Mowachaht
/məˈwɑːtʃɑːt/noun
Mowachaht is the name of a Nuu-chah-nulth Indigenous people and First Nation traditionally associated with western Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Did you know?Mowachaht is commonly paired with Muchalaht in the name Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nation, reflecting two distinct Nuu-chah-nulth communities whose territories and histories became closely connected.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-contact period
Nuu-chah-nulth
Mowachaht
“An Indigenous ethnonym traditionally translated as “people of the deer”; the precise internal linguistic analysis is not securely documented in English sources.”
18th Century
Nuu-chah-nulth
Mowachaht
“The name of a Nuu-chah-nulth-speaking coastal people encountered by European maritime explorers and traders.”
18th–19th Century
European records
Mowachaht / Mowatchet
“Variant colonial spellings used in maps, journals, and administrative records for the people and their territory.”
19th Century
English
Mowachaht
“An established English spelling of the Indigenous name, used in ethnographic and governmental writing.”
Modern English
English
Mowachaht
“A proper name used for the Mowachaht people and, together with Muchalaht, for the Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nation.”
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