Gwa'sala
/ɡʷəˈsɑːlə/noun
A Kwakwaka'wakw Indigenous people and one of the two nations comprising the Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Nations of coastal British Columbia.
Did you know?The Gwa'sala are part of the Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Nations, whose communities were forcibly relocated by Canadian authorities in the twentieth century, making the name a powerful marker of cultural continuity.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-contact period
Kwak'wala
Gwa'sala
“An Indigenous ethnonym used by a Kwakwaka'wakw people; a securely documented word-for-word translation is not established in widely available standard sources.”
19th Century
English records
Gwa'sala
“The name recorded by colonial and ethnographic sources for a coastal Indigenous group associated with the Smith Inlet region of British Columbia.”
Late 19th–Early 20th Century
English/Kwak'wala
Gwa'sala-Nakwaxda'xw
“A combined name referring to the Gwa'sala and Nakwaxda'xw nations, whose communities later became politically associated.”
1960s
Canadian English
Gwa'sala-Nakwaxda'xw Nations
“The nations were associated with the Tsulquate reserve community near Port Hardy after government-directed relocations from their traditional territories.”
Modern English
English/Kwak'wala
Gwa'sala
“A contemporary ethnonym used in the official name and cultural identity of the Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Nations.”
Explore more surprising origins