The Sahewamish are a Northwest Native American tribe of Lushootseed-speaking Coast Salish people. They were fisherman and hunter-gatherers, sedentary, and lived in the southwestern inlets of Puget Sound from Shelton, Washington, to the Nisqually River. There were about six villages.
While some descendants of the tribe live on the Nisqually Reservation near Olympia, others live on the Squaxin Island Tribe reservation near Shelton.
History
1787 Strait of Juan de Fuca
1788 Area visited by John Meares
1790 Both shores of strait explored by Manuel Quimper
1792 Area charted by Captain George Vancouver
1827 Hudson's Bay Company founded Fort Langley
1841 Influx of Oregon Trail settlers begin and conflicts develop
1854 Treaty of Medicine Creek
Language
In 1990, there were about 60 older adult speakers of the Sahewamish dialect, of the Salishan Lushootseed language.
Notes
Native American tribes in Washington (state) Lushootseed language