What is know about tha okanogan tribe?

Answer 1

I guess you mean "OkanAgan", who are classed as one of the Interior Salish tribes of British Columbia, along with the Lillooet, Shuswap and Thompson tribes.

The Interior Salish living in the Okanagan Valley and along the Similkameen River are known as Okanagan, although they form part of a larger group now known as "Okanagan-Colville" by some linguists and anthropologists. Okanagan-Colville territory occupies 72 500 square kilometers in south-central British Columbia (70%) and northeast Washington state (30%).

The native term n-seel-ick-CHEEN refers to all those people who speak the Okanagan-Colville language. In BC this language is known in English as "Okanagan," and in Washington state it is most often called "Colville." There are 7 dialect divisions of the Okanagan-Colville language, of which 3 are (or were, in the case of "Lakes") in BC.

"Northern Okanagan" refers to the dialect spoken by natives living in the vicinity of Okanagan Lake and along the Okanagan River drainage system, and "Similkameen Okanagan" refers to the dialect spoken by Aboriginals living along the Similkameen River (territory formerly occupied by the Nicola-Similkameen Athapaskans).

The "Lakes" dialect was formerly spoken by those groups living along the Upper and Lower Arrow lakes, but by about 1870 these people had moved south across the border and were later allotted land on the Colville Indian Reservation. In 1996 of a total population of 3,575, there were 2,178 Okanagan living on Indian reserves near Vernon, Westbank, Penticton, Keremeos and Oliver.

All of these related groups were hunter-gatherers, fishing, hunting animals and gathering wild plant foods.

During the winter months Interior Salish lived in villages consisting of clustered semi-underground dwellings known as pit houses. Here they existed on the provisions they had prepared and preserved at other times of the year. These pit houses were constructed in circular or squarish holes dug about 6 feet deep and about 25 feet in diameter. The rafters forming the conical roof of each pit house were thickly insulated with earth and grass to protect the people inside from the cold. Sometimes rectangular or conical tule-mat lodges were used as winter homes by the Interior Salish, but such dwellings were most often used during warmer months.

The Okanagans were mainly Christians by the mid-19th century and many turned to farming, horse-breeding and raising cattle.