Algic

The Wiyot and the Yurok are the westernmost peoples to speak an Algic language. Their languages are only distantly related to the Algonquian languages of the east.

The Wiyot, who called themselves Ku'wil, ‘the People’, lived from the Mad River through Humboldt Bay to the lower Eel River, in a land of redwood forest, sandy shore and tidal marsh. The Yurok held the Klamath River and the northern California coast from Trinidad almost to Crescent City. The two peoples were culturally similar.