Oregon : A Timeline
A look into our regional history reveals a type of ongoing cultural contact that has made the Pacific Northwest what it is: seasonal contact among First Nations groups, transnational migration from other parts of the US, European and Asian immigration. At many of these points, the seeds were sown for linguistic influence. Read on to find out more...
A sociolinguist's-eye-view on Northwest English
Look for the symbol (➨) below to see a historical event of linguistic importance
Two hundred years after Lewis and Clark's historic voyage to the Pacific coast, has the Northwest been established long enough to have unique dialect features? Has the history of ongoing settlement made the Pacific Northwest the truest of American melting-pots? How much have Native Americans, Scandanavians, Asians, East-coast Americans, and other groups impacted the speech of this region?
Phase I: 1800-1850
Background: Native Americans gather seasonally to trade furs and coastal items.
➨ Chinook Jargon becomes the contact language used among several First Nations groups for purposes of trade.
1824: the Hudson's Bay Company establishes its Northwest Headquarters at Fort Vancouver, WA 100 mi. up the Columbia River, near the mouth of the Willamette.
➨ Fur trading brings Europeans, Canadians (of French origin), and Native Americans into contact in the Oregon Territory.
1830s-40s: American interest in the Pacific Northwest increases dramatically, and settlers, missionaries, politicians and statesmen migrate West. Overland migration to Oregon Territory begins.
1840s-50s: George Washington Bush, WA's first African American settler, arrives. As land in the Willamette Valley is claimed, settlers fan out to different regions of the Northwest: Seattle and Portland are founded.
➨ By 1880 the census notes 180 African Americans in OR Territory.
|
