Chief Si'ahl

Seattle
Si'ahl
The only known photograph of Chief Seattle, taken 1864
Suquamish & Duwamish leader
Personal details
Born	c. 1786 On or near Blake Island, Washington, US
Died	June 7, 1866 (age 79–80) Port Madison, Washington, U.S.
Resting place	Port Madison, Washington, U.S.
Children	8, including Princess Angeline
Known for	Namesake of city of Seattle
Religion	Roman Catholic

Chief Seattle (c. 1786 – June 7, 1866) was a Suquamish Tribe (Suquamish) and Dkhw'Duw'Absh (Duwamish) chief. A prominent figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with "Doc" Maynard. The city of Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington, was named after him. A widely publicized speech arguing in favor of ecological responsibility and respect of Native Americans' land rights had been attributed to him. However, what he actually said has been lost through translation and rewriting.

The name Seattle is an anglicization of the modern Duwamish conventional spelling Si'ahl, equivalent to the modern Lushootseed spelling siʔaɫ IPA: [ˈsiʔaːɬ]. He is also known as Sealth, Seathle, Seathl, or See-ahth.

Seattle's mother Sholeetsa was Dkhw'Duw'Absh (Duwamish) and his father Shweabe was chief of the Dkhw'Suqw'Absh (the Suquamish tribe). Seattle was born around 1780 on or near Blake Island, Washington. One source cites his mother's name as Wood-sho-lit-sa. The Duwamish tradition is that Seattle was born at his mother's village of Stuk^w on the Black River, in what is now the city of Kent, Washington, and that Seattle grew up speaking both the Duwamish and Suquamish dialects of Lushootseed. Because Native descent among the Salish peoples was not solely patrilineal, Seattle inherited his position as chief of the Duwamish Tribe from his maternal uncle.

Seattle earned his reputation at a young age as a leader and a warrior, ambushing and defeating groups of tribal enemy raiders coming up the Green River from the Cascade foothills, and attacking the Chimakum and the S'Klallam tribes living on the Olympic Peninsula. Like many of his contemporaries, he owned slaves captured during his raids. He was tall and broad for a Puget Sound native, standing nearly six feet tall; Hudson's Bay Company traders gave him the nickname Le Gros (The Big Guy). He was also known as an orator; and when he addressed an audience, his voice is said to have carried from his camp to the Stevens Hotel at First and Marion, a distance of ³⁄₄ mile (1.2 km).