Ts'msyen | |
|---|---|
 Tsimshian drumming in 1999 | |
| Total population | |
| 8,162 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Canada British Columbia | 5,910[1] |
| United States Alaska | 2,252[2] |
| Languages | |
| English • Coast Tsimshian | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (Episcopalianism,Presbyterianism,Methodism) • Animism | |
| People | Ts'msyen |
|---|---|
| Language | Sm'álgyax Sgüüx̣s |
| Country | La̱xyuubm Ts’msyen[3] |
TheTsimshian[a] (/ˈsɪmʃiən/;Tsimshian:Ts'msyen,lit. 'Inside the Skeena River') are anIndigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their communities are mostly in coastalBritish Columbia inTerrace andPrince Rupert, andMetlakatla, Alaska onAnnette Island, the only reservation in Alaska.
The Tsimshian estimate there are 45,000 Tsimshian people and approximately 10,000 members are federally registered in eight First Nations communities:Kitselas,Kitsumkalum,Gitxaala,Gitga'at,Kitasoo,Lax Kw'Alaams, andMetlakatla. The latter two communities resulted in the colonial intersections of early settlers and consist of Tsimshian people belonging to the 'nine tribes.' The Tsimshian are one of the largest First Nations peoples in northwest British Columbia. Some Tsimshian migrated to the Annette Islands in Alaska, and today approximately 1,450 Alaska Tsimshian people are enrolled in thefederally recognizedMetlakatla Indian Community, sometimes also called theAnnette Island Reserve. The Tsimshian honor the traditional Tlingit name ofTaquan for this recent location.
Tsimshian society ismatrilinealkinship-based, which means identity, clans and property pass through the maternal line. Theirmoiety-based societal structure is further divided into subclans for certain lineages. The Tsimshian language has some 27 different terms for 'chief' likely because it is a stratified and ranked society.
Early Euro-Canadian anthropologists and linguists had classified theGitxsan andNisga'a as Tsimshian, because of apparent linguistic affinities. The three were all referred to as "Coast Tsimshian", even though some communities were not coastal. These three groups, however, are separate nations.
Tsimshian translates to "Inside theSkeena River"[6] At one time the Tsimshian lived on the upper reaches of theSkeena River near present-dayHazelton, British Columbia.
According to southern Tsimshianoral history, after a series of disasters befell the people, a chief led a migration away from the cursed land to the coast, where they foundedKitkatla Village, the first of three Southern Tsimshian villages. Kitkatla is still considered to be the most conservative of the Tsimshian villages.[7] TheNisga'a andGitxsan remained in the upper Skeena region (above the canyon) near the Nass River and forks of the Skeena respectively, but other Tsimshian chiefs moved down the river and occupied all the lands of the lower Skeena valley. Over time, these groups developed a new dialect of their ancestral language and came to regard themselves as a distinct population, the Tsimshian-proper. They continued to share the rights and customs of those who are known as the Gitxsan, their kin on the upper Skeena.
The Tsimshian maintained winter villages in and around the islands of Prince Rupert Harbour and Venn Pass (Metlakatla). They returned to their summer villages along the lower Skeena River when the salmon returned. Archaeological evidence shows 5,000 years of continuous habitation in the Prince Rupert region.[7]
Gitxaala might have been the first Tsimshian village contacted by Europeans when CaptainCharles Duncan andJames Colnett arrived in 1787[7] although Russian fur traders may have visited northern groups earlier. The confluence of the Skeena and Bulkley Rivers was formerly the site of the Tsimshian village of Kitanmaks and became a new European settlement of Skeena Forks (today known as Hazelton). When theHudson's Bay Company moved their fort to modern-dayLax Kwʼalaams in 1834, nine Tsimshian tribal chiefs moved to the surrounding area for trade advantage. Many of the Tsimshian peoples in Canada still live in these regions.
Throughout the second half of the 19th century, epidemics ofinfectious disease contracted from Europeans ravaged their communities, as the First Nations had no acquired immunity to these diseases. The1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic killed many of the Tsimshian people. Altogether, one in four Tsimshian died in a series of at least three large-scale outbreaks.
In 1835, the total population of the Tsimshian peoples was estimated at 8,500.[7] By 1885, the population had dropped to 4,500, 817 of whom moved to Alaska two years later following missionaryWilliam Duncan.
In the 1880s theAnglican missionary William Duncan, along with a group of the Tsimshian, left Metlakatla,British Columbia and requested settlement onAnnette Island from theU.S. government. After gaining approval, the group foundedNew Metlakatla on Annette Island in southern Alaska. Duncan appealed to Congress to grant the communityreservation status, which it did in the late 19th century.
In 1895, the BC Tsimshian population stood at 3,550, while the Alaska Tsimshian population had dropped to 465 by 1900. Some of the Tsimshian had returned south to their homelands on the Skeena. After this low-water point, the Tsimshian population began to grow again, eventually to reach modern numbers comparable to the 1835 population estimate. However, the numbers of the inland Tsimshian peoples are now higher than they were historically, while those of the Southern and Coastal Tsimshian are much lower.[7]
In the 1970s, the Metlakatla Indian Community voted to retain their rights to land and water, and opted out of theAlaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA); they have the only Native reservation in Alaska. The Metlakatla Tsimshian maintained their reservation status and holdings exclusive of the ANSCA. They do not have an associated Native Corporation, although Tsimshian in Alaska may be shareholders of theSealaska Corporation. The Annette Islands Reserve was the only location in Alaska allowed to maintain fish traps according to traditional rights. The use of these were otherwise banned when Alaska became astate in 1959. The traps were used to gather fish for food for people living on the reservation. Legally the community was required to use the traps at least once every three years or lose the right permanently. They stopped the practice early in the 2000s and lost their right to this traditional way of fishing.
The majority of Tsimshian still live in the lower Skeena River watershed nearPrince Rupert, as well as northern coastal BC. Some Tsimshian moved south into the Columbia River Basin mid-nineteenth century for picking hops and other agricultural crops. Many Tsimshian have moved into Seattle region from both AK and BC. Long distance canoe travel for a variety of activities was not uncommon prior to contact, and for some duration after contact into the 1920s. A battle ensued at Dungeness Spit nearPort Townsend, Washington where some Tsimshian were camped along the shore. One woman survived and was rescued by a lighthouse operator who later married her.
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The Tsimshian have amatrilinealkinship system, with a societal structure based on a tribe, house group andclan system. Descent and property are transmitted through the maternal line.Hereditary chiefs obtain their rights through their maternal line through their mother's brother. Although it is inherited the protege must be trained for proper behavior and groomed well for specific obligations. No lineage should be sullied by inappropriate behaviors of high-ranking members.
The marriage ceremony was an extremely formal affair, several prolonged and sequential ceremonies. Arranged marriages and births were common to protect rights of access to territories and resources. Some culturaltaboos have related to prohibiting women and men from eating improper foods during and after childbirth. Several taboos still exist and are actively practiced.
Like all Northwest Coastal peoples, the Tsimshian harvested the abundant sea life, especiallysalmon. The Tsimshian became seafaring people, like theHaida. Salmon continues to be at the center of their nutrition, despite large-scale commercial fishing in the area. Due to this abundant food source, the Tsimshian developed permanent towns. They lived in largelonghouses, made fromcedar house posts and panels to withstand the wet climate. These were very large and usually housed an entire extended family.
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Tsimshian religion centered on the "Lord of Heaven", who aided people in times of need by sending supernatural servants to earth to aid them. The Tsimshian believed thatcharity andpurification of the body (either by cleanliness orfasting) was the route to theafterlife.
The Tsimshian engage in the feast system orpotlatch, which they refer to as theyaawk (feast) for one specific event. Today in Tsimshian culture, the potlatch is held to honour deaths, burials, and succession to name-titles. The Tsimshian have four different types of feasts. The feast system is the agency for social reproduction, expression of law, the transmission of knowledge, and demonstration of the obligations for chiefs to provide stewardship for resources and attending to needs of communities.[8] The planning and delivery of feast events requires very specific protocols, including those required for the guests. It is untoward to hold out one's hand while payments (also known as 'gifts' by external observers) are being distributed.
The Tsimshian have maintained their fishing and hunting lifestyle (although constrained by colonialism and declining fish and animal population abundances), art and culture, and are working to revitalize the common use of their language. Artists have excelled in traditional mediums and contemporary forms with pieces spread around the world. These artisans practice the tradition of story telling with their chosen mediums.
Like other coastal peoples, the Tsimshian fashioned most of their goods out ofwestern red cedar, especially itsbark. It could be fashioned into tools, clothing, roofing, armour, building materials, and canoe skins. They used cedar in theirChilkat weaving, which they are credited with inventing.[9] They use the berries ofVaccinium Vitis-idaea ssp. minus as food.[10]
The Tsimshian people of British Columbia encompass fifteen tribes:
Some of the Chiefs of these nine tribes happened to be located at Fort Simpson (laterLax Kw'alaams, British Columbia) when the Indian Agent assigned reserve communities
Other Chiefs were located at the mission created community ofMetlakatla, with some subsequently migrating toMetlakatla, Alaska, newest tribe, with lineages from all Tsimshian tribes.
The Tsimshian clans are the
The Tsimshian wanted to preserve their villages and fishing sites on theSkeena River andNass River as early as 1879. They were not able to begin negotiating a treaty with the Canadian government until July 1983.[11] A decade later, fourteen tribes united to negotiate under the collective name of theTsimshian Tribal Council. A framework agreement was signed in 1997. Due to litigation by one community for commercial fisheries rights, the federal government forced a confidentiality clause against other communities and caused dissolution of the main treaty group and subsequently the TTC. A subset of the Tsimshian First Nations continues to negotiate with theBC Treaty Commission to reach an Agreement-in-Principle[12] that has alienated most members.
The Tsimshian speak a language, calledSm'algyax, which translates as "real or true tongue". The Tsimshian also speak a language variety similar toGitxsan andNisga’a (two inlandTsimshianic languages), but differentiated from the regional Tsimshian variations. In 2016, only 160 people in Canada were Tsimshian speakers.[13]
Some linguists classify Tsimshian languages as a member of the theoreticalPenutian language group.
| Archaeological sites | |
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| Ethnicities | |
| Languages | |
| People | |
| Places | |
| Towns and villages | |
| Armed conflicts | |
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| Current issues | |
| Miscellaneous | |
| See also | |
