Coast Salish peoples are a diverse group of Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest who speak related languages and have some common cultural traditions. The Coast Salish grouping includes many different tribal groups, all with their own names for themselves and most with their own languages. Coast Salish peoples have lived in the Pacific Northwest since time immemorial and their traditional lands surround the Salish Sea, including part of the Olympic Peninsula, the coast of Puget Sound, the eastern side of Vancouver Island, and the southern coast of British Columbia.

The Coast Salish peoples of the Puget Sound region were famous for their coiled and twined baskets. Some of the baskets were so tightly made that they could hold water. In this photo taken around 1900, a Coast Salish basketmaker holds a split cedar root in her mouth, ready to work it into her basket.

Caption information source: “Coast Salish people & languages,” Burke Museum, retrieved from https://www.burkemuseum.org/collections-and-research/culture/contemporary-culture/coast-salish-art/coast-salish-people.