Sm'álgyax

Sm’álgyax is the language of the Coast Tsimshian, whose communities live among the mouths of the Skeena and Nass rivers and the channels of the northern coast. Their houses held names, territories and fishing rights, while alliances and marriages joined the communities of this maritime country. Salmon and other coastal foods supported villages connected by canoe routes and trade.

By the 1790s foreign ships were coming to the coast for sea otter pelts. Legex, a line of Gispaxlo’ots chiefs, controlled access to trade and levied fees for safe passage. In 1834 the Hudson’s Bay Company moved Fort Simpson to Lax Kw’alaams, an old camping place held by Legex. Tsimshian families gathered near the post, and its trade depended on the relationships and seasonal movements of the people whose land it occupied.