The movement of people through the Pacific Northwest began long ago. The first phase of exploration could be considered the period of migration following the last ice age. It is thought that nomads coming from Asia crossed over to North America on a land bridge, beginning some 12,000 to 13,000 years ago. These people travelled through a corridor between the Laurentide Ice Sheet, which covered what are now central and eastern Canada, and the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which covered the Pacific Northwest. There is also a theory that boats were used to travel over from Asia on a similar southward route during the same time period. The first established communities settled about 10,000 years ago, meaning that the early “exploration” of the Pacific Northwest took place about 11,000 or 12,000 years ago. The descendents of these early nomads began to set up and expand societies that continued to move about the Pacific Northwest.
The Haida of the Haida Gwaii archipelago are noted for their fearsome strength on the water. Haida crews would make the canoe journey from the islands of Haida Gwaii to the mainland, and to southern Vancouver Island and Puget Sound. The isolation of Haida Gwaii across ocean straits demanded a long journey for simple acts of trade and war, for which they may have gone thousands of kilometers, even as far as California. The oral history of the Haida tells of northward expeditions into the Bering Sea. During the early 18th century, a group of Haida left their archipelago and built several villages in what is now Alaska.
