Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

[6][7] Structural similarities and shared vocabulary are best explained as the result of continuous intensive contact; the Mosan languages thus represent a sprachbund within the wider Pacific Northwest typological area.

After 1786, English mariners frequently sailed to Nootka Sound; in 1803, the crew of the American ship Boston were almost all killed by the local natives.

There were dramatic population losses in the early 20th century due to smallpox epidemics (because the First Nations had no acquired immunity to the new disease), social disruption, and alcoholism.

[13] The name "Wakish Nation" is featured in Arrowsmith's Oregon Dispute-era map as the name for Vancouver Island.