Hoopa
Hoopa
(ho͞o`pə), Native North Americans whose language belongs to the AthabascanAthabascan, Athapascan,
or Athapaskan
, group of related Native American languages forming a branch of the Nadene linguistic family or stock. In the preconquest period, Athabascan was a large and extensive group of tongues.
..... Click the link for more information. branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see Native American languagesNative 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 19th cent. they occupied the valley of the Trinity River from Hoopa valley to the Klamath River in NW California. Their cedar-planked houses, dugout canoes, basket hats, and many elements in their mythology identify them with the Northwest Coast culture, of which they are the southernmost representatives; however, some of their customs—e.g., the use of a sweat house for ceremonies and the manufacture of acorn bread—are not characteristic of that culture area. In 1864 the U.S. government established a small reservation (Hoopa Valley), where many Hoopa now reside with their neighbors, the Yurok. In 1990 there were 2,400 Hoopa in the United States. The name is sometimes spelled Hupa.
Bibliography
See P. E. Goddard, Life and Culture of the Hupa (1903).