Coast Salish Languages
The Salish Sea is named after the Coast Salish peoples who have been the stewards of these lands and waters for millennia. This map shows the approximate distribution of the fourteen Coast Salish languages spoken in the early 19th century, along with the outline of the Salish Sea Bioregion (green line).
You can zoom, pan, and click around this interactive map to compare place names with the approximate distributions of the Coast Salish languages.
Many of these fourteen languages have multiple dialects and are or were spoken by numerous distinct communities. These linguistic regions do not represent territories, land claims, or other political boundaries. The borders of these regions overlap in many places and have of course changed over time.
Today many of us think of the Salish Sea region as being divided by the US-Canadian international border. This map reminds us that the international border is a very recent invention that does not reflect the long history of interconnected human societies living in this region. We may also think of the mainland and islands as being separated from each other by the marine waters of the Salish Sea. This map reminds us that the sea itself has traditionally acted as a transportation corridor connecting communities rather than a barrier.
Please treat this map as a very approximate, only partially accurate, and deeply humble attempt to represent the astounding linguistic diversity of the Coast Salish peoples.
Credits: this map is part of the Salish Sea Atlas . Language distributions were digitized and adapted by Aquila Flower from the following sources:
- Thom, Brian (2009) The Paradox of Boundaries in Coast Salish Territories. Cultural Geographies. 16(2):179-205.
- https://native-land.ca/
- http://www.native-languages.org/famsal.htm
- https://www.burkemuseum.org/collections-and-research/culture/contemporary-culture/coast-salish-art/coast-salish-people
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast_Salish_languages
- https://maps.fphlcc.ca/splashscreen