Koloshes, a name applied by the Russians to a family of Indian tribes on the N. W. coast of America, extending from lat. 54° 40' to the Atna or Copper river, and comprising the Hydas, Hennegas, Tongas, Stikeens, Kakes, Koas, Kutznus, Awks, Sundowns, Takos, Chil-kahts, Hoodsuahoos, Hunnas, and Sitkas. Each tribe is divided into clans, like those in some of the eastern nations, and named the Bear, Eagle, Crow, Whale, and Wolf; and none can intermarry in his own clan. Descent is in the female line. They are a shrewd, bold, perfidious people, evincing considerable ingenuity and skill. They are unprepossessing in appearance, paint their faces, and wear a pin thrust through the lower lip. Their houses are of planks, set upright and roofed with bark, often 40 ft. wide, 60 deep, and 20 high, with sleeping apartments arranged at the sides. Their canoes are dugouts, 45 ft. long, ornamented with carvings, and there are generally curiously carved posts in front of the houses. Their baidarkas, or skin boats, are inferior to those of the Esquimaux. They burn the dead, preserving their ashes in wooden boxes or tombs, curiously decorated. The Koloshes were visited by Behring in 1741, but they captured and destroyed two of his boats with their crews.

During the absence of Baranov, the founder of Sitka, from that post in 1800, the Koloshes attacked it and murdered most of the garrison; but Baranov, aided by Krusenstern's fleet, punished them. They continued hostile, and Sitka required a palisade. Their numbers are estimated at about 12,000.