Colville Indian Reservation

The Colville Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Washington, inhabited and managed by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which is recognized by the United States of America as an American Indian Tribe. The reservation is located in the southeastern section of Okanogan County and the southern half of Ferry County, but there are pieces of trust land in eastern Washington, including lands located in Chelan County, just to the northwest of the city of Chelan. The reservation's name is adapted from that of Fort Colville, which was named for Andrew Colville, a London governor of the Hudson's Bay Company and had been founded before the region became part of the United States.

The Confederated Tribes have 8,700 descendants from 12 aboriginal tribes. The tribes are known in English as: the Colville, the Nespelem, the Sanpoil, the Lakes (after the Arrow Lakes of British Columbia or Sinixt), the Palus, the Wenatchi, the Chelan, the Entiat, the Methow, the southern Okanagan, the Sinkiuse-Columbia, and the Nez Perce of Chief Joseph's Band. Some members of the Spokane tribe also settled the Colville reservation later on. The full origin of the adoption of the name "Colville" tribe are unknown since the name only goes back to the founding of the reservation (Tribal members may also find it offensive to be called Colville). The most common of the indigenous languages spoken on the reservation is Colville-Okanagan, a Salishan language. Other tribes speak other Salishan languages, with the exception of the Nez Perce and Palus, who speak Sahaptian languages.

Outsiders often named the Colville Scheulpi or Chualpay; the French traders called them Les Chaudières ("the kettles") in reference to Kettle Falls.