Washington state is home to 29 federally-recognized Indian tribes. Tribal governments are improving people’s lives, Indian and non-Indian alike, in communities from Neah Bay to Usk. Learn more about Washington's tribes with our educational brochure.

The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is a federally recognized Indian tribe whose membership is composed of descendants of the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup people who inhabited Central Puget Sound for thousands of years before non-Indian settlement. The Tribe’s name is derived from the native name for the prairie on which the Muckleshoot Reservation was established. Following the Reservation’s establishment in 1857, the Tribe and its members came to be known as Muckleshoot, rather than by the historic tribal names of their Duwamish and Upper Puyallup ancestors. Today, the United States recognizes the Muckleshoot Tribe as a tribal successor to the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup bands from which the Tribe’s membership descends.

The Puyallup Tribe is part of the Puget Sound Salish Indian culture which flourished in the Pacific Northwest. Salmon was the main food and important in their ceremonies. The Western Red Cedar was used abundantly for clothing, basketry, and lodging. They were fishermen, gathers, and hunters. The Puyallup Tribe established relations with the United States government on December 16, 1854, soon thereafter they signed the Treaty of Medicine Creek. Article 10 of the Treaty provides for a physician to look after the healthcare of the Puyallup Tribe. The Puyallup Tribe believes medical care to be a treaty right and paid with ceding vast tracts of tribal land and resources. This right to self-government was reaffirmed in the Medicine Creek Treaty and the Constitution and bylaws as amended, which have been approved by the United States Department of Interior.

The Nisqually Indians roamed the interior woodlands and coastal waters from Mt. Rainier to Puget Sound. Their lifestyle and ceremonies revolved around different species of salmon and the red cedar. In 1853 Governor Isaac Stevens abolished Indian land rights leaving only the designated reservation land which was collectively owned by extended families. Under duress, the Nisqually, Puyallup, and other bands ceded most of Puget Sound and the Olympia Peninsula, (approx. 2,240,000 acres) to the government, by the Treaty of Medicine Creek. The Nisqually reservation included 5,105 acres, most of it east of the Nisqually River in Pierce County. Allotment of the land to individual tribal families began in 1884. In 1917 the US military, through condemnation proceedings, took 3,370 acres for the Fort Lewis Military Reserve. On September 30, 1884, land was set aside and divided into one-family allotments on both sides of the Nisqually River. The land did not include the river. The people lived in peace for a while harvesting fish from the river and growing potatoes on the prairie tracts. They also received few government rations. In the winter of 1917, the U.S. Army moved onto Nisqually lands and ordered them from their homes without any warning. Later, the Army reallocated 3,353 acres (13.6 km²) of their land to expand the Fort Lewis base. Today, nearly 300 Nisqually have returned to their homeland and have begun to re-establish their culture and community.