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The Tsimshian (Sm'algyax
Coast Tsimshian

Coast Tsimshian, known by its speakers as Sm'algyax, is a Tsimshianic language spoken by the Tsimshian nation in northwestern British Columbia and southeastern Alaska....
: Ts’msyan) are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast
Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast

The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those historical peoples....
. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River
Skeena River

The Skeena River is the second longest river entirely in British Columbia, Canada. The Skeena is an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan - whose names mean "inside the Skeena River" and "people of the Skeena River" respectively, and also during the Omineca Gold Rush when Steamboats of the Skeena Rive...
. Their communities are in British Columbia
British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
 and Alaska
Alaska

Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait....
, around Terrace
Terrace, British Columbia

Terrace is a service community on the Skeena River in British Columbia, Canada. Tsimshian people have lived in the area for thousands of years. The community has a population of 12,109 with a regional population of 19,980 ....
 and Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert, British Columbia

Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia Coast, and home to some 12,815 people ....
 and the southernmost corner of Alaska
Alaska

Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait....
 on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000 Tsimshian. Their culture is matrilineal with a societal structure based on a clan system. Early anthropologists and linguistics grouped Gitxsan
Gitxsan

Gitxsan are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English ....
 and Nisga'a
Nisga'a

The Nisga'a , often formerly spelled Nishga and spelled in the Nisga'a language as Nisga'a, are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast nation or First Nation in Canada....
 as Tsimshian because of linguistic affinities.






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The Tsimshian (Sm'algyax
Coast Tsimshian

Coast Tsimshian, known by its speakers as Sm'algyax, is a Tsimshianic language spoken by the Tsimshian nation in northwestern British Columbia and southeastern Alaska....
: Ts’msyan) are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast
Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast

The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those historical peoples....
. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River
Skeena River

The Skeena River is the second longest river entirely in British Columbia, Canada. The Skeena is an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan - whose names mean "inside the Skeena River" and "people of the Skeena River" respectively, and also during the Omineca Gold Rush when Steamboats of the Skeena Rive...
. Their communities are in British Columbia
British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
 and Alaska
Alaska

Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait....
, around Terrace
Terrace, British Columbia

Terrace is a service community on the Skeena River in British Columbia, Canada. Tsimshian people have lived in the area for thousands of years. The community has a population of 12,109 with a regional population of 19,980 ....
 and Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert, British Columbia

Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia Coast, and home to some 12,815 people ....
 and the southernmost corner of Alaska
Alaska

Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait....
 on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000 Tsimshian. Their culture is matrilineal with a societal structure based on a clan system. Early anthropologists and linguistics grouped Gitxsan
Gitxsan

Gitxsan are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English ....
 and Nisga'a
Nisga'a

The Nisga'a , often formerly spelled Nishga and spelled in the Nisga'a language as Nisga'a, are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast nation or First Nation in Canada....
 as Tsimshian because of linguistic affinities. Under this terminology they were referred to as Coast Tsimshian, even though some communities were not coastal. The three peoples identify as separate nations. There are also many ways to spell Tsimshian, like Tsimpshean, Tsimshean, Tsimpshian, and others, but we mostly refer to Tsimpshean.

History

In 1862 smallpox
Smallpox

Smallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning spotted, or varus, meaning "pimple"....
 annihilated 80% of Tsimshian population over three years time. Further epidemics ravaged their communities for many years

In the 1880's, an Anglican missionary named William Duncan
William Duncan (missionary)

William Duncan was an English-born Church of England missionary who founded the Tsimshian communities of Metlakatla, British Columbia, in Canada, and Metlakatla, Alaska, in the United States....
, with a group of Tsimshian requested settlement on Annette Island from the U.S. government
Federal government of the United States

The Federal Government of the United States is the central current reigning United States governmental body, established by the United States Constitution....
. After being approved, this group founded New Metlakatla
Metlakatla, Alaska

Metlakatla is a census-designated place on Annette Island in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Alaska, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 United States Census the population was 1,375....
 in Alaska
Alaska

Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait....
. William Duncan later requested the community gain reservation
Reservation

Reservation may refer to:* Indian reservation, in the United States* Indian reserve, in Canada* Reservation , a caveat to a treaty* Reservation in India, a government policy imposing quotas for political representation...
 status, which after approved, makes this the only aboriginal reservation. They maintained their reservation status and holdings exclusive of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, commonly abbreviated ANCSA, was signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 18, 1971, the largest land claims settlement in United States history....
 and thus do not have an associated Native Corporation, although Tsimshian in Alaska may be shareholders of the Sealaska Corporation. The Annette Island reservation is the only location in Alaska allowed to maintain fish traps, which were otherwise banned when Alaska became a state
U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 state of the United States that share sovereignty with the federal government of the United States . Because of this shared sovereignty, an United States is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of Domicile ....
 in 1959. The traps are used to provide food for people living on the reservation.

In British Columbia, the governments of Canada started engaging in the British Columbia Treaty Process
British Columbia Treaty Process

The British Columbia Treaty Process is a land claims negotiation process started in 1993 to resolve outstanding issues - including claims to un-extinguished aboriginal rights - with British Columbia's First Nations....
 with First Nation bands in the province. Originally the Tsimshian First Nations pursued negotiations until late 2005 when the Tsimshian Tribal Council, the organization for representing each of the First Nations in treaty negotiations, dissolved amid legal and political turmoil.

Culture

Like all Northwest Coastal peoples, they thrived on the abundant sea life, especially salmon
Salmon

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish of the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the family are called trout,the difference is often attributed to the migratory life of the salmon as compared to the residential behaviour of trout, this holds true for the Atlantic salmon....
. It was a staple for many years and continues to be, despite large-scale commercial fishing. This abundant food source enabled the Tsimshian to live in permanent towns. They lived in large longhouses, made from cedar house posts and panels. These were very large, and usually housed an entire extended family. Cultural taboos centered around women and men eating improper foods during and after childbirth. Marriage was an extremely formal affair, involving several prolonged and sequential ceremonies.

Tsimshian religion centered around the "Lord of Heaven", who aided people in times of need by sending supernatural servants to earth to aid them. The Tsimshian believed that charity
Charity (virtue)

In Christian theology charity, or Love #Christian , means an unlimited loving-kindness toward all others.The term should not be confused with the more restricted modern use of the word charity to mean benevolent giving....
 and purification
Purification

Purification is the process of rendering something pure, i.e. clean of foreign elements and/or pollution, and may refer to:* List of purification methods in chemistry...
 of the body (either by cleanliness or fasting
Fasting

Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. A fast may be total or partial concerning that from which one fasts, and may be prolonged or intermittent as to the period of fasting....
) was the route to the afterlife
Afterlife

The afterlife is the concept of a continued existence for the soul, spirit or mind of a being after biological death. The major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics....
.

As with all Northwest Coast peoples
Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast

The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those historical peoples....
, the Tsimshian engage in the potlatch
Potlatch

A potlatch is a festival ceremony practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in North America, along Pacific Northwest coast of the United States and the Canada province of British Columbia....
, which they refer to as the yaawk or, in English, "feast." In Tsimshian culture today, the potlatch centres primarily around death, burial, and succession to name-titles.

The Tsimshian were a seafaring people, as were the Haida
Haida

The Haida are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. The Haida territories comprise the archipelago of the Queen Charlotte Islands, known in the Haida language as Haida Gwaii , and the southern half of Prince of Wales Island in the southernmost Alaska Panhandle, which is the home of a subgroup called the '...
.

The Tsimshian live on in their art, their culture and their language, which is making a comeback. In a highly controversial agreement, the Nisga'a
Nisga'a

The Nisga'a , often formerly spelled Nishga and spelled in the Nisga'a language as Nisga'a, are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast nation or First Nation in Canada....
 people recently gained autonomy from Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
 by the government of British Columbia
British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
.

Like other coastal peoples, the Tsimshian fashioned most of their goods out of Western Redcedar, particularly from its bark
BARK

BARK was an early Electromechanics. BARK was built using standard phone relays, implementing a 32-bit binary machine and could perform addition in 150 ms and multiplication in 250 ms....
, which could be fashioned into tools, clothing, roofing, armor, building materials and canoe skins. The Tsimshian had the misfortune of being the nearest and most favored victims of Haida
Haida

The Haida are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. The Haida territories comprise the archipelago of the Queen Charlotte Islands, known in the Haida language as Haida Gwaii , and the southern half of Prince of Wales Island in the southernmost Alaska Panhandle, which is the home of a subgroup called the '...
 depredations, though particular Tsimshian chiefs were close allies of certain Haida chiefs.

The Tsimshian were attacked by the Tlingit
Tlingit

The Tlingit are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their name for themselves is Ling?t , meaning "people". The Russian language name Koloshi or the related German language name Koulischen may be encountered in older historical literature....
, Haida
Haida

The Haida are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. The Haida territories comprise the archipelago of the Queen Charlotte Islands, known in the Haida language as Haida Gwaii , and the southern half of Prince of Wales Island in the southernmost Alaska Panhandle, which is the home of a subgroup called the '...
,the Athapaskan groups in the north, the Dunne-Za in the east, and the Kwakiutl
Kwakiutl

The term Kwakiutl, now considered a misnomer by the people it is applied to, was usually applied to a group of Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of northern Vancouver Island, Queen Charlotte Strait and the Johnstone Strait, who are now known as Kwakwaka'wakw, which means Kwak'wala-speaking-peoples....
 groups in the south.

Tribes

The Tsimshian nation (meaning the Coast Tsimshian) in British Columbia consists of fourteen bands:
  • the Kitasoo
    Kitasoo

    The Kitasoo are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian people in Canada, who inhabit, along with Xai'xais people of Heiltsuk ethnic affiliation, the village of Klemtu, British Columbia....
     (who live at Klemtu, B.C.)
  • the Gitga'at
    Gitga'at

    The Gitga'at are an indigenous people of the Americas, found mainly in Canada....
     (Hartley Bay, B.C.)
  • the Gitxaala Nation (Kitkatla, B.C.
    Kitkatla, British Columbia

    Kitkatla is a small Tsimshian village situated approximately 45km S.W. of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada, on Dolphin Island. The village is accessible via Prince Rupert by regular float plane flights or by boat....
    )
  • the Kitsumkalum
    Kitsumkalum

    Kitsumkalum is one of the 14 bands of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and is also the name of their Indian Reserve just west of the city of Terrace, British Columbia, where the Kitsumkalum River flows into the Skeena River....
     (Kitsumkalum, B.C.)
  • the Kitselas
    Kitselas

    Kitselas, Kitsalas or Gits'ilaas? are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, in northwestern Canada. The original name Gits'ilaas? means "people of the canyon." The tribe is situated at Kitselas, British Columbia, at the upper end of Kitselas Canyon....
     or Gits'ilaasü (Kitselas, B.C.)
  • and nine tribes resident at Lax Kw'alaams
    Lax Kw'alaams

    Lax Kw'alaams, usually called Port Simpson, is an Indigenous peoples of North America village community in British Columbia, Canada, not far from the city of Prince Rupert, British Columbia....
     (a.k.a. Port Simpson), B.C.:
    • Giluts'aaw
      Giluts'aaw

      The Giluts'aa? are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C....
    • Ginadoiks
      Ginadoiks

      The Ginadoiks are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C....
    • Ginaxangiik
      Ginaxangiik

      The Ginaxangiik are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C....
    • Gispaxlo'ots
      Gispaxlo'ots

      The Gispaxlo'ots are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C....
    • Gitando
      Gitando

      The Gitando are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C....
    • Gitlaan
      Gitlaan

      The Gitlaan are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C....
    • Gits'iis
      Gits'iis

      The Gits'iis are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C....
    • Gitwilgyoots
      Gitwilgyoots

      The Gitwilgyoots are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C....
    • Gitzaxlaal
      Gitzaxlaal

      The Gitzaxlaal are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C....


Clans

The Tsimshian clans are the
  • Laxsgiik
    Laxsgiik

    The Laxsgiik is the name for the Eagle "clan" in the Coast Tsimshian of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska....
     (Eagle Clan),
  • Gispudwada (Killerwhale Clan)
  • Ganhada
    Ganhada

    The Ganhada is the name for the Raven "clan" in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to the G_anada clan of the Nisga'a nation in British Columbia and the Frog clan among B.C.'s Gitxsan nation....
     (Raven Clan)
  • Laxgibuu
    Laxgibuu

    The Laxgibuu is the name for the Wolf "clan" in the Coast Tsimshian of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska....
     (Wolf Clan,)


Treaty Process

The Tsimshian expressed an interest in preserving their villages and fishing sites on the Skeena
Skeena River

The Skeena River is the second longest river entirely in British Columbia, Canada. The Skeena is an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan - whose names mean "inside the Skeena River" and "people of the Skeena River" respectively, and also during the Omineca Gold Rush when Steamboats of the Skeena Rive...
 and Nass River
Nass River

The Nass River is a river in northern British Columbia, Canada. It flows 380 km from the Coast Mountains southwest to Nass Bay, a sidewater of Observatory Inlet, itself an arm of Portland Inlet, which connects to the North Pacific Ocean via the Dixon Entrance....
s as early as 1879, but were not able to begin negotiating a treaty until July 1983. A decade later, fourteen bands united to negotiate under the collective name of the Tsimshian Tribal Council. A framework agreement was signed in 1997, and the Tsimshian nation continue to negotiate with the BC Treaty Commission to reach an Agreement-in-Principle.

Language

The Tsimshian speak a Tsimshianic language, referred to by linguists as "Coast Tsimshian
Coast Tsimshian

Coast Tsimshian, known by its speakers as Sm'algyax, is a Tsimshianic language spoken by the Tsimshian nation in northwestern British Columbia and southeastern Alaska....
" and by Tsimshians as Sm'algyax, which means "real or true language." It has a northern and southern variety, of which the southern variety, often called Southern Tsimshian by linguists and spoken only at Klemtu, is very close to extinct. Approximately 300 speakers reside in Alaska, with another 3000 in Canada. Tsimshianic languages are classified as a member of the only-theoretical a Penutian language group by that theory's proponents.

Prominent Tsimshians (and people of Tsimshian descent)


  • Frederick Alexcee
    Frederick Alexcee

    Frederick Alexcee was a Tsimshian carver and painter from the community of Lax Kw'alaams , British Columbia, Canada.Alexcee was born in Lax Kw'alaams, then known as Fort Simpson, in 1853....
    , artist
  • William Beynon
    William Beynon

    William Beynon was a hereditary chief from the Tsimshian nation and an oral historian who served as ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to many anthropologists....
    , hereditary chief of the Gitlaan
    Gitlaan

    The Gitlaan are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C....
     and ethnographer
  • Heber Clifton
    Heber Clifton

    Heber Clifton was an hereditary chief of the Gitga'ata tribe of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada. He was from the Tsimshian community of Hartley Bay, B.C....
    , hereditary chief of the Gitga'ata
    Gitga'ata

    The Gitga'ata are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and inhabit the village of Hartley Bay, British Columbia, the name of which in the Tsimshian language is Txalgiu....
     and community leader
  • Alfred Dudoward
    Alfred Dudoward

    Alfred Dudoward was an hereditary chief from the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, who was instrumental in establishing a Methodism mission in his community of Port Simpson , B.C....
    , hereditary chief of the Gitando
    Gitando

    The Gitando are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C....
  • Bill Helin
    Bill Helin

    Bill Helin is a Canadian artist, teacher, and designer in the Northwest Coast style and a member of the Tsimshian First Nation of northwestern British Columbia....
    , artist
  • Leanne Helin, artist
  • Calvin Helin
    Calvin Helin

    Calvin Helin is a Canadian businessman and writer on aboriginal topics who is a member of the Tsimshian First Nation in northwestern British Columbia....
    , businessman and author
  • Paul Legaic
    Ligeex

    Ligeex is an hereditary name-title belonging to the Gispaxlo'ots tribe of the Tsimshian First Nation from the village of Lax Kw'alaams , British Columbia, Canada....
    , hereditary chief of the Gispaxlo'ots
    Gispaxlo'ots

    The Gispaxlo'ots are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C....
     and trader
  • Rev. Edward Marsden
    Edward Marsden

    The Rev. Edward Marsden was a Canadian-American missionary and member of the Tsimshian nation who became the first Alaska Native to be ordained in the ministry....
    , clergyman
  • Charles Menzies (anthropologist)
    Charles Menzies (anthropologist)

    Charles R. Menzies is a Canadian anthropologist whose ancestry is with the Tsimshian people of northwestern British Columbia.He is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia....
  • Odille Morison
    Odille Morison

    Odille Morison was a linguist, artifact collector, and community leader from the Tsimshian First Nation of northwestern British Columbia, Canada....
    , translator and art collector
  • Rev. William Henry Pierce
    William Henry Pierce

    William Henry Pierce , also known as W. H. Pierce, was a Canadian First Nations missionary for the Methodism church and a member of the Tsimshian nation in northwestern British Columbia....
    , missionary and memoirist
  • Peter Simpson
    Peter Simpson (Native rights activist)

    Peter Simpson was a Canadian-born Tsimshian activist for Alaska Native rights. He grew up in Metlakatla, Alaska, but his Tsimshian ancestors were from Lax Kw'alaams, British Columbia and Metlakatla, British Columbia....
    , Indian rights activist
  • Henry W. Tate
    Henry W. Tate

    Henry Wellington Tate was an oral historian from the Tsimshian First Nation in British Columbia, Canada, best known for his work with the anthropologist Franz Boas....
    , oral historian
  • Roy Henry Vickers
    Roy Henry Vickers

    This page is about a Canadian artist, for the English mystery writer go to William Edward VickersRoy Henry Vickers, Order of Canada, Order of British Columbia is a Canada First Nations artist....
    , artist
  • Arthur Wellington Clah
    Arthur Wellington Clah

    Arthur Wellington Clah was a Canadian First Nations employee of the Hudson's Bay Company at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C., who was also a hereditary chief in the Tsimshian nation, an anthropological informant, and an extensive diarist....
    , hereditary chief of the Gitlaan
    Gitlaan

    The Gitlaan are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C....
     and diarist
  • Walter Wright
    Walter Wright (oral historian)

    Walter George Wright was a Tsimshian hereditary chief from the community of Kitselas, near Terrace, British Columbia, Canada, whose extensive knowledge of oral history was published posthumously in book form as Men of Medeek....
    , hereditary chief of the Gits'ilaasü (Kitselas
    Kitselas

    Kitselas, Kitsalas or Gits'ilaas? are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, in northwestern Canada. The original name Gits'ilaas? means "people of the canyon." The tribe is situated at Kitselas, British Columbia, at the upper end of Kitselas Canyon....
    ) and oral historian
  • Shannon Thunderbird
    Shannon Thunderbird

    Shannon Thunderbird, is a Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast singer-songwriter, storyteller, educator, speaker, playwright and novelist....
    , singer, songwriter, storyteller, speaker, educator, recording artist
  • Edward E. Bryant, artist


Anthropologists and other scholars who have worked with the Tsimshian


  • Marius Barbeau
    Marius Barbeau

    Charles Marius Barbeau, Order of Canada, Royal Society of Canada , also known as C. Marius Barbeau, or more commonly simply Marius Barbeau, was a Canada ethnographer and folklorist who is today considered a founder of Canadian anthropology....
  • William Beynon
    William Beynon

    William Beynon was a hereditary chief from the Tsimshian nation and an oral historian who served as ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to many anthropologists....
  • Franz Boas
    Franz Boas

    Franz Boas was a Germans-United States anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology"....
  • Philip Drucker
    Philip Drucker

    Philip Drucker was an American anthropologist who specialized in Native American peoples of the Northwest Coast of North America.In the 1940s he worked for the Bureau of American Ethnology in Washington, D.C....
  • Wilson Duff
    Wilson Duff

    Wilson Duff was a Canadian archaeologist, cultural anthropologist, and museum curator.He is remembered for his research on First Nations cultures of the Northwest Coast, notably the Tsimshian, Gitxsan, and Haida, and especially for his interest in their plastic arts, such as totem poles....
  • Viola Garfield
    Viola Garfield

    Viola E. Garfield was an United States Anthropology best known for her work on the social organization and plastic arts of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia and Alaska....
  • Marjorie Halpin
    Marjorie Halpin

    Marjorie Halpin was a U.S.-Canadian anthropologist best known for her work on Northwest Coast art and culture, especially the Tsimshian and Gitksan peoples....
  • James McDonald
    James McDonald

    James McDonald could refer to:* James McDonald , Scottish artist* James McDonald , Irish race walker* James McDonald , baseball player in the Los Angeles Dodgers farm system...


Missionaries who have worked among the Tsimshian


  • William Henry Collison
    William Henry Collison

    William Henry Collison , also known as W. H. Collison, was an Church of England missionary among First Nations people in coastal British Columbia, Canada....
  • Thomas Crosby
    Thomas Crosby

    The Rev. Thomas Crosby, , was an English Methodism missionary known for his work among the First Nations people of coastal British Columbia, Canada....
    , Methodist
  • William Duncan
    William Duncan (missionary)

    William Duncan was an English-born Church of England missionary who founded the Tsimshian communities of Metlakatla, British Columbia, in Canada, and Metlakatla, Alaska, in the United States....
    , Anglican/independent
  • Edward Marsden
    Edward Marsden

    The Rev. Edward Marsden was a Canadian-American missionary and member of the Tsimshian nation who became the first Alaska Native to be ordained in the ministry....
    , Presbyterian
  • Bishop William Ridley
    William Ridley (bishop)

    William Ridley was an English missionary for the Church of England in Canada and served as Bishop of Caledonia....
    , Anglican
  • Robert Tomlinson
    Robert Tomlinson

    Robert Tomlinson was an Irish medical missionary for the Church of England, known for his work with the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of British Columbia....
    , Anglican
  • Joseph Burton
  • David H. Pieplow


See also


  • Tsimshian mythology
    Tsimshian mythology

    Tsimshian mythology is the mythology of the Tsimshian, a First Nations Native Americans in the United States people in Canada and the United States....
  • Gitksan language
    Gitksan language

    Gitxsan is a First Nations language of northwestern British Columbia. It is a Tsimshianic language, closely related to the neighboring Nisga'a language....
  • Nisga'a language
    Nisga'a language

    Nisga'a is a Tsimshianic language of the Nisga'a people of northwestern British Columbia. Nisga'a people, however, do not like the term Tshimshianic as they feel that it gives precedence to Tsimshian....
  • Coast Tsimshian
    Coast Tsimshian

    Coast Tsimshian, known by its speakers as Sm'algyax, is a Tsimshianic language spoken by the Tsimshian nation in northwestern British Columbia and southeastern Alaska....


External links

  • (including Tsimshian)


Bibliography


  • Barbeau, Marius (1950) Totem Poles. 2 vols. (Anthropology Series 30, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 119.) Ottawa: National Museum of Canada.
  • Boas, Franz
    Franz Boas

    Franz Boas was a Germans-United States anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology"....
    , "Tsimshian Mythology." in Thirty-First Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1909-1910, pp. 29-1037. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1916.
  • Garfield, Viola
    Viola Garfield

    Viola E. Garfield was an United States Anthropology best known for her work on the social organization and plastic arts of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia and Alaska....
    , "Tsimshian Clan and Society." University of Washington Publications in Anthropology, vol. 7, no. 3 (1939), pp. 167-340.
  • Garfield, Viola E., and Paul S. Wingert, The Tsimshian Indians and Their Arts. University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1951, 1966.
  • Halpin, Marjorie M.
    Marjorie Halpin

    Marjorie Halpin was a U.S.-Canadian anthropologist best known for her work on Northwest Coast art and culture, especially the Tsimshian and Gitksan peoples....
    , and Margaret Seguin, "Tsimshian Peoples: Southern Tsimshian, Coast Tsimshian, Nishga, and Gitksan." In: Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 7: Northwest Coast, edited by Wayne Suttles. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1990, pp. 267-284.
  • McDonald, James A. (2003) People of the Robin: The Tsimshian of Kitsumkalum. CCI Press.
  • Miller, Jay, Tsimshian Culture: A Light through the Ages. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.
  • Miller, Jay, and Carol Eastman, eds., The Tsimshian and Their Neighbors of the North Pacific Coast. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1984.
  • Neylan, Susan, The Heavens Are Changing: Nineteenth-Century Protestant Missions and Tsimshian Christianity. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003.
  • Seguin, Margaret, Interpretive Contexts for Traditional and Current Coast Tsimshian Feasts. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, 1985.
  • Seguin, Marget, ed., The Tsimshian: Images of the Past, Views for the Present. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1984.