BOOKiDO Heroes: The Duwamish tribe

The Duwamish tribe (pronounced [dxʷdɐwʔabʃ] in Lushootseed) is a Native American tribe in western Washington, and the indigenous people of metropolitanSeattle.Villages were usually located facing a beach and body of water or river navigable by canoe, near a creek and drinking water source. Beyond the diffuse villages and anthropogenic grasslands, most land was heavily forested, understory tended to be dense along the edges; travel by canoe was generally far more practical. The nearby creek (d^zəlíx^w or stútələk^w) would often be called Little Water (stútələk^w), an endearing familiar.^[18]

The People of the Inside and the People of the Large Lake (Dkh^w'Duw'Absh and Xacuabsh, today Duwamish), like other Salish, were more a collection of villages linked by language and family ties than like a European model.^[19] Relationships and stature among family and community were important measures or goals in life. Traditionally there was no recognized permanent political leadership. Native Americans in general, and Coast Salish in particular, just didn't do things in ways that White people expected or would readily understand. Native social structures (and economics) drove Whites to distraction.

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