Wakashan

The Wakashan group joins the Northwest Coast peoples of Vancouver Island, the central British Columbia coast and Cape Flattery in Washington. The Nootka, or Nuu-chah-nulth, and the Makah hunted whales on the open coast, while the Kwakiutl, or Kwakwaka'wakw, lived in a society of nobles, commoners and slaves, whose rank was displayed at potlatch feasts. The Heiltsuk and Haisla lived farther north.

James Cook anchored at Yuquot in 1778, opening the maritime fur trade, and the rivalry between Spain and Britain over Nootka Sound led to the Nootka Crisis of about 1790. The Nuu-chah-nulth chief Maquinna captured the American ship Boston in 1803. Disease killed more than nine in ten Nuu-chah-nulth between first contact and 1830.