Preface

Part 1: Introducing First Nations, Popular Perceptions, and the Anthropological Perspective

Popular Perceptions

Through the Lens of Anthropology

Overview of Chapters

Recommended Readings and Resources

Part 2: Defining and Situating First Nations Today

Understanding Labels: First Nations, Aboriginal, Indian, and More

Population, Reserves, Settlements, and Lands

Bands, Ethnic Groups, Tribal Councils, and Other Affiliations

Situating BC First Nations within Canada, in North America, and around the World

Recommended Readings and Resources

Part 3: Archaeology and First Nations

First Nations and Archaeological Perceptions of the Past

The Nature of Archaeological Research in British Columbia

Early Migrations through British Columbia

Here to Stay

Settling Down

Prominent Sites

Tracing Ancestry

Recommended Readings and Resources

Part 4: Languages, Population Estimates, and Traditional Lifeways

Traditional Culture Areas of British Columbia

Languages

Population

Settlement Patterns

Diet

Technology

Social Organization

Myths, Spirits, and Shamans

Health and Healing

Art

The Potlatch and Other Important Ceremonies

Trade, Slavery, and Warfare

Recommended Readings and Resources

Part 5: From the Late 1700s through the Twentieth Century

Population Loss

The Impact of the Fur Trade

The Impact of the Gold Rushes

The Impact of Non-Indigenous Settlement

Missionaries and Residential Schools

First Nations and Wage Labour

Government Relations with First Nations

Assertions of Aboriginal Rights

Negotiations in the Late 1900s

Anthropology in the Late