Pueblo Cultures

Summary of the People of the Northwest Coast

The distinctive cultures of the Northwest Coast begin in southwestern Oregon and line the Pacific Coast in a narrow strip all the way north through the panhandle of Southeastern Alaska. Along the Oregon and Washington coasts the terrain is dominated by rocky cliffs and narrow beaches that are only occasionally cut by river valleys that flow into the ocean. Where rivers occur, there are usually bays, tidal basins, and broad sandy beaches. Along the coast of British Columbia and Alaska there is much greater complexity. The coastline is dotted with numerous offshore islands and the mainland is often carved into long fiords reaching far inland. All in all, then, in spite of the narrowness of the Northwest habitation region, the habitable beaches and riverfronts are very extensive.

The material resources of this region are extremely plentiful. Rainfall is often 200 inches per year or more and the climate is generally mild. The ocean and rivers provide an abundance of fish, with salmon, halibut, and eels being the favorites. The beaches provided excellent hunting regions for shellfish, seals, and sea otters. Occasionally, whales were beached and were dispatched by lucky locals. The Makah pursued whales into the ocean. The background hills and mountains provided game of diverse kinds, especially deer and mountain goats, whose fir was used for weaving. Inland areas provided large quantities of berries and a variety of green plant foods. Forests provided and abundance of wood and cedar was most valued, for its straight grain and ease of splitting and carving. The inner bark of cedar was used in manifold ways -- mats, baskets, hats, clothing. Cedar planks of different sizes were used for boxes, masks, housing, and diverse tools. Whole cedar trunks, often quite large, were hollowed out and carved into sleek canoes. There was essentially no agriculture in the Northwest because none was needed and also because the climate was really not hospitable to it.

While different Northwest tribes spoke different languages, indicating diverse origins in the distant past, they had occupied this territory over so long a time that they were culturally almost indistinguishable. We have studied the Tlingit, Kwakiutl, and Makah and can note the great similarities between them. Differences tend to be expressed in small features of detail -- specifics of house construction or of canoe design, etc.

The social organization of the Northwest people was fundamentally matrilineal; that is, property followed the women. However, this was achieved in an odd way. There was little doubt that property was prized and managed by the male patriarchs. Thus, while the property followed the female, it was "owned" in most practical respects by the male. This meant that marriage was fundamentally a means of passing property between males through females. This led to symbolic marriages in which property was passed without any significant unification of man and woman.

There is no doubt that property wealth was a matter of great importance to these people. The patriarch wielded control over this property and both his power and prestige descended through his household and family lineage. There was a strong sense of male competition and winning property by competition enabled a strong sense of ego satisfaction. In an interesting way, competition was structured not-too-subtly by giving and sacrifice. That is, social rules demanded giving-in-return or "besting" where property was destroyed sacrificially. Marriage rites demanded this full force and marriages were always arranged at comparable levels of wealth.

It is important to recognize that property wealth was held in diverse forms. Of course, there were material forms of wealth -- great plank houses with huge colorful paintings and carvings, totems, masks, drums, costumes, boxes, and piles of blankets. But songs and dances unique to the family were also proudly held as property that could be passed on through the marriage of a daughter. Even names were considered property, and one might acquire the right to several different names during one's life.

Northwest Coastal society was thoroughly stratified as a consequence of the abundance of food and materiel, much more so than any other societies of the West. The pursuit of leisure and arts, having been enabled by this abundance, drove social stratification even to slavery. In a sense, when work is not a complete necessity, then the issue of who does the work that needs to be done becomes possible. Slaves were captured from neighboring tribes; but neighbors were also subject to a wide variety of violence and humiliation. As a consequence, political alliances were always being created, up and down the coast.

The chief context of celebration was the Potlatch, and the Potlatch was the theater in which much of this competition could take place. But the Potlatch was also the theater in which people were reminded of the names they held and, consequently, of their family lineages. Songs were sung and dances danced, bringing forward vivid images of mythic time and the spiritual relations of humans, animals, and nature as a whole. In other words, while Potlatching was clearly an arena for competition, it was also the most important arena for education and renewal of world views -- the place and occasion where all cultural traits were integrated into the unique Northwest pattern.

This integration is especially clear and powerful when we look at the arts of the Northwest, especially design. Virtually everything made was designed with colorful carvings or paintings. House pillars, totems, canoes, rattles, clubs, boxes, walls, screens, blankets, and clothing were all "canvasses" on which to explore the animal and mythic worlds. Raven, salmon, bear, eagle, and orca were especially important figures who moved in-and-out of these designs, continually reminding the people of their importance both in mythic original time and in practical contemporary time.