Colville

Related Category: North American indigenous peoples

(kŏl´vĭl), indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Once one of the largest Salish tribes, they were reduced to a few hundred by 1872. They were placed on a reservation in NE Washington and since that time have markedly increased, so that by 1990 there were 7,140 Colville in the United States. Many still live on the Colville reservation.