Duwamish territory shown highlighted in green. Orange blocks are current Indian reservations
Total population
About 351 (1854),[1] unknown but more than 600 (2023)[2]
Regions with significant populations
Western Washington, United States
Languages
Lushootseed (Southern), English
Religion
Indigenous folk religion, Christianity, including syncretic forms
Related ethnic groups
Other Lushootseed-speaking peoples
The Duwamish (Lushootseed: dxʷdəwʔabš,[3][dxʷdəwʔɑbʃ]) are a Lushootseed-speaking Southern Coast Salish people in western Washington, and the Indigenous people of metropolitan Seattle.
Prior to colonization, the center of Duwamish society was around the Black and Duwamish rivers in Washington. The modern Duwamish primarily descend from two separate groups: the dxʷdəwʔabš, or Duwamish, and the x̌ačuʔabš, a group of peoples whose traditional territory extends around Lake Washington. Although the primary language used by the Duwamish today is English, the Duwamish historically spoke a subdialect of the southern dialect of Lushootseed, a Coast Salish language spoken throughout much of western Washington.
For centuries the Duwamish were living in at least 17 villages around the Seattle area. In 1855, the Duwamish were among the signatories of the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott, in which they ceded their land to the United States government and in return would remove to reservation lands established by the treaty. Two reservations were created for the Duwamish: the Muckleshoot and Suquamish reservations. However, no reservation was ever created directly in the Duwamish homeland. Since then, although many Duwamish did move to the reservations, many others did not, preferring to remain in their homelands, creating a schism between Duwamish descendants. Today, the Duwamish, including the modern tribes descended from the aboriginal Duwamish such as the Suquamish Nation,[4] the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe,[5] and the unrecognized Duwamish Tribe, have been a large part of the modern history of the Seattle area, continuing to advocate for their treaty rights and the preservation and revitalization of their culture, language, and land.
Duwamish people today are enrolled in several different tribes. These include the unrecognized Duwamish Tribe and the federally recognized tribes:[6]
Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation
Muckleshoot Indian Tribe
Suquamish Indian Tribe of the Port Madison Reservation
Swinomish Indian Tribal Community
Tulalip Tribes of Washington
^Deer 1996, p. 9.
^Cite error: The named reference Grygiel2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Bates, Dawn; Hess, Thom; Hilbert, Vi (1994). Lushootseed Dictionary. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-295-97323-4. OCLC 29877333.
^"History & Culture". The Suquamish Tribe. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
^"Muckleshoot History". Muckleshoot Indian Tribe. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
^McCaleb, Neal A. (September 25, 2001). "Summary Under the Criteria and Evidence for Final Determination under 25 C.F.R. 83 for the Duwamish Tribal Organization" (PDF). Office of Federal Acknowledgment. U.S. Department of the Interior. p. 1. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
The Duwamish (Lushootseed: dxʷdəwʔabš, [dxʷdəwʔɑbʃ]) are a Lushootseed-speaking Southern Coast Salish people in western Washington, and the Indigenous...
the Duwamishpeople in Lushootseed, dxʷdəwʔabš, meaning "people of the inside," referring to the Duwamish River. For thousands of years, the Duwamish people...
The Duwamish Tribe, officially known as the Duwamish Tribal Organization, is an unrecognized tribe of Duwamishpeople (Lushootseed: dxʷdəwʔabš), and those...
Seattle) was a 19th-century leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish peoples. A leading figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white...
busiest ports in the United States. The Duwamishpeople have lived in the vicinity of Elliott Bay and the Duwamish River for thousands of years and had established...
Stuck flows. This village was closely allied to the Duwamish and Smulkamish. One group of people, whose exact name is uncertain, had their village on...
Look up Duwamish in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Duwamish may refer to: Duwamishpeople, a Lushootseed-speaking Indigenous people in Washington state...
then-mouth of the Duwamish River in what is now the Industrial District. The Lushootseed (Skagit-Nisqually)-speaking Salish Dkhw'Duw'Absh ("People of the Inside")...
"bands") of the modern day Duwamishpeople, however, they were historically independent and autonomous from the Duwamish. Despite living on a saltwater...
historically a warlike, but impoverished people, and were closely allied with their neighbors, the Duwamish and the Snoqualmie. Traditional Sammamish...
Graham (née Matthias; December 29, 1859 – April 9, 1946) was an American Duwamish tribal member who gained considerable notoriety through her 1893-94 legal...
American tribe, part of the Coast Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest. They are descendants of the Duwamishpeoples whose traditional territory was located...
the Montlake Cut, it was known by the Duwamish as "Carry a Canoe" (Lushootseed: sxWátSadweehL). Indigenous people had been portaging between the lakes...
known as 45KI23, are petroglyphs created before recorded times by the Duwamishpeople in present-day Seattle. According to various archaeological reports...
were varied and widely practised. The Duwamish had a soul recovery and journey ceremony. The Quileute Salish people near Port Townsend had their own beliefs...
groups. Reports from the Huu-ay-aht, Makah, Hoh, Quileute, Yurok, and Duwamishpeoples referred to earthquakes and saltwater floods. This collection of data...
Washington state in the United States. They are a Southern Coast Salish people. They are federally recognized as the Nisqually Indian Tribe, formerly known...
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