Syilx: Difference between revisions

At the height of Okanagan Syilx culture, about 3000 years ago, it is estimated that 12,000 people lived in this valley and surrounding areas. The SyilxOkanagan employed an adaptive strategy, moving within traditional areas throughout the year to fish, hunt, or collect food, while in the winter months, they lived in semi-permanent [[villages]] of [[Quiggly hole|kekulis]], a type of pithouse.<ref>{{cite book

When the [[Oregon Treaty]] partitioned the [[Pacific Northwest]] in 1846, the portion of the tribe remaining in what became [[Washington Territory]] reorganized under [[Tonasket|Chief Tonasket]] as a separate group from the majority of the SyilxOkanagan, whose communities remain in Canada. The Okanagan Tribal Alliance, however, incorporates the American branch of the SyilxOkanagan. The latter are part of the [[Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation|Confederated Tribes of the Colville]], a multi-tribal government in Washington state.

The bounds of SyilxOkanagan territory are roughly the basin of [[Okanagan Lake]] and the [[Okanagan River]], plus the basin of the [[Similkameen River]] to the west of the [[Okanagan|Okanagan valley]], and some of the uppermost valley of the [[Nicola River]]. The various SyilxOkanagan communities in [[British Columbia]] and [[Washington (state)|Washington]] form the [[Okanagan Nation Alliance]], a border-spanning organization which includes American-side SyilxOkanagan residents in the [[Colville Indian Reservation]], where the SyilxOkanagan are sometimes known as Colvilles.

The [[Upper Nicola Indian Band]], a SyilxOkanagan group of the [[Nicola Country|Nicola Valley]], which was at the northwestern perimeter of Okanagan territory, are known in their dialect as the [[Spaxomin]], and are joint members in a historic alliance with neighbouring communities of the [[Nlaka'pamux]] in the region known as the [[Nicola River|Nicola Country]], which is named after the 19th-century chief who founded the alliance, [[Nicola (chief)|Nicola]]. This alliance today is manifested in the [[Nicola Tribal Association]].