Spokan definition of Spokan in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Spokan or Spokane (both: spōkăn`), Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see 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 European arrival in the New World in the late 15th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. ). In the early 19th cent., according to Lewis and Clark (see Lewis and Clark Expedition Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail (see National Parks and Monuments , table).

The importance of the well-planned, well-executed expedition (only one person had been lost) was enormous.
..... Click the link for more information. ), they lived in the vicinity of the Spokane River in NE Washington and numbered some 600. Their culture was typical of the Plateau area (see under Natives, North American Natives, North American, peoples who occupied North America before the arrival of the Europeans in the 15th cent. They have long been known as Indians because of the belief prevalent at the time of Columbus that the Americas were the outer reaches of the Indies (i.e.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Today many Spokan live on the Spokan and the Colville reservations in Washington; others live in Idaho and Montana. In 1990 there were over 2,000 Spokan in the United States.

Bibliography

See R. H. Ruby and J. A. Brown, The Spokan Indians, Children of the Sun (1970).