Nuxalk
Nuxálk people gathered around an eulachon stink box near the Bella Coola River.
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| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Bella Coola, British Columbia | |
| Languages | |
| English, Nuxalk | |
| Religion | |
| American Indian panentheism, Christianity, other | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| other Coast Salish peoples |
The Nuxalk people (Nuxalk: Nuxalk; pronounced [nuxalk], with the 'x' like German ach), also referred to as the Bella Coola or Bellacoola, are an Indigenous First Nation in Canada, living in the area in and around Bella Coola, British Columbia. Their language is also called Nuxalk. Their tribal government is the Nuxalk Nation.
The name "Bella Coola", often used in academic writing, is not preferred by the Nuxalk; it is a derivation of the neighbouring coastal Heiltsuk people's name for the Nuxalk, bḷ́xʷlá (rendered plxwla in Nuxalk orthography), meaning "stranger".
The Nuxalk peoples, known today collectively as Nuxalkmc, are made up of lineages representing several ancestral villages within their territory. From Kimsquit, known as Sutslhm in the Nuxalk language, come the Sutslhmc. From the Dean River come the Nutl'lmc, as well as lineages from the upper Dean River. From South Bentinck Arm (Ats'aaxlh) come the Talyumc of Tallheo, from the villages at the Nuwikw, Talyu and Asiiqw rivers. From Kwalhna/Kwatna, Kwatna Inlet, come the Kwalhnmc, from several villages. From King Island (Ista) come the Istamc, and from the Bella Coola River (Nuxalk) come the Nuxalk-mc, from some twenty five Nuxalk villages extending all the way up to Stuwic and beyond up both the Atnarko and Talchako rivers. These were all gathered in their current location in the Bella Coola Valley (Nuxalk) by a combination of negotiation with Chief Pootlass and through government pressure, settling together based on cultural and linguistic similarities, reinforced by a large number of marriages arranged to ease the transition. As all these communities now resided on the Nuxalk river, they took the collective name of Nuxalkmc, and their language has also come to be knows as ItNuxalkmc. Not everyone settled within the current communities in that valley, and as such the Nuxalk share many family ties with their neighbours and beyond, most extensively with the Heiltsuk.
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