Maps of Illustrations -- Preface to the First Edition -- Preface to the Second Edition -- PART 1 FIRST NATIONS DEFINED -- What Is a First Nation? -- Two Kinds of First Nations People -- Population, Reserves, Settlements, and Lands -- Bands, Ethnic Groups, Tribal Councils, and Other Affiliations -- PART 2 ARCHAEOLOGY AND FIRST PEOPLES -- First Nations and Archaeological Perceptions of the Past -- The Nature of Archaeological Research in British Columbia -- Early Migrations through British Columbia -- Here to Stay -- Settling Down -- Prominent Sites -- Tracing Ancestry -- -- PART 3 ETHNOLOGY AND TRADITIONAL LIFEWAYS -- Anthropology and Oral Tradition -- Traditional Culture Areas of British Columbia -- Languages -- Population -- Settlement Patterns -- Diet -- Technology -- Social Organization -- Myths, Spirits, and Shamans -- Health and Healing -- Art -- The Potlatch and Other Important Ceremonies -- Trade, Slavery, and Warfare -- PART 4 FIRST NATIONS IN RECENT AND CONTEMPORARY TIMES -- Population Loss -- The Impact of the Fur Trade -- The Impact of the Gold Rushes -- The Impact of Non-Native Settlement -- Missionaries and Residential Schools -- First Nations and Wage Labour -- Government Relations with First Nations -- Assertions |