Salishan

The Salishan group spans the Pacific Northwest, from the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound inland to Idaho and Montana: the Coast Salish such as the Lushootseed and Halkomelem, the Tillamook and Tsamosan of the outer coast, and the Interior Salish such as the Secwepemc and the Saleesh.

Coastal peoples lived in cedar-plank longhouses, fished salmon and gave away wealth at the potlatch. The first smallpox epidemic came in the 1680s, long before sustained contact. George Vancouver surveyed the coast in 1792 and Lewis and Clark met the Saleesh in 1805. Forts such as Vancouver, Langley and Nisqually drew them into the Hudson's Bay Company trade.