Ethnos

Cowlitz

Cowlitz is a group of Native American peoples from what is now western Washington state in the United States. The Cowlitz tribe actually consists of two distinct subtribes: The Upper Cowlitz, or Taidnapam, and the Lower Cowlitz.

Linguistically, the Cowlitz tribe belongs to the Salish family of languages among Northwest Coast indigenous peoples. Both subtribes of the Cowlitz originally spoke a Salish language, but later the Upper Cowlitz would speak the Sahaptan language from east of the Cascade Mountains.

Unlike many other Northwest Coast tribes in Washington, the Cowlitz are not recognized officially by the United States federal government, and therefore do not have federally recognized tribal lands (such as on a reservation) and their own tribal center. (See also: Cowlitz Indian Tribe home page)***