Nuxálk Nation

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Nuxálk people gathered around an eulachon stink box near the Bella Coola River.

The Nuxálk Nation (pronounced /nuxalk/ with the 'x' like the German 'ach'), also referred to as the Nuxalk (no accent-mark) or the Bella Coola, are an Indigenous First Nation in Canada, living in the area in and around Bella Coola, British Columbia. Their language is also called Nuxálk.

The name Bella Coola, often used in academic writing, is not preferred by the Nuxálk; it is thought to be either a derivation of the neighbouring coastal Heiltsuk people's name for the Nuxálk(plxwlaq's, meaning "stranger" or "foreigner" or "someone from Bella Coola") or that it comes from the Spanish/Italian "bella cula" meaning "beautiful curve" or "beautiful bend", referring to the winding inlet that leads into the valley.

The Nuxalk, known collectively as Nuxalkmc, gathered in their current place of the Bella Coola Valley from four different directions: Kimsquit(Dean Channel) in the north, Stuic(Tweedsmuir Park) in the east, Talio(South Bentick) in the south, and Kwalhna(King Island) in the west. They settled together based on cultural and linguistic similarities, but not everyone settled within the current Nuxalk Nation; as such, the Nuxalkmc share many family ties with their neighbours and beyond, most extensively with the Heiltsuk.

The Nuxálk Nation is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.

[edit] See also

• Nuxálk language

[edit] External links

• Nuxalk Nation Home Page
• map of Northwest Coast First Nations (including Nuxálk)

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