Chinook

Chinookan peoples

Chinookan peoples include several groups of Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest in the United States who speak the Chinookan languages. Since at least 11,500 BCE, Chinookan peoples and their ancestors have resided along the upper and Middle Columbia River (Wimahl) from the river's gorge downstream (west) to the river's mouth, and along adjacent portions of the coasts, from Tillamook Head of present-day Oregon in the south, north to Willapa Bay in southwest Washington. In 1805 the Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered the Chinook Tribe on the lower Columbia.

Chinook Indian Nation

The Chinook Indian Nation is an unrecognized tribe in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington that was federally recognized from 2001 to 2002. It consists of the five westernmost Chinookan tribes: the Cathlamet, Clatsop, Lower Chinook, Wahkiakum, and Willapa. Its headquarters is in Bay Center, Washington.

Chinook

Proper noun

1. A Native American language of the Penutian family of Oregon and Washington.
2. Chinook Jargon, a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest composed primarily of words from Chinook proper, English, and French, with some borrowings from other languages.

Noun

1. A member of a Native American people whose traditional tribal grounds were along the lower and middle Columbia River.
2. Alternative letter-case form of chinook