The Coquille (or Ko-Kwell) are a Native American people centered in southwest Oregon in the United States, where the Coos River flows into Coos Bay.
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Name
The name of the Coquille resembles the French word for "shell". This has led to speculation that the name was attached to the Indian people by French Canadian voyageur trappers working for the North West Company, because of the people's diet of shellfish and use of shells as personal ornament. However, a report written for the modern Coquille Indian Tribe suggests that the name comes from a mispronunciation of some native word, possibly for a river, geographic place, or person. Coquille, per an elder of the tribe who spoke with my father in the early 1970s meant "where the land meets the sea and there you provide a living." It was another word for an estuary, where they did their fishing weirs and provided their living every year .
Groups
The Coquille are one of the Lower Rogue River Athabascan tribes, which included the Coquille (Upper Coquille, Mishikwutinetunne) tribe, Shasta Costa tribe and Tututni tribe (including Euchre Creek (Yukichetunne) band). Bands of Tututni tribe include the Kwatami, Tututunne, Mikonotunne, Chemetunne, Chetleshin, Kwaishtunnetunne,Yukichetunne, and Naltunnetunne.
Language
The Coquille people spoke Coquille dialect of Lower Rogue River (AKA Tututni-Chasta Costa-Coquille) language, an extinct Pacific Coast Athabaskan language classified as part of the Oregon Athabascan subgroup.
History
Human occupation of the coastal areas of the Coquelle dates back as far as 8,000 years, and 11,000 years in inland areas. Fish traps used on the lower Coquille River have been dated back at least 1,000 years. Extensive oral histories of the Coquille have been collected and preserved at the Coquille Indian Tribe Library in Coos Bay, Oregon.
The Coquille fished in the tidewaters and estuaries along the Oregon coastline using fishing weirs and basket traps, and collected shellfish.
Modern scholars have documented an extensive network of trails, footpaths, and canoe routes that the Coquille people had developed by the time of contact by the North West Company's Alexander McLeod in 1826.
Mid-19th century to the present
After the treaty of 1855, the Coquille people were forced to move to the Coastal Indian Reservation (now the Siletz Reservation). Today Coquille people may be part of one of two tribal entities: the Coquille Indian Tribe or the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz.
The Rogue River Athabascan tribes (including Coquille), Takelma, Latgawa and Shasta peoples were in 19th century collectively known as Rogue River Indians.