Description
The indigenous people of the West Coast of Vancouver Island call themselves the Nuu-Chah-Nulth, or “all along the mountains”. This title refers to their traditional lands – fertile lands of salmon and cedar stretching from the coastal mountain range to the bountiful waters of the Pacific Ocean. When landing at Yuquot (Friendly Cove) in 1778, Captain James Cook began referring to the Nuu-Chah-Nulth as “Nootka” after misinterpreting the Mowachahts repeated request for his ship to “travel around the cove”, as the name of the community. Yuquot has yielded rich archaeological evidence that the great whaling nation of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth has inhabited this area for more than 5,000 years.
Language
Nuu-chah-nulth, is a Wakashan language in the Pacific Northwest of North America
Culture
The Nuu-chah-nulth were one of the few Indigenous peoples on the Pacific Coast who hunted whales. Whaling is essential to Nuu-chah-nulth culture and spirituality. It is reflected in stories, songs, names, family lines, and numerous place names throughout their territories. Carbon dating shows that the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples hunted whales over 4000 years ago for both blubber and meat. The Nuu-chah-nulth peoples hunted whales of different species due to the range of territory that they reside in and the migration pattern of the whales. Those most often caught would be either grey or humpback whales due to their more docile nature and how close they would come to the shore.