The Northwest Coast People

Location/Geography

• Lived along the west coast of Canada

• Can you name the province?• Climate is very mild: cool

summers and warm/mild winters

Shelter

• Lived in longhouses similar to the Iroquois but notice the different color and art

• Made of wood and lasted many years

Food

• Northwest coast people were mainly fishers and ate salmon, cod, and other seafood

• Does this fish look similar to something at our school?

Transportation

• Used canoes on rivers and lakes and longboats to travel by sea

Caste system

• Unlike the Plains or Iroquois, the Northwest coast people lived in a very strict social system which they were born into

1) The Chief (leader) 2) noblemen (Chief’s assistants) 3) fishers, common people 4) slaves

Potlatch ceremony

• The potlatch ceremony was a way to show off status (or gain face)

• Sometimes participants would wear masks. They perform dances, and bring food and gifts to give away

Northwest coast art

• Northwest coast people built large totem poles carved from wood

More totem poles

Masks

• Masks were worn during special ceremonies such as the potlatch

Inuit of the Arctic

The Inuit of the Arctic

Territory:

Northern Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut), Alaska, Greenland

(traditionally near or around the coast)

The Climate of the Arctic• The land of “ice and snow” and “barrenlands” (no vegetation) of

tundra,• Little or no trees• Little rain or precipitation (some parts considered desert),• Temperature is cool, cold, and freezing cold

Clothing – Keeping warm in the Arctic

Caribou skin

Seal skin

Food – Subsistence in the Arctic

• Inuit that lived inland ate:

• Caribou

• Musk-ox

• Bear

• Fish

• Inuit that lived on the coast ate:

• Seal

• Birds

• Walrus

• Bear

• Whales

• Fish

Transportation - Land

• Winter – dog sled• Summer – walking.

Transportation - Water

• Kayak (one person)

• Umiak (many people)

Inuit Society

• Based on hunting groups and trading partnerships,

• Patrilineal organization (family traced through the father)

• Elders directed behaviour and formed the governing council,

• Belief that people should behave properly in order to exist with nature,

• Illness or misfortune was a sign from nature that people were not acting properly.

HousingSkin Tents

Igloo

Masks

Inukshuk – “like a person”

Used as:

• a navigational aid

• a marker for hunting grounds

• a hidden supply of food or supplies

• in hunting to attract geese and caribou

• and as a way to mark sacred (holy – spiritually important) ground.