Kwakiutl

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The term Kwakiutl, historically applied to the entire Kwakwaka'wakw enthno-linguistic group of peoples, comes from one of the Kwakwaka'wakw tribes, the Kwagu'ł or Kwagyeulth, at Fort Rupert, with whom Franz Boas did most of his anthropological work and whose Indian Act Band government is the Kwakiutl First Nation. The term is now considered a misnomer by most of the peoples it is applied to, the correct term for whom is Kwakwaka'wakw, which means Kwak'wala-speaking-peoples, although some bands such as the Legwiltok at Campbell River still embrace it -they are known as the Southern Kwakiutl and the tribal council they are in is the Kwakiutl District Council (which includes the Kwakiutl First Nation).

The term, created by anthropologist Franz Boas, was widely used into the 1980s and remains current in other languages than English, but is nowadays rejected by most Kwakwaka'wakw groups.

[edit] "Northern Kwakiutl"

The term was also misapplied to mean all the tribes who spoke Kwak'wala, as well as three other indigenous peoples whose language is a part of the Wakashan linguistical group, but whose language is not Kwak'wala. These peoples, incorrectly known as the Northern Kwakiutl, are the Haisla, Wuikinuxv, and Heiltsuk.