Definitions for tsimshianˈtʃɪm ʃi ən, ˈtsɪm-
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word tsimshian
a member of a Penutian people who lived on rivers and a sound in British Columbia
a Penutian language spoken by the Tsimshian
a Native American people who inhabited the coastal waters of western British Columbia and southeast Alaska.
the Penutian language of this people.
The Tsimshian are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River. Their communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000 Tsimshian. Their culture is matrilineal with a societal structure based on a clan system, properly referred to as a moiety. Early anthropologists and linguists grouped Gitxsan and Nisga'a as Tsimshian because of linguistic affinities. Under this terminology they were referred to as Coast Tsimshian, even though some communities were not coastal. The three groups identify as separate nations. There are many other ways to spell the name, such as Tsimpshean, Tsimshean, Tsimpshian, and others, but this article will use the spelling "Tsimshian".
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