The Coquille are a Native American tribe centered in southwest Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, where the Coos River

Coos River

The Coos River flows for about into Coos Bay along the Pacific coast of southwest Oregon in the United States. Formed by the confluence of its major tributaries, the South Fork Coos River and the Millicoma River, it drains an important timber-producing region of the Southern Oregon Coast Range...

 flows into Coos Bay

Coos Bay, Oregon

Coos Bay is a city located in Coos County, Oregon, United States, where the Coos River enters Coos Bay on the Pacific Ocean. The city borders the city of North Bend, and together they are often referred to as one entity called either Coos Bay-North Bend or the Bay Area...

.

Name

The name of the Coquille is derived from the French, literally translated as "shell". The name was attached to the Indian people by French Canadian

French Canadian

French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...

 voyageur trappers working for the North West Company

North West Company

The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...

, because the people's diet of shellfish and use of shells as personal ornament.

Groups

The Coquille groups included the Upper Coquille (Mishikwutinetunne), Kwatami, Shasta Costa, Dakubetede (Applegate), and Tututni. Tututni subtribes include the Yukichetunne, Tututni, Mikonotunne, Chemetunne, Chetleshin, Kwaishtunnetunne, and Taltushtuntede (Galice).

Language

The Coquille language is an extinct Athabaskan language classified as part of the Tolowa-Galice branch of the Oregon Coast indigenous languages.

Lifestyle

The lifestyle of the Coquille, like many Northwest Coast tribes, involved fishing and collecting of shellfish.

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

Siletz Reservation

The Siletz Reservation is a 5.852 sq mi Indian reservation in Oregon, United States, owned by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz...

). Today Coquille people may be part of one of two tribal entities: the Coquille Indian Tribe

Coquille Indian Tribe

The Coquille Indian Tribe is the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs-recognized Native American tribal entity of the Coquille people, who have traditionally lived on the southern Oregon Coast.-Treaty with the United States:...

 or the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz.