Shuswap Regional District of East Kootenay, British Columbia

Locality - A named place or area, generally with a scattered population of 50 or less. Shuswap Creek, N. of Windermere Lake, Kootenay Land District

Mapped Location

Shuswap: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

 

Information

General information on Shuswap

  • Feature Type: Place

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Shuswap

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name Description
Shuswap Official

 

Origin Notes and History of Shuswap

References to Shuswap that document the origin of its place name

Shuswap (settlement) adopted 4 November 1954 on Columbia River Basin manuscript 48 as an established local name. Form of name changed to Shuswap (locality) 29 November 1984 on Ottawa file file 203-2.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

A village site of the Interior Salish band which inhabit the south central interior, their name anglicized by early fur traders as She Whaps, Shoo-Schwawps, then Shuswaps. The preferred modern spelling was Suxwa'pmux, now spelled Secwepemc, pronounced seWEP-mek].

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

The Secwepemc name for this village site is Kenpesq't

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

"The first whites who reached the country from the south named the tribe Shuswap, Shuswap or Shouswhap. This term is a corruption of Suxwa´pmux or Sexwa´pmux, the name they apply to themselves, and by which they are known to all the neighbouring tribes of the interior Salish stock, to which they belong." (citing James Teit, Jesup North Pacific Expedition 1897-1902, vol 2, Pt VII, pp 449-50; published by Leiden, New York, 1908.)

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
Provincial Archives' Place Names File (the "Harvey File") compiled 1945-1950 by A.G. Harvey from various sources, with subsequent additions  |  Province of British Columbia

 

Regional District of East Kootenay

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2023-10-21