Yakama
The Yakama are a Native American tribe with nearly 10,851 members, based primarily in eastern Washington state.
Yakama people today are enrolled in the federally recognized tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. Their Yakama Indian Reservation, along the Yakima River, covers an area of approximately 1.2 million acres. Today the nation is governed by the Yakama Tribal Council, which consists of representatives of 14 tribes.
Their right to fish in their former territory is protected by treaties and was re-affirmed in late 20th-century court cases such as United States v. Washington and United States v. Oregon, though more than a century of U.S. industrial pollution has contaminated these waterways with dangerous levels of toxic chemicals. The Columbia Basin Initiative aims to improve salmon-fishing for the tribe.
Etymology
Scholars disagree on the origins of the name Yakama. The Sahaptin words, E-yak-ma, means "a growing family", and iyakima, means "pregnant ones". Other scholars note the word, yákama, which means "black bear," or ya-ki-ná, which means "runaway".They have also been referred to as the Waptailnsim, "people of the narrow river," and Pa'kiut'lĕma, "people of the gap," which describes the tribe's location along the Yakima River. The Yakama identify as the ''Mamachatpam.''
Historic Yakama band and territories
″Yakima″ or ″Yakama″ was first a collective term for five regional bands who spoke the same language or dialect of Sahaptin, also known as Ichishkíin Sɨ́nwit. Usually they named the individual bands, village groups, local groups, and rivers after a specific rock formation, their main camps, or after an important village or fishing site.The English names of the following local rivers were derived from Sahaptin: the Klickitat, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Palouse, Yakima, Satus, Toppenish, Tieton, and Wenatchee :
- Yakama or Lower Yakama – Chief Kamiakin's people: Their territory encompasses the watershed of the Lower Yakima River east of the Cascade Range, hence they were called Lower Yakima to distinguish them from their upriver cousins – the ″Kittitas or Upper Yakama.″ As they were the largest group in population, they were often termed as Yakama or Yakama proper. Their lands stretched from Selah and Wenas just north of today's Yakima south to the area around today's Prosser. All major rivers in this area – such as the Naches River, and Ahtanum, Toppenish and Satus reeks – are tributaries of the Yakima River.
- * Síla-ħlama
- * Wínas-ħlama
- * Nahchísh-ħlama, lived along the Tieton and Naches rivers, the largest tributary of the Yakima River. They were closely linked to the Taitnapam
- * Tkaíwaichaś-ħlama / Tkai'waichash-hlama
- * Átanŭm-ħlama, their main village Pa'kiut / Páxutakyuu-t in the valley between Ahtanum Ridge and Rattlesnake Ridge was the most important of the Lower Yakama; hence the self-designation of this particular local or village group as Pa'kiut'-ħlama / Pa'kiut'lĕma
- * Písko-ħlama / Pisko-pum
- * Sí-ħlama
- * first Thápnĭś-ħlama / Thap-pah-nish
- * second Thápnĭś-ħlama / Thap-pah-nish
- * Símkoe-ħlama
- * Se'tas-ħlama / Setass-lema
- * Taptat-ħlama
- Upper Yakama or Kittitas – Chief Owhi's and Chief Qualchan's people: Their territory was usually north of Wenas Creek and Selah Creeks and along the Upper Yakima River, therefore they were called Upper Yakima in reference to the downriver living Yakama / Yakama proper bands. They occupied the northern Yakima River tributaries Cle Elum River, Teanaway River, Kachess River to the Wenatchee Mountains and Saddle Mountains in the east. Their territory included three large lakes in the Cascade Range : Cle Elum Lake, Kachess Lake and Keechelus Lake.
- Klikatat / Klickitat – Chief Slockish's people: Their territory was generally situated north of the Columbia River, at the headwaters of the Cowlitz, Lewis, Washougal, White Salmon, and Klickitat rivers.
- Cowlitz Klickitat or Lewis River Klickitat Band, erroneously called Upper Cowlitz or Lewis River Cowlitz, sometimes Lewis River Chinook : Closely allied with their Yakama kin east of the Cascades – they had permanently occupied and controlled the Upper Cowlitz above Mossyrock, Cispus River, Tilton River, the uppermost Nisqually River and Lewis River basins. They apparently intermarried with Salish-speaking Lower Cowlitz communities downriver and travelled freely as far as the mouth of the Cowlitz River, as well as moving freely through adjacent Yakama-controlled territory east of the Cascade Crest. Their own name Taitnapam indicates that they originally came from east off the Cascades – along the Tieton River hence territory of the Nahchísh-ħlama, a Yakama/Lower Yakama band along the Naches River; they had strong linguistic and family ties to that band and to the Klikatat / Klickitat.
- * Qw':ltɫa'ma / Qwiilt-lá-ma
- * Lalalxɫa'ma / Lalalx-lá-ma
- * Wasaɫa'ma
- * Nucnu:ɫa'ma
- * Sw:ktsw'ktɫa'ma / Swikt-swikt-lá-ma
- * K'wpɫa'ma
- * Cicpacɫa'ma
- * Qiyanxuɫa'ma / Q'iyanxw-lá-ma
- * Ca'q'kɫa'ma / Shíq'k-lá-ma
- Wanapum / Wánapam : They lived south of the Saddle Mountains on both sides of the Columbia River downriver to the mouth of the Snake River, most important settlement as well as fishing grounds was at Priest Rapids, 1953 the construction of the Priest Rapids Dam and the Wanapum Dam flooded the Wánapam living and fishing grounds to create the Priest Rapids Lake reservoir. Today still about 60 Wánapam are living near today's Priest Rapids Dams. The Wanapam dreamer-prophet Smohalla was the most prominent leader of the Washane ("Dreamer Religion"), other prophets were Chief Homli, Kotiakan as well Lishwailait and Ashnithlai. Adherents included Chief Joseph and his Nez Percé followers as well as Native people from other tribes in the region.
- Mishalpam, later called Upper Nisqually, today also commonly known as Meshal / Me-Schal / Mashel / Mica'l Band of Nisqually – Chief Leschi's people: Their territory was generally on the west side of the Cascade Range and northwest of the kindred Klikatat / Klickitat and encompassed the Mashel River, tributary of the Nisqually, and the Upper Nisqually and Upper Puyallup River Valleys reaching up to Mount Rainier (Talol/Tacoma/Tahoma) – together with Klikatat / Klickitat they occupied Ohop Valley in Pierce County ; their primary village site was Basha'labsh on Meshal River, near present-day La Grande, Washington. They intermarried with downstream and closer to the coast living Southern Lushootseed-speaking Nisqually (Squalli-Absh / Sqʷaliʼabš), a Coast Salish people, had switched from Sahaptin to Nisqually / Sqʷali'abš no later than in the 19th century. Chief Leschi was one of the most important leaders during the Puget Sound War (1855 und 1856) of an intertribal alliance of Coast Salish and Sahaptin peoples.
History
The Yakama people are similar to the other native inhabitants of the Columbia River Plateau. They were hunters and gatherers well known for trading salmon harvested from annual runs in the Columbia River. In 1805 or 1806, they encountered the Lewis and Clark Expedition at the confluence of the Yakima River and Columbia River.As a consequence of the Walla Walla Council and the Yakima War of 1855, the tribe was forced to cede much of their land and move onto their present reservation. The Treaty of 1855 identified the 14 confederated tribes and bands of the Yakama, including "Yakama, Palouse, Pisquouse, Wenatshapam, Klikatat, Klinquit, Kow-was-say-ee, Li-ay-was, Skin-pah, Wish-ham, Shyiks, Ochechotes, Kah-milt-pay, and Se-ap-cat, confederated tribes and bands of Indians, occupying lands hereinafter bounded and described and lying in Washington Territory, who for the purposes of this treaty are to be considered as one nation, under the name 'Yakama'…". The name was changed from Yakima to Yakama in 1994 to reflect the native pronunciation.