The Northwest Coast region is an elongated stretch of mountainous coastline that extends more than 3000 kilometers from Southern Alaska to Northern California. At its widest point, it is measures only about 250 kilometers from west to east. The region includes areas of British Colombia, Washington, and Oregon, as well as the chain of islands found in the Pacific Ocean just off the Northwest Coast. It has a deep-rooted culture that still thrives today through its people and its art.
The Northwest Coast is warm and wet. As much as a hundred inches of rain per year pours down on the region. The climatic conditions create thick forests of giant evergreen trees (redwood, cedar, and sequoia) that are among the tallest in the world. These forests cover most of the coastal region with exception of mountaintops and rock faces, which are too steep to support soil.
Northwest Coastal people lived in cedar houses built facing the sea along sandy or gravel beaches. Over generations, the people became master architects and woodcarvers: trees provided everything the people required from carved storage boxes, bowls and spoons to large seaworthy dugout canoes. Travel was difficult over land because of mountainous terrain and dense forests, therefore, people moved primarily by sea. They canoed up and down the coast for trade, slave-raiding and hunting.
The sea was also their primary source of food. They hunted sea mammals such as whales, seals and sea lions and fished for salmon, halibut, cod and flounder. They also hunted game such as deer, elk, bear and mountain goat. These animals provided skins for clothing, and bones for weapons and tools. Since both sea and land provided so much food and natural resources, large permanent communities were be formed without extensive agricultural practices.
Most villages in the Northwest Coast region were independent of each other because of the variety of languages in the region. There were even major language differences within tribal groups such as Chinook, Haida, Kwakiutl, Makah, Nootka, Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Salish. Because of the differences, political organisations among tribal groups were not very powerful.
The Northwest Coast is warm and wet. As much as a hundred inches of rain per year pours down on the region. The climatic conditions create thick forests of giant evergreen trees (redwood, cedar, and sequoia) that are among the tallest in the world. These forests cover most of the coastal region with exception of mountaintops and rock faces, which are too steep to support soil.
Northwest Coastal people lived in cedar houses built facing the sea along sandy or gravel beaches. Over generations, the people became master architects and woodcarvers: trees provided everything the people required from carved storage boxes, bowls and spoons to large seaworthy dugout canoes. Travel was difficult over land because of mountainous terrain and dense forests, therefore, people moved primarily by sea. They canoed up and down the coast for trade, slave-raiding and hunting.
The sea was also their primary source of food. They hunted sea mammals such as whales, seals and sea lions and fished for salmon, halibut, cod and flounder. They also hunted game such as deer, elk, bear and mountain goat. These animals provided skins for clothing, and bones for weapons and tools. Since both sea and land provided so much food and natural resources, large permanent communities were be formed without extensive agricultural practices.
Most villages in the Northwest Coast region were independent of each other because of the variety of languages in the region. There were even major language differences within tribal groups such as Chinook, Haida, Kwakiutl, Makah, Nootka, Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Salish. Because of the differences, political organisations among tribal groups were not very powerful.