Description
The name T'set'sa'ut, meaning "those of the Interior", was used by the Nisga'a and Gitxsan in reference to their origin as migrants into the region from somewhere farther inland; their use of the term is not to the Tsetsaut alone but also can refer to the Tahltan and the Sekani. Other than Nisga'a stories about them, little is known about the Tsetsaut other than fragments of their language collected from two Tsetsaut slaves of the Nisga'a interviewed by Franz Boas in 1894. In 1830 their numbers were estimated to be up to 500, at which point they were living in the Behm Canal, where they had been friendly with the Sanya kwaan of the Tlingit and Lakweip at which point they moved to the Portland Canal.
Language
The Tsetsaut language is an extinct Athabascan language
Culture
The Tsetsaut were nomadic hunters, fishers and gatherers who lived along the Alaska-British Columbia border. They shared a common ancestry and traded furs with the Nisga’a of the northwest Pacific Coast. Like other Indigenous peoples of the region, it is likely that they had a greater abundance of food and resources than Indigenous peoples to the east of the Rocky Mountains. Therefore, they did not have to constantly move in order to follow food supplies, allowing them to develop more permanent settlements.