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YurokColumbia Encyclopedia entry: Yurok
Yurokyoor'ŏk, Native North Americans who in the mid-19th cent. occupied parts of NW California, particularly the area around the Klamath River. They were of the California cultural area but had some Pacific Northwest Coast traits (see under Natives, North American); they subsisted on salmon and acorns, and for money they used the dentalium shell, which they received from tribes living farther north. Their property laws were unique among Native Americans, pertaining only to the realm of the individual; the Yurok recognized no public claim to property. By 1855 a reservation was set aside for them; they then numbered some 2,500. Presently they live on several reservations in California, mainly on the Yurok reservation on the lower Klamath River. In 1990 there were some 4,400 Yurok in the United States. The Yurok and their southern neighbors, the Wiyot, speak languages of the Ritwan group that belong to the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock and possibly to the Algonquian branch of this stock (see Native American languages).
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Columbia Encyclopedia search results: Yurok
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- Hoopa
Hoopa, Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Athabascan branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the 19th cent. they occupied the valley of the ...
- Native American languages
Native American languages, languages of the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere and their descendants. A number of the Native American languages that were spoken at the time of the Europe...
