Gitxsanimaax

Gitxsanimaax is the language of the Gitxsan, whose homeland lies along the upper Skeena River and its tributaries. Their matrilineal clans contain houses, or wilp, each associated with a chief, territories and fishing places. Villages along the river maintained connections with the coast and with inland neighbours, carrying food and other goods through a network older than the fur-trading posts.

In 1822 the Hudson’s Bay Company established Fort Kilmaurs on Babine Lake, east of Gitxsan country. Its trader William Brown found that Babine people could obtain European goods through their existing ties with the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en, whose routes reached coastal ships. Eulachon grease and seaweed travelled inland, while berries and furs moved towards the coast. The company’s costly overland supplies had to compete with this established exchange.