Chinookan peoples

Chinookan peoples

Chinook people meet the Corps of Discovery on the Lower Columbia, October 1805 (by Charles M. Russell, 1905)
Location of Chinookan territory early in the 19th century
Total population
2,700[1]
Regions with significant populations
United States (Oregon – Washington)
Languages
English, formerly Chinookan languages
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. Since at least 4000 BCE Chinookan peoples have resided along the upper and Middle Columbia River (Wimahl) ("Great River") from the river's gorge (near the present town of The Dalles, Oregon) downstream (west) to the river's mouth, and along adjacent portions of the coasts, from Tillamook Head of present-day Oregon in the south, north to Willapa Bay in southwest Washington. In 1805 the Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered the Chinook Tribe on the lower Columbia.

The term "Chinook" also has a wider meaning in reference to the Chinook Jargon, which is based on Chinookan languages, in part, and so the term "Chinookan" was coined by linguists to distinguish the older language from its offspring, Chinuk Wawa. There are several theories about where the name "Chinook" came from. Some say it is a Chehalis word Tsinúk for the inhabitants of and a particular village site on Baker Bay, or "Fish Eaters". It may also be a word meaning "strong fighters".

Some Chinookan peoples are part of several federally recognized Tribes: the Yakama Nation (primarily Wishram), the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation (primarily Wasco), and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community.

The Chinook Indian Nation, consisting of the five westernmost tribes of Chinookan peoples, Lower Chinook, Clatsop, Willapa, Wahkiakum, and Kathlamet is currently (2024) working to restore federal recognition. The Chinook Nation gained Federal Recognition on January 3, 2001^[2] from the Department of Interior under President Bill Clinton.^[3] After President George W. Bush was elected, his political appointees reviewed the case and, in a highly unusual action, revoked the recognition.^[4]

The Chinook Nation sought Congressional support for recognition by the legislature in 2008 with a Bill Introduced by Brian Baird.^[5] The Bill died in Congress.

The unrecognized Tchinouk Indians of Oregon trace their Chinook ancestry to two Chinook women who married French Canadians traders from the Hudson's Bay Company prior to 1830. The specific Chinook band these women were from or if they were Lower or Upper Chinook could not be determined. These individuals, settled in the French Prairie region of northwestern Oregon, becoming part of the community of French Canadians and Métis (Mix-Bloods). There is no evidence that they are a distinct Indian community within French Prairie. The Chinook Indian Nation denied that the Tchinouk had any common history with them or any organizational affiliation. On January 16, 1986, the Bureau of Indian Affairs determined that the Tchinouk Indians of Oregon do not meet the requirements necessary to be a federally recognized tribe.

The unrecognized Clatsop-Nehalem Confederate Tribes was formed in 2000.^[6] The Clatsop-Nehalem have approximately 130 members and claim to have Chinookan and Salish-speaking Tillamook (Nehalem) ancestry. This is contested by the Chinook Indian Nation. The Indian Claims Commission, Docket 234, found, in 1957, that the Clatsop Chinooks were part of the Chinook Indian Nation.^[7] The Indian Claims Commission also found in Docket 240, 1962, that the Nehalem people were part of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.^[8]