 Squamish elder Audrey Rivers wearing wool regalia at a Pole Raising Ceremony (July 2012). | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana | |
| Languages | |
| Salishan languages | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast |
The Salish peoples are indigenous peoples of the American and Canadian Pacific Northwest, identified by their use of the Salishan languages which diversified out of Proto-Salish between 3,000 and 6,000 years ago.[citation needed]
The term "Salish" originated in the modern era as an exonym created for linguistic research. Salish is an anglicization of Séliš, the endonym for the Salish Tribes of the Flathead Reservation. The Séliš were the easternmost Salish people and the first to have a diplomatic relationship with the United States so their name was applied broadly to all peoples speaking a related language.