# Memkumlis

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Memkumlis
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Memkumlis.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memkumlis
> Source revision: 1336150871
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Use Canadian English|date=February 2026}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
'''Memkumlis''' or, officially<!--BC Govt, not the FN--> '''Meem Quam Leese''',<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/54300.html BC Names/Geo BC entry "Meem Quam Leese"]</ref> '''Memkoomlish''', '''Memqumlis''', '''ʼmimkumlis''' or '''Miʼmkwamlis''',<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/54857.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Memkoomlish"]</ref> commonly known as [Mamalilaculla](/source/Mamalilaculla),<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/25752.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Mamalilaculla (locality)"]</ref>  which is actually the name of the subgroup of the [Kwakwakaʼwakw](/source/Kwakwaka%CA%BCwakw) whose home it is, is located on the west side of [Village Island](/source/Village_Island) in the [Johnstone Strait](/source/Johnstone_Strait) region of the [Central Coast of British Columbia](/source/British_Columbia_Coast).

The village is on '''Mahmalillikullah Indian Reserve No. 1''' on [Eliot Passage](/source/Eliot_Passage), which was created in 1886.<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/54857.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Memkoomlish"]</ref><ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/65503.html BC Names "Mahmalillikullah 1 (Indian reserve)"]</ref>  The name means "village with rocks and islands out front",<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/54300.html BC Names/Geo BC entry "Meem Quam Leese"]</ref> or as translated by famous chief and carver [Mungo Martin](/source/Mungo_Martin), "group of little islands" and by [Franz Boas](/source/Franz_Boas) as "round things [islands] in front at beach".<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/54857.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Memkoomlish"]</ref>

==History==
When the Kwikwasutʼinux village of [Gwayasdums](/source/Gwayasdums) was destroyed in the 1850s by the [Nuxalk](/source/Nuxalk), the survivors joined the Mamalilikulla at Memkumlis.  The village was partly destroyed by fire in 1892 and rebuilt.<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/54857.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Memkoomlish"]</ref>

The village's population was estimated at 2000 in 1836-41 (before the Kwikwasutʼinux moved there), but by 1911 it was only 90.<ref>Franz Boaz, American Geographical Society, vol XIX, no.3, 1887, reprinted in ''Handbook of the Indians of Canada'', 1913, quoted in [http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/25752.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Mamalilaculla (locality)"]</ref>

==See also==
*[List of Kwakwakaʼwakw villages](/source/List_of_Kwakwaka%CA%BCwakw_villages)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.emilycarr.org/totems/exhibit/kwak/miintro.htm '''Miʼmkwamlis'', Emily Carr - To The Totem Forests website]

{{coord|50|37|10|N|126|34|30|W|display=title|source:BCNames|name=Memkumlis}}

Category:Kwakwaka'wakw villages
Category:Central Coast of British Columbia

{{FirstNations-stub}}
{{BritishColumbiaCentralCoast-geo-stub}}

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Memkumlis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memkumlis) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memkumlis?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.