Klallam people

Lower Elwha

Hicks family (Klallam) pose with canoe near Chimacum Creek, Washington, ca. 1914
Regions with significant populations
Canada ( British Columbia)  United States ( Washington)
Languages
Klallam, English
Related ethnic groups
other Coast Salish peoples

Klallam (also Clallam, although the spelling with "K" is preferred in all four modern Klallam communities) refers to four related indigenous Native American/First Nations communities from the Pacific Northwest of North America. The Klallam culture is classified ethnographically and linguistically in the Coast Salish subgroup. Three Klallam bands live on the Olympic Peninsula in the far northwest corner (bordering the Strait of Juan de Fuca) of Washington state, and one is based at Becher Bay on southern Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

The indigenous Klallam language name for the tribe is nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əm (meaning "strong people"). The word "Klallam" comes from the North Straits Salish language name for the Klallam people, [xʷstɬ̕æləm]. This has had a wide variety of English spellings including "Chalam", "Clalam", "Clallem", "Clallum", "Khalam", "Klalam", "Noodsdalum", "Nooselalum", "Noostlalum", "Tlalum", "Tlalam", "Wooselalim", "S'Klallam", "Ns'Klallam", "Klallam" and "Clallam". "Clallam" was used by the Washington Territory legislature in 1854 when it created Clallam County. The following year "S'klallam" was used in the Point No Point Treaty. In the following decades the simpler "Klallam" or "Clallam" predominated in the media and research literature. In 1981 "S'Klallam" was used when the United States Department of the Interior officially recognized the Lower Elwha, Jamestown, and Port Gamble (or Little Boston) tribes.