Suquamish Tribe

Suquamish

Suquamish woman photographed by Edward S. Curtis in 1913.
Regions with significant populations
United States
Languages
English, Lushootseed

The Suquamish are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American people, located in present-day Washington in the United States. They are a southern Coast Salish people. Today, most Suquamish people are enrolled in the federally recognized Suquamish Tribe, a signatory to the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott. Chief Seattle, the famous leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish Tribes for which the City of Seattle is named, signed the Point Elliot Treaty on behalf of both Tribes. The Suquamish Tribe owns the Port Madison Indian Reservation.

Suquamish people traditionally speak a dialect of Lushootseed, which belongs to the Salishan language family.

Like many Northwest Coast indigenous peoples, the Suquamish enjoyed the rich bounty of land and sea west of the Cascade Mountains. They fished for salmon and harvested shellfish in local waters and Puget Sound. The cedar tree provided fiber used to weave waterproof clothing and beautiful utilitarian items, and provided wood for longhouses, seagoing canoes and ceremonial items. Today, the Suquamish fish and harvest within their historical territory, and a new generation of local artists — among them Ed Carriere, Betty Pasco, and Andrea Wilbur-Sigo — carry on the ways of their ancestors in creating beautiful carved or woven items that help tell the story of the Suquamish people.

The Suquamish traditionally lived on the western shores of Puget Sound, from Apple Tree Cove in the north to Gig Harbor in the south, including Bainbridge Island and Blake Island. They had villages throughout the region, the largest centered on Old Man House, the largest winter longhouse in the Salish Sea.