The
Tsimshian (;
Sm'algyax:
Ts’msyan) are an
indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal
British Columbia and far southern
Alaska, around
Terrace and
Prince Rupert in
British Columbia, and Alaska's
Annette Island. The Tsimshian people comprises approximately 10,000 members belonging across seven member First Nation peoples (which include the
Kitselas,
Kitsumkalum, and the "Allied Tribes" of the
Lax Kw'Alaams,
Metlakatla,
Kitkatla,
Gitga'at (at
Hartley Bay) and
Kitasoo (at
Klemtu)). The Tsimshian are one of the largest groups of First Nations' people in northwest British Columbia. The Tsimshian culture is
matrilineal, with a societal structure based on a clan system, properly referred to as a
moiety. Early anthropologists and linguists had also grouped
Gitksan and
Nishga as
Tsimshian because of apparent linguistic affinities. They were referred to as "Coast Tsimshian," even though some communities were not coastal. The three groups, however, self-identify as separate nations.