinomish Reservation or into other communities. They had been pushed off the island by white settlers, as the Samish had occupied the land with the only fresh water.[5]
In 1926, a formal constitution was written by the Samish. They later altered it, but included a plan for electoral government. In 1971, in settlement of their land claim against the federal government, the Tribe was awardedUS$5,754.96 for lands taken by the Point Elliott Treaty. The judgment deemed that they had exclusively occupied 9,233 acres (37 km2) of land at the time of the treaty.[5]
In 1996, the Samish were officially re-recognized by the U.S. government. In 1998, they changed their official name to theSamish Indian Nation.
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The Samish language is a dialect of the Northern Straits Salish (Lkungen) language; a close sister language is Southern Straits Salish (Clallam or Klallam. Both are in the Central Coast Salish branch of Coast Salish, itself a branch of the large Salish(an) language family (Tim Montler 1999: "Language and dialect variation in Straits Salishan".Anthropological Linguistics 41 (4): 462–502, Kuipers, Aert H. Salish Etymological Dictionary. Missoula, MT: Linguistics Laboratory, University of Montana, 2002.ISBN 1-879763-16-8)Coast Salish.[5]
In 1990, the Canadian Museum of Civilization publishedA Phonology, Morphology, and Classified Word List for the Samish Dialect of Straits Salish, byBrent D. Galloway (Canadian Ethnology Service, Mercury Series Paper #116). This is the first grammatical sketch and extensive word list for the Samish dialect; it was based on linguistic field work by Galloway with the last-known remaining speakers. Galloway's recorded tapes are on file with the Museum of Civilization and the Samish Nation. Three or four fluent or partially fluent speakers remain as of 2013.
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