Chinookan people

Chinookan peoples

Chinook people meet the Corps of Discovery on the Lower Columbia, October 1805 (Charles Marion Russel, c. 1905)
Location of Chinookan territory early in the 19th century
Total population
2700
Regions with significant populations
United States ( Oregon – Washington)
Languages
Chinook Jargon, English
Religion
traditional tribal religion

Chinookan peoples include several groups of indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest in the United States who speak the Chinookan languages. In the early 19th century, the Chinookan-speaking peoples resided along the lower and middle Columbia River, now areas of present-day Oregon and Washington. In 1805 the Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered the Chinook tribe on the lower Columbia.

Since the late 20th century, the Chinook Indian Nation, made up of 2700 members of several related peoples, has worked to obtain federal recognition. It gained this in 2001 from the Department of Interior under President Bill Clinton. After President George W. Bush was elected, his political appointees reviewed the case and, in a highly unusual action, revoked the recognition. The tribe has sought Congressional support for recognition by the legislature.

The Chinookan peoples were relatively settled and occupied traditional tribal geographic areas, where they hunted and fished; salmon was a mainstay of their diet. The women also gathered and processed many nuts, seeds, roots and other foods. They had a society marked by social stratification, consisting of a number of distinct social castes of greater or lesser status. Upper castes included shamans, warriors, and successful traders. They composed a minority of the community population compared to common members. Members of the superior castes are said to have practiced social discrimination, limiting contact with commoners and forbidding play between the children of the different social groups.

Some Chinookan peoples practiced slavery, a practice borrowed from the northernmost tribes of the Pacific Northwest. They took slaves as captives in warfare, and used them to practice thievery on behalf of their masters. The latter refrained from such practices as unworthy of high status.