Ninstints
Encyclopedia
Ninstints is the usual name in English for SGang Gwaay Llanagaay ("Red Cod Island Village"), a village site of the Haida people and part of the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site
in Haida Gwaii on the North Coast of British Columbia
, Canada
. Also spelled Nan Sdins and also called Skungwai or SGang Gwaay, which is the Haida name for Anthony Island (British Columbia)
, where the village is located and means "Red Cod Island". During the late 18th and early 19th centuries the village was referred to as Koyahs or Coyahs, also rendered Quee-ah, after the chief at the time, Koyah
. The name "Ninstints", also spelled "Nan Sdins," was the name of the most powerful of the village's chiefs in the mid-19th century and came to be used as the village's name as a result of the practice of ship captains to refer to villages by the name of the headman or chief at the location.
The village was the southernmost of Haida villages, being just west of and facing Kunghit Island
, the southernmost island in the archipelago. Ninstints today features the largest collection of Haida totem poles in their original locations, many celebrated as great works of art, though they are being allowed to succumb to the natural decay of the lush coastal rainforest climate. Images of the ruins of Ninstints are emblematic of Haida culture and of the Queen Charlotte Islands and are featured in tourism promotions for the islands and the province at large. The site is extremely remote, and access is only by sea or air from towns in the northern part of the islands. One of the chiefs named Ninstints, whose English name was Tom Price, was a noted and highly artistic carver of Haida art, notably in Haida Argillite Carvings
.
Ninstints was the location of several episodes in the early history of white contact with the isles. During the maritime fur trade
era the village was visited in 1787 by George Dixon, 1788 by Charles Duncan, and twice in 1789 first by Robert Gray then by Gray's partner John Kendrick
. It is thought that Koyah's humiliation by Kendrick in 1789 and 1791 is thought to have hurt his prestige in Haida society and resulted in the rise of the Ninstints lineage by the mid-19th century. Koyah was probably killed during an attack on the sloop Union, under John Boit, in 1795.
The traditional Haida enemies of the chiefs of Ninstints were the chiefs of Skidegate, and a loose alliance with the Tsimshian
of Kitkatla
, also an enemy of Skidegate, was maintained, with the Ninstints lineage being conferred the Mountain Goat
Crest from the allied Tsimshian chief.
Ninstints was greatly reduced by the smallpox epidemic of 1862. The population continued to decline due to other introduced diseases. Sometime around 1885 the remnants of the Ninstints people abandoned the village and moved to Skidegate.
The people of Ninstints are sometimes referred to as the Kunghit-Hiada.
Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site
Ninstints or SGang Gwaay Llnaagay on Anthony Island, in located in the southernmost part of Gwaii Haanas, just west of Kunghit Island, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981...
in Haida Gwaii on the North Coast of British Columbia
British Columbia Coast
The British Columbia Coast or BC Coast is Canada's western continental coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The usage is synonymous with the term West Coast of Canada....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Also spelled Nan Sdins and also called Skungwai or SGang Gwaay, which is the Haida name for Anthony Island (British Columbia)
Anthony Island (British Columbia)
Anthony Island is an island located in the southernmost Queen Charlotte Islands of the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada, to the west of Kunghit Island, the archipelago's southernmost. Anthony Island is noted for being the location of the ruins of SkungWai or SG̱ang Gwaay Llnaagay, commonly...
, where the village is located and means "Red Cod Island". During the late 18th and early 19th centuries the village was referred to as Koyahs or Coyahs, also rendered Quee-ah, after the chief at the time, Koyah
Koyah
Koyah, also Coya, Coyour, Kower, Kouyer Koyah, also Coya, Coyour, Kower, Kouyer Koyah, also Coya, Coyour, Kower, Kouyer (phonetically /xo’ya/, meaning "raven" (b.?-d. c.1795), was the chief of Ninstints or Skungwai, the main village of the Kunghit-Haida during the era of the Maritime Fur Trade in...
. The name "Ninstints", also spelled "Nan Sdins," was the name of the most powerful of the village's chiefs in the mid-19th century and came to be used as the village's name as a result of the practice of ship captains to refer to villages by the name of the headman or chief at the location.
The village was the southernmost of Haida villages, being just west of and facing Kunghit Island
Kunghit Island
Kunghit Island is an island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the southernmost island in the Haida Gwaii archipelago, located to the south of Moresby Island. The southernmost point of Kunghit Island, called Cape St James, is used to delineated the boundary between Hecate Strait...
, the southernmost island in the archipelago. Ninstints today features the largest collection of Haida totem poles in their original locations, many celebrated as great works of art, though they are being allowed to succumb to the natural decay of the lush coastal rainforest climate. Images of the ruins of Ninstints are emblematic of Haida culture and of the Queen Charlotte Islands and are featured in tourism promotions for the islands and the province at large. The site is extremely remote, and access is only by sea or air from towns in the northern part of the islands. One of the chiefs named Ninstints, whose English name was Tom Price, was a noted and highly artistic carver of Haida art, notably in Haida Argillite Carvings
Argillite
An argillite is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amounts of silt-sized particles. The argillites grade into shale when the fissile layering typical of shale is...
.
Ninstints was the location of several episodes in the early history of white contact with the isles. During the maritime fur trade
Maritime Fur Trade
The Maritime Fur Trade was a ship-based fur trade system that focused on acquiring furs of sea otters and other animals from the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and natives of Alaska. The furs were mostly sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain, and other Chinese...
era the village was visited in 1787 by George Dixon, 1788 by Charles Duncan, and twice in 1789 first by Robert Gray then by Gray's partner John Kendrick
John Kendrick (American sea captain)
John Kendrick was an American sea captain, both during the American Revolutionary War and the exploration and maritime fur trading of the Pacific Northwest alongside his partner Robert Gray.-Early life:...
. It is thought that Koyah's humiliation by Kendrick in 1789 and 1791 is thought to have hurt his prestige in Haida society and resulted in the rise of the Ninstints lineage by the mid-19th century. Koyah was probably killed during an attack on the sloop Union, under John Boit, in 1795.
The traditional Haida enemies of the chiefs of Ninstints were the chiefs of Skidegate, and a loose alliance with the Tsimshian
Tsimshian
The Tsimshian are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River. Their communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000...
of Kitkatla
Kitkatla
The Kitkatla are one of the 14 bands of the Tsimshian nation of the Canadian province of British Columbia, and inhabit a village, also called Kitkatla , on Dolphin Island, a small island just by Porcher Island off the coast of northern B.C. Because of this they have sometimes been called Porcher...
, also an enemy of Skidegate, was maintained, with the Ninstints lineage being conferred the Mountain Goat
Mountain goat
The Mountain Goat , also known as the Rocky Mountain Goat, is a large-hoofed mammal found only in North America. Despite its vernacular name, it is not a member of Capra, the genus of true goats...
Crest from the allied Tsimshian chief.
Ninstints was greatly reduced by the smallpox epidemic of 1862. The population continued to decline due to other introduced diseases. Sometime around 1885 the remnants of the Ninstints people abandoned the village and moved to Skidegate.
The people of Ninstints are sometimes referred to as the Kunghit-Hiada.