Tsimshian

The Tsimshian, whose name means Inside the Skeena River, are a people of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living along the lower Skeena River and the coast of what is now northern British Columbia. By oral history some once lived far up the Skeena and moved to the coast after disasters, founding Kitkatla, while the Nisga'a and Gitxsan stayed inland.

They wintered around Prince Rupert Harbour, where people had lived for some 5,000 years, and returned to the Skeena when the salmon ran. Their society was matrilineal, with clans and hereditary chiefs, and rank was confirmed at potlatch feasts. Europeans probably first reached them in 1787, and in 1834 the Hudson's Bay Company moved its fort to Lax Kw'alaams.