Colville Indian Reservation

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The Colville Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Washington, inhabited and managed by Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which is recognized by the United States of America as an American Indian Tribe. The reservation is located in the southeastern section of Okanogan County and the southern half of Ferry County, but there are pieces of trust land throughout Eastern Washington, including lands located in Chelan County, just to the northwest of the city of Chelan. The reservation's name is adapted from that of Fort Colville, which was named for Andrew Colville, a London governor of the Hudson's Bay Company and had been founded before the region became part of the United States.

The Confederated Tribes have 8,700 descendants from 12 aboriginal tribes. The tribes are known in English as: the Colville, the Nespelem, the Sanpoil, the Lake (Sinixt), the Palus, the Wenatchi, the Chelan, the Entiat, the Methow, the southern Okanagan, the Sinkiuse-Columbia, and the Nez Perce of Chief Joseph's Band. The full origins of the Colville Indians are unknown. The spoken language of the tribe is a relatively modern creole made up of the several languages shared within the community since the various tribes were gathered into the Reservation.

Outsiders often named the Colville Scheulpi or Chualpay; the French traders called them Les Chaudières ("the kettles") in reference to Kettle Falls.
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Coordinates:   48°9'41"N   118°56'32"W
This article was last modified 13 years ago