Nootkah

The Nootkah were related Indigenous communities on the west coast of Vancouver Island, later known collectively as the Nuu-chah-nulth. Their communities occupied the coast long before European ships arrived.

James Cook visited Yuquot in 1778, followed by maritime fur traders. Spanish seizures of British ships at Nootka Sound in 1789 led to an imperial crisis, settled by convention. The Mowachaht chief Maquinna hosted negotiations there; in 1803 he and his warriors captured the American ship Boston, killing all but two crewmen.